Chewing the Eucharist

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Does anyone around here believe that chewing the Eucharist after communion is blashemy?

Personally I think it is and so I want to ask your opinions.

Thanks & God Bless
 
I personally don’t chew the Eucharist. I crack it into four equal sized pieces with my tongue, and the let it dissolve in my mouth. I do it for two reasons. The first is respect. The second is that as long as it is still in my mouth, I spend that time meditating and praying. If I don’t, I find my mind wandering, which is the last thing I want to do when I should be devoting my attention to God.

Eamon
 
I can’t chew it either… I jsut have learned to swallow it. The longer it can stay in me (about 15 in), the longer the time I can spend praying to Him. It is so very improtant to me. I couldn’t bear to chew My Lord…

God Bless–JMJ
Laura 🙂
 
Jesus said “take & eat”. How did the apostles and the early church “take & eat” the Eucharist? They chewed and swallowed it. If it wasn’t blashemy back then, why would it be blashemy now?
 
I heard (where?) that the word for eat in John 6 was more akin to “munch”. That sounds to me like go ahead and chew. However, If one find special devotion in letting Him dissove on the tongue…why not?
 
Sir Knight:
Jesus said “take & eat”. How did the apostles and the early church “take & eat” the Eucharist? They chewed and swallowed it. If it wasn’t blashemy back then, why would it be blashemy now?
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They were chewing a thick tough unleavened bread, not the sort of light and airy communion wafer we are served today. Also, the Lord was in a hurry. Time was short. Judas had just left to denounce him and he wanted sufficient time to pray to his Father before his arrest.

Apparently the Greek implies something like: “Take this and eat it right away.” See Kenneth S. Wuest, ‘The New Testament - An Expanded Translation,’ p.69:

“Take at once. Eat at once. This is my body” - Matthew 26.26

Today (at least in my church) we are eating something far less substantial than unleavened bread, and there is no need for us to hurry.
 
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romano:
They were chewing a thick tough unleavened bread, not the sort of light and airy communion wafer we are served today. Also, the Lord was in a hurry. Time was short. Judas had just left to denounce him and he wanted sufficient time to pray to his Father before his arrest.

Apparently the Greek implies something like: “Take this and eat it right away.” See Kenneth S. Wuest, ‘The New Testament - An Expanded Translation,’ p.69:

“Take at once. Eat at once. This is my body” - Matthew 26.26

Today (at least in my church) we are eating something far less substantial than unleavened bread, and there is no need for us to hurry.
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But if it was alright to chew the body of Christ back then, then it should also be alright to chew the body of Christ now.
 
Sir Knight:
But if it was alright to chew the body of Christ back then, then it should also be alright to chew the body of Christ now.
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Good point–tough and chewy, light and airy…it’s still the same Christ–NOT bread.
 
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CathMass:
Does anyone around here believe that chewing the Eucharist after communion is blashemy?

Personally I think it is and so I want to ask your opinions.

Thanks & God Bless
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I don’t believe it is blasphemy or cannibalism or whatever. However, I very seldom chew it. I usually swallow it whole or break it in half and swallow or let it dissolve in my mouth.

But no, to me, chewing the Eucharist isn’t blasphemy.
 
If it was blasphemy, the Church would say as much. However, there is no such statement from the Church, and so we as individuals can not make one. It is permissable to let the Eucharist disolve, it is permissable to chew the Eucharist. We must be very careful, though, about saying that smething is blasphemous.

Yours,
Jessica
 
No its not.

I can understand the Priest having to chew the Sacred Host. It is substantial.

I ask all you advocates of ‘chewing’: Is the host you receive really substantial enough for you to have to chew it?

I certainly don’t think so. If it was a different Rite where leavened bread is used and something of substance is received then I could understand.

In the Roman rite the sacred host is too small and thin to have to chew it.

Of course if you choose to chew it there is no sin attached.
 
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Fergal:
I ask all you advocates of ‘chewing’: Is the host you receive really substantial enough for you to have to chew it?

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I chew when I am also receiving Christ’s Precious Blood–(to be indelicate)–I’m afraid I would backwash otherwise.

If it’s the Host only–I usually try to allow Him to dissolve and pray all the while in gratitude.
 
I don’t think it’s blasphemous, but if I chew it, I have a tendency to just connote it with food simply out of habit. Then I break my concetration, etc etc. Just my thing, that’s all

Eamon
 
Chirst PHYSICALLY (not spiritually) remains with you for as long as the host is present. If it disolves on your tongue in a few minutes, then that is how long He remains. If you chew or swallow it, it takes about 10-15 minutes for your digestive system to break down the host. Therefore, He remains PHYSICALLY with you longer.

If you don’t want to chew, then that’s fine but it’s better to swallow then to let it disolve.
 
Sir Knight:
Chirst PHYSICALLY (not spiritually) remains with you for as long as the host is present. If it disolves on your tongue in a few minutes, then that is how long He remains. If you chew or swallow it, it takes about 10-15 minutes for your digestive system to break down the host. Therefore, He remains PHYSICALLY with you longer.

If you don’t want to chew, then that’s fine but it’s better to swallow then to let it disolve.
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But you still have to digest the pulp that’s left over when the stuff is done dissolving. Unless I’m talking about something else. By dissolve, does everyone mean completely gone? I let it break up into something analogous to oatmeal and swallow it.

Eamon
 
Yes, that is what I mean. If you swallow something, the body of Christ is still going into your digestive system where it’ll take about 10-15 minutes for your digestive system to break it down. If you let it desolve completely in your mouth, then that is when it is gone.
 
I swallow it without chewing. If it’s small, it’s easy. If it’s big, I prefer to hurt my throat than to chew or even break it. It’s not a matter of a choice of options to me. It has always seemed to me to be the only right way. I don’t know if it’s a sin to chew (not speaking of actual bread chunks), but I can’t see myself doing that.
 
most of the time it goes down fine without a chew
but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do… short of choking

I remember as a child an old nun told me that chewing the host was “snapping the bones of Christ” :rolleyes:

considerinig what happens to the host after you swallow it :eek:
chewing is probably not an issue
 
I am certain that if you do some research (as I recall) the most literal translation of the word “eat” from these scripture passages would be “to gnaw or chew” it was partially this harsh choice of wording that helped to offend the people present (at which point some of them left). I am pretty sure Jesus utilized this word choice to emphasize the gravity and reality of what he was saying.
 
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