There is a custom in many liturgical churches that looks like this: the worshiper walks forward to the altar, kneels on a kneeler, opens his or her hands, receives the bread, the liturgist then offers the cup to the worshiper, and the worshiper either dips the bread into the cup or, having ingested the bread, takes a sip from the cup. This might be called the posture of reception.
Fr. Dajczer speaks of the disposition of faith, the disposition of receiving and the posture of reception in eucharist worship (The Mystery of Faith: Meditations on the Eucharist
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Thus, “participation in the Eucharist is the way of opening up to God” (11). There needs to be a “disposition for receiving grace.”
Instead of walking forward and kneeling, both of which acts embody the disposition of receptiveness, some churches pass around round trays of cups and round trays of bread. While not as embodied, this too signifies the passing on from the table to the worshiper and the need to “take and eat” — that moment of receiving bread and cup is the act of reception.
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