Chew?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Pro-Life_Teen
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
P

Pro-Life_Teen

Guest
Do you chew the Host when you receive Him at Mass? I know the literal translation is “chew” but from what I can recall, I have never done this. I was informed as a child that it was Jesus, and have never felt right about eating Him as I would all other foods. Now this has never been a problem for me, but with the man stealing the Eucharist recently- I read that he did not chew and so that is what clued in the people around him that he was stealing the Host. He put Our Lord into his mouth, and later took Him out to show a buddy, etc. I certainly don’t wish to be accused of stealing the Host, but at the same time, I can’t bring myself to chew the Host and assume things like having left over pieces in my teeth. Anyone ever had any trouble with this?
 
Pro-Life_Teen said:
Do you chew the Host when you receive Him at Mass? I know the literal translation is “chew” but from what I can recall, I have never done this. I was informed as a child that it was Jesus, and have never felt right about eating Him as I would all other foods. Now this has never been a problem for me, but with the man stealing the Eucharist recently- I read that he did not chew and so that is what clued in the people around him that he was stealing the Host. He put Our Lord into his mouth, and later took Him out to show a buddy, etc. I certainly don’t wish to be accused of stealing the Host, but at the same time, I can’t bring myself to chew the Host and assume things like having left over pieces in my teeth. Anyone ever had any trouble with this?
Click to expand...
I let the Host get less-hard and then just swallow It whole.
 
Hello Pro-Life_Teen,

First off I’m glad to see that a young adult is participating and learning about their faith.

I’m 49 and for the longest time I didn’t chew the Host. But someone reminded me that the Host is made of bread.

Besides Jesus said in the Scriptures. That His flesh is REAL FOOD and His blood is REAL DRINK. That’s my quick and easy answer for you.
 
Pro-Life_Teen said:
Do you chew the Host when you receive Him at Mass? I know the literal translation is “chew” but from what I can recall, I have never done this. I was informed as a child that it was Jesus, and have never felt right about eating Him as I would all other foods. Now this has never been a problem for me, but with the man stealing the Eucharist recently- I read that he did not chew and so that is what clued in the people around him that he was stealing the Host. He put Our Lord into his mouth, and later took Him out to show a buddy, etc. I certainly don’t wish to be accused of stealing the Host, but at the same time, I can’t bring myself to chew the Host and assume things like having left over pieces in my teeth. Anyone ever had any trouble with this?
Click to expand...
Wow,I missed the story about the man stealing the Host. I have never chewed the Host either, but I never really looked around at others to see if they were chewing.? I just can’t bring myself to chew it up and I don’t think that there is anything wrong with it. By the time I’m done praying the Host has softened and I’ve swallowed it.
 
Chew if needed. With the Roman Mass, usually.

In Byzantine DL, sometimes.
 
I believe it is John 6, and in the Greek, the verb used isn’t “eat”… it’s more like “gnaw”.
So while I totally understand your hesitation at chewing the Host, and while I tend to also let it soften before officially masticating, I do not believe it is wrong to chew the Host.

Blessings,
blessedjulian
 
I used to chew; I don’t anymore. I don’t have a theological reason for it, I just find it hard to chew it discreetly. Also, by letting it soften, I reduce the risk of getting particles stuck in my teeth that my tongue keeps poking at for the rest of Mass.
 
I chew it. It’s real food. Nothing wrong with not chewing it though.
 
Pro-Life_Teen said:
Do you chew the Host when you receive Him at Mass? I know the literal translation is “chew” but from what I can recall, I have never done this. I was informed as a child that it was Jesus, and have never felt right about eating Him as I would all other foods. ?
Click to expand...
Jesus said, My Body is real food, and my Blood is real drink. Chew if your parish uses the variety that is whole wheat, thicker, and does not melt easily, as did the old style used when I was young and we were taught not to chew.
 
When I was a child, I was taught that only the priest could chew the host, so I never have.
 
For those who don’t chew I was wondering what you do if you receive communion in both kinds? Doesn’t the drinking cause trouble if you have the host in your mouth? I don’t partake of the chalice myself, and never have, so I don’t know how such would work. But I have always thought that one would have to very quickly chew and swallow in order to sip from the cup.
 
I too was told as a child making my first communion that this was the Body of Christ. I have never chewed the Eucharist and never will. I use the Eucharist as a focal point after communion to focus my payers on Him. When the Eucharist has softened and come to the point of almost falling apart I will swallow. I don’t believe in receiving in the hand either. If every crumb is considered the whole Christ (Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity) our Savior… if you receive in the hand and a crumb of the Eucharist is left in your hand and falls out to the floor and everyone else is stepping there… I don’t think anyone would intentially do this but there has to be respect for the Lord’s true presence in the Eucharist and it should be treated as such and precautions should be taken for this not to happen.

