Eucharist breaks accidentally

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Gobbledygook

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Hi,

I just got back from Mass. When I was receiving the Eucharist, I attempted to pick it up in my hand it it broke into two pieces. None of it fell on the ground or anything and also, it didn’t break further, just the two separate pieces.

I’m prone to scrupulosity. I deal with it everyday. My heart basically jumped a mile when it happened and without thinking, I took both pieces and placed them in my mouth as normal and proceeded back to my seat.

Did I do anything wrong? Was this a sin that I did? 🤷

I’ve looked everywhere on this forum for similar examples and from what I’ve seen, it seems like it’s appropriate behavior to make sure that the Eucharist is respected in such a way that it would be consumed entirely.

I’m still not sure though. 😦
 
Um, the priest breaks the Host in half to eat it himself…there’s no sin in breaking it, as long as it doesn’t deliberately get damaged or put somewhere inappropriate. You have done no sin.
 
You said it yourself, “accidental”, in either case there is no alarm in breaking it, you ate it, you didn’t have any other intention for it.
 
Gobbledygook said:
When I was receiving the Eucharist, I attempted to pick it up in my hand it it broke into two pieces. None of it fell on the ground or anything and also, it didn’t break further, just the two separate pieces.

I’m prone to scrupulosity. I deal with it everyday. My heart basically jumped a mile when it happened and without thinking…
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Personally I’m inclined to think that deliberately sticking the host in your mouth and chewing on it is, if anything, more questionable than accidentally breaking it in half…
…maybe that’s just me though? :rolleyes: [/sarcasm] lol 😛
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Gobbledygook said:
…I took both pieces and placed them in my mouth as normal and proceeded back to my seat.

Did I do anything wrong? Was this a sin that I did? 🤷
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No. 👍 You did exactly the right thing… for that matter, there’s nothing else you really could have done. But for future reference, even if you had intentionally broken the host (for the right reasons), there wouldn’t be any sin involved at all.

For example, breaking it into smaller pieces in order to make it easier for yourself (or others) to consume it is perfectly valid… and in fact, this can happen all the time when communion is being distributed. Crushing it in your hand, however, as a deliberate act of disrespect towards the Eucharist, would most certainly be a grave sin. The fact is simply that a whole lot of it is going to have to go into what your intentions were at the time.
Gobbledygook said:
…from what I’ve seen, it seems like it’s appropriate behavior to make sure that the Eucharist is respected in such a way that it would be consumed entirely.
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That’s correct. You’re perfectly in the clear. 🙂
 
Gobbledygook said:
Hi,

I just got back from Mass. When I was receiving the Eucharist, I attempted to pick it up in my hand it it broke into two pieces. None of it fell on the ground or anything and also, it didn’t break further, just the two separate pieces.

I’m prone to scrupulosity. I deal with it everyday. My heart basically jumped a mile when it happened and without thinking, I took both pieces and placed them in my mouth as normal and proceeded back to my seat.

Did I do anything wrong? Was this a sin that I did? 🤷

I’ve looked everywhere on this forum for similar examples and from what I’ve seen, it seems like it’s appropriate behavior to make sure that the Eucharist is respected in such a way that it would be consumed entirely.

I’m still not sure though. 😦
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Should all of the Catholic community be as concerned and devoted to the Eucharist as you are! Not only did you do nothing wrong but you reinforced your own extreme reverence for such an infinitely extreme Gift…teachccd 🙂
 
Everyone here has given good advice. I personally do not receive our Lord in my hand. I refuse to touch Him and feel I have no right, so out of respect for his transubstantiated state, I receive in the mouth, as many of my fellow parishioners do.

This also serves to avoid accidents like yours. 😃

Sometimes people don’t realize how delicate the Host actually is and they apply too much pressure. It’s not their fault as some Hosts are quite durable (and thicker) and it’s hard to judge beforehand how much pressure to apply. We should all be gentle with Our Lord, and whether we receive on the tongue or in the hands, do it with love and gentleness. Not in a rushed, get me in get me out sort of deal. Sometimes priests feel rushed and accidents like these are their fault, since they’re dispensing the Hosts at a high rate of speed, where if they slowed down and were more reverent themselves in the dispensing, they would be doing their part in avoiding accidents like this. Some priests are very rough with Our Lord, and some are very gentle and extremely reverent. So in the overall scheme of things, the only thing you really can do is apologize to Our Lord for any accidents, and carry on with consuming him.
 
The_Otaku said:
So in the overall scheme of things, the only thing you really can do is apologize to Our Lord for any accidents, and carry on with consuming him.
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Can I quote you on that? Out of context? Please? … 😛

laughing… oh man… only on a Catholic forum board. 😃
 
Traddy said:
Um, the priest breaks the Host in half to eat it himself…there’s no sin in breaking it, as long as it doesn’t deliberately get damaged or put somewhere inappropriate. You have done no sin.
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True…but don’t go breaking it. That should be left to the priest and if directed by the priest the EMHC. However, I remember receiving Eucharist daily in the seminary and it fell apart everyday. I licked it off my hands and fingers. There was nothing else to do.

