Coffee before Mass

[Spirithound]

Is it a sin to receive Holy Communion while under the influence of caffeine? Let us presume that the coffee was finished more than an hour before the Communion Rite.

I have a sense that receiving Holy Communion while under the influence of alcohol is sinful, but what about caffeine?

 

[Bookcat]

Is it a sin to receive Holy Communion while under the influence of caffeine? Let us presume that the coffee was finished more than an hour before the Communion Rite.

I have a sense that receiving Holy Communion while under the influence of alcohol is sinful, but what about caffeine?

No.

Not unless one breaks the fast of an hour before Holy Communion

 

[robertericleech]

Food and drink, including coffee, up to one hour before receiving is fine. We’re Catholic, not Mormon, lol.

I read somewhere that it was a Christian monk who discovered that you could roast and grind coffee beans and make them into a drink. The monks used to drink coffee to stay awake during vigils.

 

[Bookcat]

I read somewhere that it was a Christian monk who discovered that you could roast and grind coffee beans and make them into a drink. The monks used to drink coffee to stay awake during vigils.

hum…not so sure about that. I heard it was of Muslim origins (I was told by a Monk …)…but I am sure someone will find out and let us know.

 

[Ysara]

Food and drink, including coffee, up to one hour before receiving is fine. We’re Catholic, not Mormon, lol.

I read somewhere that it was a Christian monk who discovered that you could roast and grind coffee beans and make them into a drink. The monks used to drink coffee to stay awake during vigils.

As far as I know the Cappucin monks invented Cappuinos ( hope my spelling is right hehe )

 

[Corki]

Is it a sin to receive Holy Communion while under the influence of caffeine? Let us presume that the coffee was finished more than an hour before the Communion Rite.

No. (and what is “under the influence” of caffeine, anyway?)

I have a sense that receiving Holy Communion while under the influence of alcohol is sinful

While it would be disrespectful to go to Communion while drunk, there is no teaching that says you can’t have alcohol in your system.

 

[maltmom]

hum…not so sure about that. I heard it was of Muslim origins (I was told by a Monk …)…but I am sure someone will find out and let us know.

Whoever it was…God bless him. Oh and let us not forget…blessings on the who in 1900 BC made the 1st chocolate beverage.

 

[robertericleech]

hum…not so sure about that. I heard it was of Muslim origins (I was told by a Monk …)…but I am sure someone will find out and let us know.

I looked it up, you’re right! From Wikipedia:

• The earliest credible evidence of either coffee drinking or knowledge of the coffee tree appears in the middle of the fifteenth century, in the Sufi monasteries of the Yemen in southern Arabia.[1] From Mocha, coffee spread to Egypt and North Africa,[2] and by the 16th century, it had reached the rest of the Middle East, Persia and Turkey. From the Muslim world, coffee drinking spread to Italy, then to the rest of Europe, and coffee plants were transported by the Dutch to the East Indies and to the Americas.[3]*

 

[Deo_Gratias42]

Food and drink, including coffee, up to one hour before receiving is fine. We’re Catholic, not Mormon, lol.

Mormons aren’t anti-caffeine. They don’t drink coffee, but they do seem to drink energy drinks in mass quantities, which completely defeats the whole “Word of Wisdom” thing given how unhealthy and dangerous energy drinks are.

 

[garn9173]

Is it a sin to receive Holy Communion while under the influence of caffeine? Let us presume that the coffee was finished more than an hour before the Communion Rite.

I have a sense that receiving Holy Communion while under the influence of alcohol is sinful, but what about caffeine?

Since when is coffee considered alcohol? I’m not a coffee drinker mainly because I don’t like hot water drinks.

No.

Not unless one breaks the fast of an hour before Holy Communion

Considering Holy Communion happens within the last 10 minutes or so of Mass, has long as you are in the pew 15 minutes before the start of Mass, it’s all good

 

[underacloud]

Here’s my Sunday morning routine:

a) Get out of bed, shower and dressed
b) Coffee
c) Get children ready…yell at everyone that we’re going to be late…physically push people out the door…wife is usually last out
d) Madly pack the four children into the car…tell everyone yet again that they need to be ready earlier next week…drive to mass…unpack car, head into mass…hopefully before it has started.
e) Resolve to do better…but next week, more or less repeat a) through d) again.

Important note…step b) is crucial in facilitating steps c) and d).