Paul
 
cothrige said:
For those who don’t chew I was wondering what you do if you receive communion in both kinds? Doesn’t the drinking cause trouble if you have the host in your mouth?
Click to expand...
It is not difficult (for me, at least) to take a small portion from the Chalice while the host is still sitting on my tongue. (It is a bit difficult to say “Amen”, though!) I also find that the sign of Holy Communion – which is fuller when received under both kinds – is personally fuller when the two species mingle in my mouth, as they do in the Chalice.
 
japhy said:
I used to chew; I don’t anymore… Also, by letting it soften, I reduce the risk of getting particles stuck in my teeth that my tongue keeps poking at for the rest of Mass.
Click to expand...
This is what I do as well and for the same reason. I have a poorly done crown that causes food particles to get stuck, so I don’t want to chance that happening with our Lord.
cothrige said:
For those who don’t chew I was wondering what you do if you receive communion in both kinds? Doesn’t the drinking cause trouble if you have the host in your mouth? I don’t partake of the chalice myself, and never have, so I don’t know how such would work. But I have always thought that one would have to very quickly chew and swallow in order to sip from the cup.
Click to expand...
I only take a very small sip of Precious Blood, and sometimes only just wet my lips, (depends on how full the chalice is and if I have to tilt more or less) so this is not an issue, at least not for me. Also, at our Church it is only a few steps between receiving the Body and then the Blood of our Lord, so it would not be possible to completely chew and swallow the Body before receiving the Blood. It is not and has never been a problem for me to take a sip of Precious Blood with an intact Body of our Lord still in my mouth.
 
I have always chewed, for the same reason that the people in this thread said that they did. Because Christ said that His body was real food, and His blood, real drink. I don’t chew aggresively like I’m eating a cheeseburger, but gently.
 
On the topic of chewing the Host, this is one distracting element of versus populum worship. I no longer look up at the sanctuary during the priest’s Communion, because I don’t want to watch him chewing (and hear the crunching sound!); the EMHCs also receive in the sanctuary, standing facing us, and I’d rather not watch that either.

If the priest received ad orientem, it would be a more private and personal reception of Communion… I don’t receive Communion turned around facing the person behind me in line!
 
VociMike said:
I think you were taught an incorrect teaching brought about by a false notion of piety and reverence.
Click to expand...
Not chewing the host, is the way the nuns in the pre-Vatican II taught first communion classes. My grandparents, my parents, my brothers and myself, who were all taught by nuns from different religious orders, were taught, not to chew the host.

We were to let it dissolve in our mouths. It wasn’t until later in my life that I learned that this was incorrect.

Today, I do as Jesus told his apostles, take and eat.

Of course, it helps now that we can also take and drink, the precious blood.

Jim
 
JimR-OCDS said:
Not chewing the host, is the way the nuns in the pre-Vatican II taught first communion classes. My grandparents, my parents, my brothers and myself, who were all taught by nuns from different religious orders, were taught, not to chew the host.

We were to let it dissolve in our mouths. It wasn’t until later in my life that I learned that this was incorrect.

Today, I do as Jesus told his apostles, take and eat.

Of course, it helps now that we can also take and drink, the precious blood.
Click to expand...
I wonder how universal such a teaching was, as opposed to the American Irish-influenced Catholicism found in the USA.

At the core, I think, is the notion that is ever raising its head in Christianity, that the human body is somehow a second-class citizen to the human soul, and that the working of the human body is not holy and God-designed, but crude and impious.

Catholics of all Christians should know to resist this notion.
 
VociMike said:
I wonder how universal such a teaching was, as opposed to the American Irish-influenced Catholicism found in the USA.

At the core, I think, is the notion that is ever raising its head in Christianity, that the human body is somehow a second-class citizen to the human soul, and that the working of the human body is not holy and God-designed, but crude and impious.

Catholics of all Christians should know to resist this notion.
Click to expand...
I think that’s called “gnosticism” where the body was bad and the soul was good.

The issue of chewing also depends on the consitency of the host. Certain companies make the host rather thin. Others have it cut just a tad thicker. The thinner ones do not need to be chewed. The thicker ones are a diffeent story.

I do, however, agree with japhy’s observation. I certainly don’t want to look at someone chewing lke a cow on cud. Incidentally, back in 1976, when I received my First Holy Communion, the cud-chewing cow was the example the nuns told us to avoid.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top