Funny story. I was visiting my now wife’s church in the beginning of our relationship. They have the Lord’s Supper every Sunday… She broke a cracker and then flaked it off her fingers. I almost died out of habit. I made a death dive for it but didn’t realize what I had done until mid air. My wife [girl friend [not girfriend]] said with a surprized voice…“what are you doing?” I looked at her in embarassment and told her oh, that’s right ya’ll don’t believe in the real presence. Many years later we discussed this as she converted to Catholicism… She had never seen a priest, monk or sister, nun. She studied and accepted the real presence and we laugh about this now. I made a fool of myself in her church.
 
vocatio said:
I made a fool of myself in her church.
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Ah, but how much better to make a fool of yourself for the right reasons. Her (then) church should have seen in your actions what they were missing - reverence for the Eucharist, and the fact that there was no Real Presence to be diving for. Rather than look foolish, you remind them of their lack.
Happily, a fool for Christ!
 
This shows why it is best to always receive Communion on the tongue.
 
Gobbledygook said:
Hi,
Did I do anything wrong? Was this a sin that I did? 🤷
😦
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It wasn’t a sin. You were holding Living Flesh and Blood and from it you can expect some unbreadly behaviour, you know.

Remember that it is only in appearance that you took a piece of bread and it broke. In reality that was flesh and blood flowing therein. Accidents happen and some of them are now widely known as Eucharistic miracles. Indeed, each Eucharist is the same miracle as those.

Google Lanciano, Ferrara, Bolsena-Orvieta, Blanot, Amsterdam, Sienna, places of Eucharistic miracles. 🙂
 
Rather than sin, it just might have been the most blessed Eucharist you ever received. It was just as Christ Himself gave it to the Apostles:

Matthew 26:26 While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is my body.”

Mark 14:22 While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take it; this is my body.”

Luke 22:19 And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.”

Luke 24:30 When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them.

Luke 24:35 Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread.

Even if His Body falls to the floor, you may pick it up and consume it. Accidents are accidents. Sin is sin. The Lord, Who loves you immeasurably knows the difference, and knows your heart.

Christ’s peace be always with you.
 
The_Otaku said:
I refuse to touch Him and feel I have no right, so out of respect for his transubstantiated state, I receive in the mouth, as many of my fellow parishioners do.
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Ahhhhh…“touch” means to “come into or to be in contact with something”- so you’re touching Our Lord regardless of how you receive Him. A touch is a touch whether by hand or by tongue.
🤷
 
Feedmysheep said:
Ahhhhh…“touch” means to “come into or to be in contact with something”- so you’re touching Our Lord regardless of how you receive Him. A touch is a touch whether by hand or by tongue.
🤷
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Touche.

However, the manner in which he is received makes a difference to many of us. I can’t speak for anyone else, but I feel it’s more proper and dignified to receive without touching him with our hands. We toil with our hands, we sin with our hands, and our hands are dirty. And while the same can be said of our mouth or tongue, I feel that stretching out your arms and hands, and taking him from the hands of another somehow seems out of place. By receiving on the tongue I feel as though I’m being nourished directly and immediately by God, and that, in place of the priest, it is Jesus’ hand giving his body directly to mine, rather than being ‘transported’ from my hand to my mouth. It’s direct contact of his deity with my mouth, which will consume him. To me, and this is just ME talking here, it feels like a more pure experience, because I’ve had it both ways after years of receiving in the hands and the emotions I’ve felt are sometimes different.

While receiving communion ends in the same manner, I feel the inbetween of possessing the eucharist yourself with your own hands is unnecessary and that this contact is unnecessary. Direct from the priest’s hand to my mouth is how I feel it ought to be. I feel there’s an attempt at humility there. The less time the host is spent traveling the less it is inconvenienced by the possibility of blunder, error, or sacrilege on the part of the recipient.

I think, for alot of people who receive with their hands, theres a pride (sometimes also an embarrassment) involved that dissuades them from receiving on the tongue. They prefer to possess the host first, then consume it. Some of these same people also don’t kneel at the rail (if there isn’t one, they don’t genuflect or bow or give some gesture before saying their amen.

I’m not criticizing these people at all since I used to be one of them, though I often wonder what’s going through their heads and what their reasoning is behind it. What brought them to that decision. Same thoughts for the people who are standing when everyone else is kneeling. Sometimes it’s an uncomfortable thought that we’re not all on the same page. If it was irreverence (which I am not accusing anyone of, though I’m sure for some that is the case) it would be obvious, since their general conduct during mass would be lax in other noticable areas as well.

To each his own, I guess. Receiving our Lord is what’s most important here. 🙂
 
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