Dropped Host

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StJoseph8

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Dropped the Host today when receiving on the tongue. The EMHC picked it up immediately since it fell right next to him. Feel like garbage right now and am a little scared about what will happen the next time. I am now nervous about receiving on the tongue. Any suggesstions? Thanks
 
StJoseph8 said:
Dropped the Host today when receiving on the tongue. The EMHC picked it up immediately since it fell right next to him. Feel like garbage right now and am a little scared about what will happen the next time. I am now nervous about receiving on the tongue. Any suggesstions? Thanks
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Maybe try to stick out your tongue further, it will at least help.

For now just pray for forgiveness, or go to confession of you feel compelled to.
🙂
 
This was an accident. There is nothing to confess. You did not intend for the host to fall off your tongue, did you?

The host can also drop when receiving in the hand.

How long have you been receiving on the tongue? I have been in your shoes a handful of times, once because my tongue was too dry for the host to stick to it, another time because our half-blind resident priest (God bless him) misjudged the distance between my tongue and his hand, and so forth and so on. However, the vast majority of my Communion reception occurs without incident. Nevertheless, today I bit my pastor while he gave me Communion. It’s not the first time and may not be the last, but I didn’t intend to chomp on his finger and both he and the Lord know that. Be at peace. 🙂
 
I’ve been receiving on the tongue myself, because I attend a Polish speaking parish, and the custom there is to receive on the tongue. The altar server holds a paten below one’s throat so that in accidents like this, the host falls on the paten and the priest can pick it up. While I’ve never had this experience personally, I’ve seen this happen numerous times as an altar server. The priest was more annoyed at the server than at the person. I wouldn’t worry about it, it was an accident. You didn’t intentionally try to desecrate the host. You’re not the first person this has happened to, and not the last. Perhaps you did everything right and the EMHC messed up. Maybe they aren’t used to giving on the tongue?

If you’re worried about receiving on the tongue maybe practice at home, by making a family member attempt to give you a small cookie or something similar and you can practice holding out your tongue more and closing a bit later.
 
LVCIVS_DEI said:
Maybe try to stick out your tongue further, it will at least help.

For now just pray for forgiveness, or go to confession of you feel compelled to.
🙂
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I don’t think this even needs to be taken to Confession. It wasn’t intentional. The Lord is not a monster. Did not Our Lord’s own feet touch the ground when He walked on Earth? The Host is Sacred because it is Jesus. Sometimes, I almost feel people admire the Host MORE than Jesus, if you know what I mean. It’s not like OP dropped Him intentionally. He understands. 🙂

OP, go in peace. You have not sinned.
 
Layp3rs0n said:
I don’t think this even needs to be taken to Confession. It wasn’t intentional. The Lord is not a monster. Did not Our Lord’s own feet touch the earth when He walked on Earth? The Host is Sacred because it is Jesus. Sometimes, I almost feel people admire the Host MORE than Jesus, if you know what I mean. It’s not like OP dropped Him intentionally. He understands. 🙂
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Off course but if he really bothers him the pries might be able to help him feel better. 🙂

But good point nontheless. 🙂
 
LVCIVS_DEI said:
Maybe try to stick out your tongue further, it will at least help.

For now just pray for forgiveness, or go to confession of you feel compelled to.
🙂
Click to expand...
I’m an EMHC, it is most helpful for those wishing the receive on the tongue if they will open their mouths a bit wider and stick their tongues out a bit further than they think they’re doing… sometimes it’s a bit tricky to place the host on the tongue.

If you’ve recently started receiving on the tongue, you may want to practice a bit with a family member, god parent, close friend… even with a Deacon or your Priest(s).

As for confession: You are not the first person to drop a consecrated host, you will not be the last, and you give the impression that this was an accident, if so, then there is absolutely no reason to take this to the confessional. We have a loving and merciful God, He loves you, He knows your heart, and He knows this event wasn’t done with malice, forgive yourself and be at peace.
 
OP. No sin in it, so nothing to confess. Accidents happen. Praise Christ that he draws you near, and look forward to receiving Him again and again and again. 🙂
 
StJoseph8 said:
Dropped the Host today when receiving on the tongue. The EMHC picked it up immediately since it fell right next to him. Feel like garbage right now and am a little scared about what will happen the next time. I am now nervous about receiving on the tongue. Any suggesstions? Thanks
Click to expand...
You should not feel like garbage. Our Lord expects this will happen occasionally. Don’t be scared about next time, that will cause nervousness. Just work on doing it properly. Even then many EMHC can struggle with this as well.
 
When children are preparing for First Holy Communion, this is the hardest thing to get across.
The barely poke their tongue through their closed lips and really expect the priest to hit that tiny target. We practice over and over and over.

Practice in a mirror. You likely THINK your tongue is accessible, but it may not be.
At any rate, it’s nothing to beat yourself up about.
Peace.
 
A priest at a retreat I attended talked on forgiveness. One of the people we need to learn to forgive is ourselves. God loves you and you did nothing to intentionally offend him. Learn to forgive yourself since you believe you did something wrong, which you didn’t.
 
z_0101 said:
I’m an EMHC, it is most helpful for those wishing the receive on the tongue if they will open their mouths a bit wider and stick their tongues out a bit further than they think they’re doing… sometimes it’s a bit tricky to place the host on the tongue.
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You are right but I think circumstances work against this happening. I think one challenge is that the communicant has to say amen right before he receives. With few priests and long lines which themselves necessitate having EMHC in the first place there is pressure to keep things moving. This pressure naturally makes it more challenging for communicants to get this right. One nice thing about TLM is the communicant doesn’t have to say amen. I think altar rails, which of course can be used at any Mass, could help a bit as it takes away some of the pressure on the communicant.
 
this happened to me as well, last fall. I was mortified and it took me a few weeks to have the nerve to receive on the tongue again. I did eventually come around and haven’t had any more problems. I think originally, the issue was that our dear older priest has poor vision (wears super thick glasses) and also distributes communion hurriedly for some reason. I still get a little nervous when I’m in line!
 
Come to Mass at a residential care facility. Lots of dropped hosts, and people ready to pick them up.

These things happen.
The wonderful thing is you are at Mass, and receiving the Eucharist. 😇
 
This same thing happened to me not too long ago. I was mortified but I learned from it. Another thing to realize is you need to get closer to the priest, deacon, or EMHC. When you receive on the hand there can be several inches between you and them, think about holding your hands out, and then think about extra length the priest, deacon, or EMHC must reach to reach your tongue. Close the gap.

Be at peace, Jesus Christ knows we are not perfect beings.
 
Layp3rs0n said:
Sometimes, I almost feel people admire the Host MORE than Jesus, if you know what I mean.
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But the Sacred Host is Jesus, and not a symbol. How can one admire Jesus more than Jesus?

As to the OP’s question. No sin was committed as it was an accident.
 
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