Breaking/Chewing the Eucharist

[Mike_O]

What does the Church say about a priest snapping the Body of Christ in two after the consecration? What about chewing the Eucharist rather than allowing dissolving on the tongue?

I ask because I remember reading–off the top of my head I am afraid I do not have the reference–about a saint who received a vision from the Blessed Mother in which Mary said “Do not chew My Son.”

Now I realize that private visions are not accepted by the Magisterium, but does it not seem somewhat disrespectful to break into pieces what is the Bread of Life?

 

[katewithak]

Mike O:

What does the Church say about a priest snapping the Body of Christ in two after the consecration? What about chewing the Eucharist rather than allowing dissolving on the tongue?

I ask because I remember reading–off the top of my head I am afraid I do not have the reference–about a saint who received a vision from the Blessed Mother in which Mary said “Do not chew My Son.”

Now I realize that private visions are not accepted by the Magisterium, but does it not seem somewhat disrespectful to break into pieces what is the Bread of Life?

What is the question? Does the priest break the Host? yes, he does. Is it disrespectful to break the Host? No. I have never heard any revelation that said do not chew my Son. I’m not sure if there is a stipulation about allowing the Eucharist to dissolve over chewing.

 

[steveandersen]

Mike O:

…I do not have the reference–about a saint who received a vision from the Blessed Mother in which Mary said “Do not chew My Son.”

Now I realize that private visions are not accepted by the Magisterium, but does it not seem somewhat disrespectful to break into pieces what is the Bread of Life?

I’m not sure what your concern is

He said “take this and eat” after all and breaking of bread is specifically mentioned.
I don’t about you but my Momma told me to always chew my food

 

[Aaron_I]

I remember a grade school teacher mentioning something about that once. The way I see it, Christ said to “gnaw” his flesh, so chewing can’t be all that bad.

 

[masterjedi747]

Mike O:

What does the Church say about a priest snapping the Body of Christ in two after the consecration?

The big host used for consecration? He’s supposed to break it. How else is he going to eat it? In fact, the host usually has “perforated” areas where the priest can break it neatly without making a mess. If needed, pieces of it can also be distrubuted with the rest of communion.
Mike O:

But does it not seem somewhat disrespectful to break into pieces what is the Bread of Life?

Not at all. What if (and I’ve seen this happen before several times) it turns out that you didn’t have enough consecrated hosts for the congregation, and you needed to break the individual hosts in half (or quarters), so that there would be enough to distrubute? Christ is still 100% present (body, blood, soul, and divinity) in each and every piece of the host…it doesn’t matter how big or small of a piece it is. As long as it is done in a respectful manner, the host can indeed be broken into smaller pieces if necessary.
Mike O:

What about chewing the Eucharist rather than allowing dissolving on the tongue?

Unless the person is chewing the host in a blatantly disrespectful manner (and perhaps that is what Mary was actually referring to), it shouldn’t be a problem. However you choose to consume it, just make sure that you are doing so respectfully. And (I could be wrong here, but) I can almost guarantee you that your priest chews the host when he recieves it…he would have to, otherwise he wouldn’t be able to swallow all of it.
Mike O:

a vision from the Blessed Mother in which Mary said “Do not chew My Son.”

As I said above, perhaps she was referring to chewing the host in a disrespectful manner. It really wouldn’t make a whole lot of sense any other way. She might as well have said “Do not swallow my Son” or “Do not digest my Son”…it certainly sounds like a bad thing when you say it that way, doesn’t it? But it’s really not. The consecrated host, which is the Body of Christ, is meant to be consumed (which involves it being chewed/dissolved, swallowed, and digested). The method of consuming the host, as long as it is respectful, is largely up the individual.

 

[Mike_O]

I was able to find the reference:
tldm.org/directives/d02.htm

Upon reflection I can see that this may not be something valid–there are clearly not approved revelations, but as you said, certain disrespect is certainly present in the manner that some receive the Lord and therefore this might be what is referenced.

