A respectful question about receiving the Blood of Christ

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I was saddened to read that some believers won’t be receiving the Blood for the duration of the current health concern. I was told that the chalice is the only accepted method to receive, and was curious why.

I suppose I can “get it” that intinction recombines the Body and the Blood, and that this bothers some people.

But I was puzzled to learn that those tiny Communion cups (with the silver stacking trays) are “verboten for Catholics.” True, they’re an environmental nightmare, and a time-sink to set up. But every congregation I know that does it says it’s acceptable because Luke 22:17 says, And he [Jesus] took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, Take this, and divide it among yourselves .

Do you think the Church might reconsider, so that believers may partake? Or is there a stronger reason than the ones I know?

[EDIT: thanks, HomeschoolDad, for catching that typo that it’s 22:17, not 17:22.]
 
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Receiving the Consecrated Bread is enough for Communion to be valid. The containers for the Consecrated Wine need to be of precious material (usually gold) and are washed in a very specific way so that there is no profanation so little plastic cups are a big no-no.
 
For the Mass, not just any material will do to hold the Blood of Christ: it must be a durable, non-absobant, precious material. Those communion cups are made of plastic and so are in violation of the rules. They’d have to be all basically made of metal and coated in gold to be acceptable, for starters.
 
Millions of smokers see all the health warnings on a packet of cigarettes and carry on smoking regardless. They ignore the risks.

I would rather take the cup and the chalice as we have always done. If we truthfully believe it is the Body and Blood of our Lord, I don’t believe we should make any changes to how we have taken them in the past.
 
A lot of parishes and shrines don’t distribute the Precious Blood to the congregation even when it’s not Coronavirus time. And even the ones that do tend to discontinue it for weeks every year during flu season.
 
Thank you for your replies.

I was taken to many different places as a child. I ask so I will know. 🙂

I guess my next question would be, if the Body proclaims His death and the Blood proclaims the New Covenant, why is the Body alone considered sufficient? In my many-places-taken, I haven’t heard that anywhere else.
 
The_Old_Maid said:
I was told that the chalice is the only accepted method to receive, and was curious why.
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Whoever told you this was wrong. We may receive communion either as the Host, the chalice, or both. In a parish that does not have low-gluten Hosts, it would be entirely permissible to set aside a chalice solely for the use of people with celiac or other similar maladies.
The_Old_Maid said:
But every congregation I know that does it says it’s acceptable because Luke 17:22 says, And he [Jesus] took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, Take this, and divide it among yourselves .
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Just to clarify, it’s Luke 22:17, not Luke 17:22. Easy mistake to make. But where have you ever seen a Catholic congregation that uses individual cups? I’ve never heard of it. Are you referring to Protestant practice?

As long as the cups were made out of suitable material (plastic would not be suitable), I know of no reason against it, aside from that of logistics — how do you clean and purify all those cups, and still handle drops and splotches of the Precious Blood reverently? It’s just something Catholics don’t do.

I always liked intinction and don’t know why it’s become so uncommon.
 
The_Old_Maid said:
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The_Old_Maid:
I was told that the chalice is the only accepted method to receive, and was curious why.
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Whoever told you this was wrong. We may receive communion either as the Host, the chalice, or both. In a parish that does not have low-gluten Hosts, it would be entirely permissible to set aside a chalice solely for the use of people with celiac or other similar maladies.
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I think she was meaning that it is only acceptable to receive the Blood of Christ from a chalice, not that it was the only acceptable species to receive.
 
When you receive communion under one species, you receive the whole Christ: body, blood, soul, and divinity.

Profane vessels like so-called communion cups are not fitting to hold the Precious Blood.
 
The_Old_Maid said:
why is the Body alone considered sufficient?
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The consecrated host is not the Body alone, it has both Body and Precious Blood.

That is why we have the occasional “Bleeding Host Miracles”.

That is why when one of the local priests who I often receive from is distributing the consecrated hosts, he always says “Blood of Christ”, not “Body of Christ”.

Likewise if you received only the Precious Blood, you would also be receiving the Body of Christ by consuming the Precious Blood alone.
 
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The_Old_Maid said:
I guess my next question would be, if the Body proclaims His death and the Blood proclaims the New Covenant, why is the Body alone considered sufficient? In my many-places-taken, I haven’t heard that anywhere else.
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Prior to the Council of Trent, there were a number of people in dispute with the Church, who said that if one did not receive both the Host and the Cup, that one had not truly received Jesus.

In answer to this heresy, the liturgy was changed to receiving only the Host, as a response proclaiming that Christ is present, body, Blood, Soul and Divinity in either the Hot or the Cup; and as a practical matter (as Trent could have required we all receive from the Cup), that we receive the Host.

As that issue was over 500 years ago, the Church has seen fit to allow us to receive both. As noted in paragraph 1390 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church: "But “the sign of communion is more complete when given under both kinds, since in that form the sign of the Eucharistic meal appears more clearly”.

The Eucharist is both sacrifice and sacred meal (as in the Last Supper).
 
The_Old_Maid said:
I suppose I can “get it” that intinction recombines the Body and the Blood, and that this bothers some people.
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Intinction is in fact allowed. What is not allowed is self-intinction. Only the priest can do the intinction.
 
EricPH said:
I don’t believe we should make any changes to how we have taken them in the past.
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In the past I used to frequently receive by intinction. But now that method is rarely proffered in the Latin Rite. 🤷‍♂️
 
The_Old_Maid said:
But I was puzzled to learn that those tiny Communion cups (with the silver stacking trays) are “verboten for Catholics.” True, they’re an environmental nightmare, and a time-sink to set up.
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We had those tiny little plastic cups at the Presbyterian church I attended. Now that church considered Jesus to be only spiritually present in communion and mainly a memorial so it didn’t faze them to just throw the cops out when done.

Now consider Communion in the Catholic Church. The precious blood IS Jesus…you can’t just throw out the hundreds of little cups that have droplets in them! You can’t properly wash them either as there are rules for washing anything that still has remnants of Jesus in them. The risk of them spilling while being distributed would be high. AND Jesus deserves better than cheap plastic!
 
It’s “Precious Blood”, not “Previous Blood” (sic).
 
If you are immune compromised or elderly it may be a concern.
There is alcohol in the wine. Which is the blood of Jesus. Nothing can keep me personally from receiving under both species
Love your sister In Christ Jesus through the Immaculata
Katie
🦋
 
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Yes dear Titvillus .
Very valid question.
I love the Lord and church and will always obey.
Love your sister in Christ
Katie 🦋
 
If the hundreds of little cups were of a proper material you could purify and clean them properly. With a little luck, father might even finish before Monday morning Mass:)
 
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