fix:
I have a question for you. I have read that studies have shown the smallest amout found to cause an immune response is 0.1g of gluten or any other protein in question. How big of a piece of host would that be? Less than that can be tolerated by most celiac folks. The disease, like all disease, comes in many forms and degrees. Drinking the wine, or even mustum, is the solution I know, but what happens if one were to kiss someone who ate apiece of bread, do they have diarrhea, or other symptoms in a short time?
Peanut allergy is not a fair comparison. One can be immediately life threatening and one is not.
I also suffer from severe peanut and tree nut allergies (and must carry an Epi-Pen and all that) so I am fully aware that they are different, but they are both life threatening. Peanuts will kill me immediately if I’m not careful, consuming the Host will slowly destroy my intestines and lead to an agonizing death by colon cancer at a young age. Somehow, the peanut option almost seems more attractive. I don’t think either is what Jesus would desire, so I am eternally grateful for the opportunity to recieve the Precious Blood.
I am not as severely celiac as the rest of my family - testing with a small piece of Host (maybe 1/4") made me sick; I personally tolerated the low-gluten Host fine but the rest of my family suffered from diarrhea within an hour. Usually we can handle trace amounts once in awhile - except for my autistic brother, who reacts literally to parts per million. He can’t kiss anyone who’s eaten bread and not brushed their teeth (and not even then, if the toothpaste contained gluten, which many do). Gluten can be found in makeup, shampoos and soaps, vinegars, medicines, any food that contains maltodextrin, most with “natural flavorings”, etc. There’s flour in drywall dust, that he cannot breath in. It’s so much more than “just bread”.
You’re absolutely right that it comes in many forms and degrees - each person just in my family is different (for instance, I tolerate more wheat gluten than the others but cannot eat oats, my mother has no problem with oats but cannot handle wheat. None of us do well with barley).
I think the mother in this case is absolutely wrong with how she’s going about things, and in pressing for a rice wafer, but I do feel her frustration at those that say, “just a little piece”. Or 'it’s Jesus, not bread" when she knows that will still make her child sick. Unless you’re the mother, or the child, you don’t know what she can or cannot tolerate. I’ve read that she was “in agony” after receiving the Blood, because of a yeast allergy - if that is also true, she needs to console herself with a Spiritual Communion.