 

[tjmiller]

In the 6th Chapter of the Gospel of St. John, Jesus explicitly declares (in the Greek) that the one who does NOT chew his flesh has no life…

 

[katewithak]

masterjedi747:

The big host used for consecration? He’s supposed to break it. How else is he going to eat it? In fact, the host usually has “perforated” areas where the priest can break it neatly without making a mess. If needed, pieces of it can also be distrubuted with the rest of communion.

Not at all. What if (and I’ve seen this happen before several times) it turns out that you didn’t have enough consecrated hosts for the congregation, and you needed to break the individual hosts in half (or quarters), so that there would be enough to distrubute? Christ is still 100% present (body, blood, soul, and divinity) in each and every piece of the host…it doesn’t matter how big or small of a piece it is. As long as it is done in a respectful manner, the host can indeed be broken into smaller pieces if necessary.

Unless the person is chewing the host in a blatantly disrespectful manner (and perhaps that is what Mary was actually referring to), it shouldn’t be a problem. However you choose to consume it, just make sure that you are doing so respectfully. And (I could be wrong here, but) I can almost guarantee you that your priest chews the host when he recieves it…he would have to, otherwise he wouldn’t be able to swallow all of it.

As I said above, perhaps she was referring to chewing the host in a disrespectful manner. It really wouldn’t make a whole lot of sense any other way. She might as well have said “Do not swallow my Son” or “Do not digest my Son”…it certainly sounds like a bad thing when you say it that way, doesn’t it? But it’s really not. The consecrated host, which is the Body of Christ, is meant to be consumed (which involves it being chewed/dissolved, swallowed, and digested). The method of consuming the host, as long as it is respectful, is largely up the individual.

This is a futile argument. Our Lady is supposed to have made the statement " Do not chew my Son" during a Bayside apparition. Not only has this Bayside apparition been not approved, it has been CONDEMNED by the Vatican. In other words, she never said it, so why discuss it?

 

[masterjedi747]

katewithak:

This is a futile argument. Our Lady is supposed to have made the statement " Do not chew my Son" during a Bayside apparition. Not only has this Bayside apparition been not approved, it has been CONDEMNED by the Vatican. In other words, she never said it, so why discuss it?

Well, that’s fine then. Makes things easier anyway.
I was just giving it the benefit of the doubt, if only for the sake of argument.

 

[Lux_et_veritas]

steveandersen:

I’m not sure what your concern is

He said “take this and eat” after all and breaking of bread is specifically mentioned.
I don’t about you but my Momma told me to always chew my food

Tell that to any priest who must consume two large pieces of the Body of Christ before he distributes. I’ve not seen any just kind of suck on the Host. They chew it.

One friend was concerned some would get stuck in her teeth and then she would brush a particle down the drain. However, I figure if there are any particles, they would have been dissolved.

 

[stbruno]

This instruction comes from the General Instruction of the Roman Missal. You can check it out at the following link.
Not only is it ok for the priest to break the Host but necessary. The practice is called “Fractioning the host”

• The Fraction usccb.org/liturgy/current/chapter2.shtml#sect3c

*83. The priest breaks the Eucharistic Bread, assisted, if the case calls for it, by the deacon or a concelebrant. Christ’s gesture of breaking bread at the Last Supper, which gave the entire Eucharistic Action its name in apostolic times, signifies that the many faithful are made one body (1 Cor 10:17) by receiving Communion from the one Bread of Life which is Christ, who died and rose for the salvation of the world. The fraction or breaking of bread is begun after the sign of peace and is carried out with proper reverence, though it should not be unnecessarily prolonged, nor should it be accorded undue importance. This rite is reserved to the priest and the deacon.

The priest breaks the Bread and puts a piece of the host into the chalice to signify the unity of the Body and Blood of the Lord in the work of salvation, namely, of the living and glorious Body of Jesus Christ. The supplication Agnus Dei, is, as a rule, sung by the choir or cantor with the congregation responding; or it is, at least, recited aloud. This invocation accompanies the fraction and, for this reason, may be repeated as many times as necessary until the rite has reached its conclusion, the last time ending with the words dona nobis pacem (grant us peace

The only thing I can say about proper “consuming” of the host…is to do it immediately. Chewing is allowed, especially if the pieces are quite large, you have little choice. No communion can be reserved to take home etc…you must consume it immediately.