 

[jenwha]

Re: Coffee before Mass
Here’s my Sunday morning routine:

a) Get out of bed, shower and dressed
b) Coffee
c) Get children ready…yell at everyone that we’re going to be late…physically push people out the door…wife is usually last out
d) Madly pack the four children into the car…tell everyone yet again that they need to be ready earlier next week…drive to mass…unpack car, head into mass…hopefully before it has started.
e) Resolve to do better…but next week, more or less repeat a) through d) again.

Important note…step b) is crucial in facilitating steps c) and d).

That is hilarious!!! At least you have the routine down!!!

 

[jreilly]

Here’s my Sunday morning routine:

a) Get out of bed, shower and dressed
b) Coffee
c) Get children ready…yell at everyone that we’re going to be late…physically push people out the door…wife is usually last out
d) Madly pack the four children into the car…tell everyone yet again that they need to be ready earlier next week…drive to mass…unpack car, head into mass…hopefully before it has started.
e) Resolve to do better…but next week, more or less repeat a) through d) again.

Important note…step b) is crucial in facilitating steps c) and d).

 

[Spirithound]

Food and drink, including coffee, up to one hour before receiving is fine. We’re Catholic, not Mormon, lol.

Ah, well I don’t dispute that moderate use of caffeinated foodstuffs is moral, perhaps just overuse

No. (and what is “under the influence” of caffeine, anyway?)

While it would be disrespectful to go to Communion while drunk, there is no teaching that says you can’t have alcohol in your system.

For the purposes of my brain, “the influence” of caffeine is that blissful awakeness that follows consumption.

Since when is coffee considered alcohol?

It’s not, generally speaking. I was just comparing North America’s two favourite drugs.

Thanks for your answers, everyone.

 

[PrayHarder]

A little off topic, but I intentionally stay away from coffee before Mass. I consider it my little sacrifice. And that cup of coffee tastes that much better afterwards.

 

[LilyM]

As far as I know the Cappucin monks invented Cappuinos ( hope my spelling is right hehe )

No they didn’t. It is so named because the shade of brown of the coffee is similar to that of the Capuchin habit.

 

[Paul_theApostle]

if we drank coffee 55 or 50 minutes before Mass or Communion time,can we or should we still take communion?

does 5 minutes really matter and should we not take Communion because of 5 minutes?

 

[LilyM]

if we drank coffee 55 or 50 minutes before Mass or Communion time,can we or should we still take communion?

does 5 minutes really matter and should we not take Communion because of 5 minutes?

Of course it matters. Not for its own sake, but because obedience matters, and self-discipline matters - and matters hugely. Our Lord said that the one who is faithful in little things will be faithful in big things.

These sort of little disciplines are a training for the soul - a test of how much we value obedience to God and the God-given authorities set over us as opposed to our own selfish pleasure and our own will.

If we cannot, for love of Him, stop drinking that coffee five minutes earlier than we want to, then how can we expect to do well if our faith and self-discipline is really tested - say, if we are asked, as the early Christians were, to worship false Gods for the sake of saving our lives or those of our families?

We would fall sadly short in such tests if we cannot even cheerfully give up coffee for five minutes!

 

[Lost_Sheep]

Food and drink, including coffee, up to one hour before receiving is fine.

I once asked my priest (somewhat tongue-in-cheek), “Father, it is OK to consume water or medicine within one hour of communion and this is not considered breaking the fast, right?”

He said “Yes, that is correct.”

I said “OK. I’m safe if I drink coffee because coffee is mostly water and I consider caffeine to be medicine.”

He was not amused.

 

[mommamaree]

I once asked my priest (somewhat tongue-in-cheek), “Father, it is OK to consume water or medicine within one hour of communion and this is not considered breaking the fast, right?”

He said “Yes, that is correct.”

I said “OK. I’m safe if I drink coffee because coffee is mostly water and I consider caffeine to be medicine.”

He was not amused.

Ha! This is so funny. I actually do not even enjoy coffee, but I use it medicinally. I do not drink it to wake up but rather to promote good digestion and intestinal wellbeing. A few sips of hot coffee everyday can help with this. I hate the jittery feeling I get from fullcaff coffee but it must be fullcaff coffee to work medicinally. There have been many Sunday mornings where I am racing the clock to sip coffee I don’t even enjoy. If it is taken as medicine, then maybe I shouldn’t worry so much. just joking. I do understand the value of obedience, but this is just too funny!