At present it is not permitted to receive Holy Communion on the tongue. Because of the very real danger of spreading the Coronavirus, the Irish bishops have directed that Holy Communion must, for the time being, be received on the hand.

I appreciate that some people may regard receiving Holy Communion on the hand as showing irreverence to the Eucharist, so let me give them some reassurance.

Receiving Holy Communion on the tongue became common only in the Middle Ages, and eventually became the normal practice. But in the earliest times of the Church, Communion was received only on the hand, and at the time Christians never regarded this as being irreverent. The practice was recovered by the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s, which of course also allowed people to continue to receive Holy Communion on the tongue should they so wish.

In the Eucharist the Lord Jesus comes to us as food. We normally eat bread by picking it up (unless we are small children unable to feed ourselves). When instituting the Eucharist the Lord said, 'Take; eat'.

True reverence comes from the heart. It is, of course, possible to receive Holy Communion on the hand irreverently as well as reverently. Likewise, it is possible to receive Communion on the tongue either reverently or irreverently.

St. Cyril, Patriach of Jerusalem, lived 300 years after the death and resurrection of Jesus. In his instructions to the newly baptised after Easter, he taught thus:

'In approaching therefore, come not with your wrists extended, or your fingers spread; but make your left hand a throne for the right, as for that which is to receive a King. And having hollowed your palm, receive the Body of Christ, saying over it, Amen. So then after having carefully hallowed your eyes by the touch of the Holy Body, partake of it; giving heed lest you lose any portion thereof...'

This is exactly the practice that was  recovered by Vatican II. I really love his idea of hollowing the palm of your hand and making of it a throne on which to receive the King of heaven.