 

[Traditional_Ang]

Mike O:

What does the Church say about a priest snapping the Body of Christ in two after the consecration? What about chewing the Eucharist rather than allowing dissolving on the tongue?

I ask because I remember reading–off the top of my head I am afraid I do not have the reference–about a saint who received a vision from the Blessed Mother in which Mary said “Do not chew My Son.”

Now I realize that private visions are not accepted by the Magisterium, but does it not seem somewhat disrespectful to break into pieces what is the Bread of Life?

Mike:

It’s too late for me to look up the citation, but on eof the Early Doctors of the Church dealt with this issue specifically and COMMANDED Communicants to chew the host with their teeth. He said that anything else was disrespectful and wasn’t acting in union with the Lord or with the Church.

There are very few things that we can EAT without CHEWING, and our Lord very specifically said, “Take and EAT,” and “He who does not EAT of the Flesh of the Son of Man has NO life in him.”

Remember, if we didn’t chew the host, some of us would risk choking on it when when swallowed it, and Our Lord would NEVER want that. Since our Lord never commands things that violate Scripture or Tradition or that could kill us, you can conclude this is the Teaching of the Church and NOT whatever it was that was said in the apparition.

Please put your mind at ease and don’t worry about whatever it was that you read.

An FYI, there was a similar teaching running around in some High Church Anglican circles that disappeared when they started talking to the Orthodox (Some former Anglican Parishes are part of the Western Rite of the Antiochan Orthodox Church) and started negotiating with the Holy See (there are intense negotiations between the TAC and Rome at the present time).

I hope this proves helpful

In Christ, Michael

 

[Melanie01]

I do not know what happens these days and probably do not want to know…

but prior to First Communion I had lessons with my class with the nuns on how to swallow the Host. It was not held in the mouth or cheek and it most certainly was NOT CHEWED UP. How offensive…

but then again I have always had a Host made of flour and water and it does rapidly dissolve. If you chew It fragments may catch in your teeth…

 

[Dorothy]

Melanie01:

I do not know what happens these days and probably do not want to know…

but prior to First Communion I had lessons with my class with the nuns on how to swallow the Host. It was not held in the mouth or cheek and it most certainly was NOT CHEWED UP. How offensive…

but then again I have always had a Host made of flour and water and it does rapidly dissolve. If you chew It fragments may catch in your teeth…

I remember nuns saying that also, they meant well but they were not theologically correct.

Remember, that if you receive even just a crumb of the host you are receiving the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ our Lord, whole and entire. The Resurrected Glorious Body of Christ! The same goes for a drop of the Precious Blood – you are receiving the Body and Blood, etc.

It is a Mystery, and whether we chew the Sacred Host or not, we are not being offensive to the Lord. It is our faith and what is in our heart that counts.

 

[tjmiller]

Hmmm…let’s look at what Jesus Christ Himself said about how we should consume the Eucharistic species: **“Except you chew the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you shall not have life in you. He that gnaweth my flesh and drinketh my blood, hath everlasting life…He that cruncheth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, abideth in me, and I in him”. ** (John 6:54, 55, 57)

Now, “anti-chewers” may very well respond as did many of the Lord’s disciples: “*This saying is hard, and who can hear it?” * Nevertheless, the Lord’s words, as recorded by St. John in Greek, are graphically self-evident in meaning. The word for chew, gnaw and crunch is the same in the Greek of the verses above: trogo. It was often used to describe the grazing of animals. The Epistle of Barnabas uses it to depict the feeding of goats upon wild berries, and Homer uses it to portray the grazing of mules upon wild clover. (I doubt that these stock waited for the berries or the clover to dissolve on their tongues… )