Dropping the Sacrament

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Hanna_C

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So this is kind of embarrassing, but about six months ago, I dropped the host during communion. I wasn’t sure what to do, so I just picked it up and ate it. (I don’t think anybody saw.) After Mass, I asked my dad if I should have done anything else, and he said I was probably fine, so I more or less forgot about it.
Now I know that the proper thing to do is to purify the ground. So I’m wondering, should I let the priest know what happened? (I’m away from home right now, so I would have to call or send an email.)
 
No, that’s not necessary. What you did is just fine… just be careful and if it ever happens again…just pause and look at the ground making sure you picked up everything visible.

They will purify if you spilled the consecrated wine. If you ever notice a spill…stand in front until someone can come and help. They simply will pour a little water on the spill and blot with a purificator. The water breaks down the elements of wine and since it is no longer wine, it is no long the precious blood that was it consecrated into.

This happens all the time. It wasn’t intentional and you should put yourself at ease.

God bless
 
Hanna_C said:
So this is kind of embarrassing, but about six months ago, I dropped the host during communion. I wasn’t sure what to do, so I just picked it up and ate it. (I don’t think anybody saw.) After Mass, I asked my dad if I should have done anything else, and he said I was probably fine, so I more or less forgot about it.
Now I know that the proper thing to do is to purify the ground. So I’m wondering, should I let the priest know what happened? (I’m away from home right now, so I would have to call or send an email.)
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Far from embarrassing, I commend you! 👍 Most people I know wouldn’t have the faith to partake of Christ in the Eucharist off of the floor (they’d be thinking about germs). 🙂
 
Consuming the host is the proper way to treat It if it has been dropped 🙂 the Precious Blood, as others have posted, is a whole 'nuther story
 
Hanna_C said:
So this is kind of embarrassing, but about six months ago, I dropped the host during communion. I wasn’t sure what to do, so I just picked it up and ate it. (I don’t think anybody saw.) After Mass, I asked my dad if I should have done anything else, and he said I was probably fine, so I more or less forgot about it.
Now I know that the proper thing to do is to purify the ground. So I’m wondering, should I let the priest know what happened? (I’m away from home right now, so I would have to call or send an email.)
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For what it’s worth, you should always consume the Blessed Sacrament in front of the priest or eucharistic minister as soon as you receive, and not, for instance, as you are walking back to your pew. Thus the person who handed it to you ought to be in a position to notice if you drop it, and he or she will have the training to know what to do.
 
I wasn’t carrying it back to the pew; it was on the way to receive the wine. So I’d taken maybe a step or two, but the EM had turned their attention to the next person.
 
MichaelHowling said:
No, that’s not necessary. …]

This happens all the time. It wasn’t intentional and you should put yourself at ease.

God bless
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This is a very bad attitude to have towards the Blessed Sacrament. Have we become that complacement that “this happens all the time” has become the attitude towards the Blessed Sacrament?!?!! This didn’t use to “happen all the time.” Prior to communion in the hand, there weren’t an army of EMHC’s distributing communion, making it difficult to impossible to keep an eye on these types of things. When the priest(s) distribute communion on the tongue at the communion rail, there is an altar boy with a paten to make sure dropped hosts happen very rarely, if ever. I have only seen a dropped host once that was dropped on the white cloth on the communion rail. After Mass, the priest came out and meticulously purified the cloth for crumbs and got out a magnifying glass to make sure he got them all.

The next time this happens, make sure you let the priest know. Better yet, encourage your priest to bring back the use of patens.
 
Hanna_C said:
I wasn’t carrying it back to the pew; it was on the way to receive the wine. So I’d taken maybe a step or two, but the EM had turned their attention to the next person.
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You should still consume it in front of the person who distributed it. It also protects against people mistaking you for walking away with it.
 
MichaelHowling said:
No, that’s not necessary. What you did is just fine… just be careful and if it ever happens again…just pause and look at the ground making sure you picked up everything visible.

They will purify if you spilled the consecrated wine. If you ever notice a spill…stand in front until someone can come and help. They simply will pour a little water on the spill and blot with a purificator. The water breaks down the elements of wine and since it is no longer wine, it is no long the precious blood that was it consecrated into.

This happens all the time. It wasn’t intentional and you should put yourself at ease.

God bless
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wait what? what do you mean “water breaks down the elements of wine”? it dilutes it…but it’s still wine…
 
Deo_Gratias42 said:
This is a very bad attitude to have towards the Blessed Sacrament. Have we become that complacement that “this happens all the time” has become the attitude towards the Blessed Sacrament?!?!! This didn’t use to “happen all the time.” Prior to communion in the hand, there weren’t an army of EMHC’s distributing communion, making it difficult to impossible to keep an eye on these types of things.
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Aside from blowing matters out of proportion, it seems you distrust the Church’s assessment of that risk.
 
Deo_Gratias42 said:
You should still consume it in front of the person who distributed it. It also protects against people mistaking you for walking away with it.
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I agree wholeheartedly with this! 👍 But, in practice, I see people (in the Latin Church) receive in the hand then two short steps to the side to commune in order to free the line. I think that this is pretty widespread in the area that I live in. 😦
 
Another reason why COTT is better :D. Never have instances where people walk away to the side to put it in their mouth and have less of a chance of dropping it.👍
 
Thank you bezant!

Deo…pump the breaks! I’m not being discrespectful to our Lord in the Eucharist… I simply said that this occurance happens ! I’m not throwing a party about it… I simply said that …hey…it happens!

wow…
 
Only once has this happened to me.The this young priest was hesitant on placing the Host on my tongue & dropped it.As I was picking it up to eat, he asked me if I was OK with that & I answered Amen shaking nodding my head yes. I had the impression he would have had I not. Some behind me seemed surprised that I had done so. I was taught to do this at an early age.I saw no crumbs or broken pieces. I wish they would bring back the Paten.
 
datritle

yes. If you have a small amount of wine…and you continue to add water to it…at some point you don’t have wine anymore. It’s elements are broken down.

Since there is no more wine, there is no wine that is consecrated, hence the presence of Christ is no longer there, since you have a spot of water (which was not consecrated…only the wine was once).

This is called the sacramental principle.

This is what the priest is doing when he pours water into the chalices holding consecrated wine after everyone has taken communion. He is “purifying the vessels”

Likewise, if someone has eaten a host and for whatever reason spits it out…lets say someone who is sick or a child who was frightened at communion… they have a container of water where the host can be placed. As the consecrated hosts is fully emersed in water, it breaks apart and no longer is bread…then this water is pourd in a special place where it goes directly to ground where no one will be walking (most sacristys have special sinks for this purpose).
 
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