Drinking from the cup of wine

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Just asking: would it be acceptable to dip instead of drink? Iirc it’s called intincture, and I read about it being used historically pre-reformation.
If so, it would cover that part of their squemishness if they want to convert later.
 
Only the priest is allowed to intinct the Body of Christ and give to the person receiving Holy Communion.

The chalice edges are wiped and turned before next communicant receives the Blood of Christ. A priest I know told me that in the 50 years he had been a priest, there were only two days he didn’t celebrate Mass and during those two days he was in hospital and not allowed to eat or drink.

Doctors in my neighbouring parish say, that it is more likely to catch bacteria and viruses from travelling on the underground than receiving from the chalice. It is polite not to receive the Blood of Christ if you are sick, but then on the other hand what are you doing in church if you are sick and spreading viruses and bacteria to other people in the first place? There is no obligation to go to Mass if you are sick.
 
More likely to get sick from the Holy Water font. That water gets nasty dirty from all the fingers, hands, arms (yes, some people basically wash their hands and forearms in the water). Then you splash that germy water on your face.
 
Talitha712 said:
But I will say priests drink after everyone else has all the time, and my priests don’t seem to get sick any more frequently than others.
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To be fair, you probably only typically see them once a week, too.
 
kitah said:
they could not drink from the cup of wine that everyone else drinks from
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If it were me, I would say I agree…I don’t like the idea of drinking from a communal cup either. But since it’s optional, I don’t do it. Not a problem.
 
Christ is fully present in both species. If you don’t receive the Blood, that’s not a problem. I rarely drink from the chalice because I’m a singer and don’t usually like to risk getting sick. I don’t think the Real Presence is normally proof against viruses. I’ve even seen the parish priest, when he has a particularly bad cold, partake via tincture. (He might do this every time he’s sick, but I’m in the back of the church and often not wearing my glasses, so I wouldn’t see it!)
 
It’s definitely not required that Catholics receive from the chalice. The chalice is rarely distributed to the faithful in my archdiocese. In fact, in much of the world it isn’t. Logistically it is much easier to simply distribute the Host.
 
Growing up in the Church of England, I received their Holy Communion in the same way as I receive the Precious Blood now - everyone is offered the same chalice, which is wiped between communicants.

So you could tell your relatives that it’s not just Catholics who do it this way! 🙂
 
Yeah. I’ve always kind of had a problem with that mindset. When I was under 18, my parents came very close to forbidding me from receiving the Precious Blood because they thought I would get a serious disease from the common cup. They ultimately left the decision to me, but put a great deal of pressure on me to abstain from it. I went along with it until I turned 18 but never agreed with them. I just can’t help seeing that mindset as — Jesus gives us His Blood poured out on the cross, His greatest gift to us, and we say, “Uh, thanks but no thanks, Jesus…there’s too much of a risk of getting sick.” :roll_eyes:
 
The CDC study said that people in the denominations with a shared communion cup do not get communicable diseases at a higher rate than people in the same congregations who do not partake. This could be because people take the common-sense step of not receiving that way when they aren’t feeling well. For whatever reason, the statistics aren’t there to show it is some big risk.

Having said that, the Church does not teach that the faithful are miraculously protected from contracting diseases while performing religious duties. The difference between receiving from the cup or not is sign value, not the actual fullness of reception of the Body and Blood of the Lord, which is the same when under only one species as it is when received under both species.
 
TheLittleLady said:
More likely to get sick from the Holy Water font. That water gets nasty dirty from all the fingers, hands, arms (yes, some people basically wash their hands and forearms in the water). Then you splash that germy water on your face.
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There is no data to support that contention, either. I have never seen anybody washing their hands and forearms in holy water…that woudl be very odd! Our parish does properly dispose of the holy water weekly, washes the liners, and replaces the water with fresh holy water.
 
It’s entirely our choice if we drink from the Chalice of Precious Blood. At Masses in different Churches here the Host is on offer. In other churches, both. They are both the Body Blood Soul and Divinity of Christ.

No one should be judging you for your choices.

🙏🕊️
 
You are too funny philipl! Go for it! bear down, clinch your eyes, pinch your nose, make a face, and just take a sip!

Yes, in and of itself, thinking of how things go … we are sharing the same cup with a hundred strangers! ewww! gross! I know! Ah well, what can we do? If we are to take the blood of the new covenant, then just take it! On one level, Jesus shared with the apostles and they all drank from the same cup. If I’m the last one for the chalice, I’ll look behind me, make sure nobody is behind me, then just finish the cup! If I don’t, it will just end up going into that hole in the ground thing.

I totally understand! I’m grossed out every time I take the wine! But, I find comfort in that everyone that partakes of the wine shares in God’s new covenant (we would also share with just the bread too, of course).
 
It’s a true statement. A Catholic can take both the Host and the Precious Blood, or only the Host, and some with dietary issues might choose to only take the Precious Blood.

Tell them they are correct and it’s great they are thinking about what if’s , if they become Catholic. Pray for them.
 
No worries! I know having a schedule that allows me to go to daily mass is a rare luxury
 
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