Posted by johnboy on May 14, 1999 at 08:11:31:
In Reply to: one or both? posted by Anne Ward on May 13, 1999 at 12:11:49:
well, i ain't no sacramental theologian but ...
it might help to realize that the Eucharist has many aspects of Presence---in the Word shared, in the Priest presiding, in the People gathered as community, in the Real Presence ...
furthermore, Presence is but one aspect of Eucharist ... it is also thanksgiving; it is a meal; it is a memorial; it is covenant; it is presence in all of those aspects referred to above ...
there was a time in Church history when folks received communion very seldom ... but we are a living tradition and don't have a tendency to try to strictly interpret a Scripture imperative separate and apart from our Tradition ... we go a little deeper
there are many parts of the Sacramentary and commentaries and explications of it online; you can go to the EWTN website and search the electronic library and find out a whole lot about our liturgy: what songs are allowed for the Responsorial Psalm, why we sit or stand, and all other rubrics
so, in a nutshell, i don't know the answer t your particular question, but i do know there is much involved in that answer and you are probably getting responses that do reveal different parts of the truth