"Eucharistic Bread" label on EMHC clothing

[VeronicaAnne]

I was visiting a parish different from my own recently. There, the woman who was dispensing the consecrated host to folks who approached her was wearing a small, paper label attached to her upper shoulder. It had been cut with scissors into a 2 inch by 3 inch rectangle. Not even inside one of those plastic “name tag” pins that are used to put a piece of paper that has your name in at business meetings.

It was just a piece of paper that said “Eucharistic Bread.”



Has anybody else had this experience?

I was very distracted as I approached her… my left hand with flat palm laying on top of my right hand’s flat palm… as usual.

Instead of anticipating receiving Jesus’s own Self… Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity… I was thinking only…

"What is that label doing on her shoulder? Besides… “it’s” NOT “Eucharistic Bread!” It’s Jesus Himself… Body, Blood, Soul, AND Divinity!

Good thing I gently let that thought go out of my mind by the time I lifted my open palms, ready to say “Amen!”

Even now, I don’t remember what she said… if anything… as she handed Him over to my open palms.

No other EMHC had any type of label on their clothes, at all. So I don’t think it was a trigger for when she was around the altar that she was to be given the bowl that held consecrated Hosts.

What do you think? Or… am I out of whack even thinking that there was something if not “wrong,” but at least not usual nor to be expected that she have any kind of label of this type on her clothes at all?

 

[Hotchkiss]

I was visiting a parish different from my own recently. There, the woman who was dispensing the consecrated host to folks who approached her was wearing a small, paper label attached to her upper shoulder. It had been cut with scissors into a 2 inch by 3 inch rectangle. Not even inside one of those plastic “name tag” pins that are used to put a piece of paper that has your name in at business meetings.

It was just a piece of paper that said “Eucharistic Bread.”



Has anybody else had this experience?

I was very distracted as I approached her… my left hand with flat palm laying on top of my right hand’s flat palm… as usual.

Instead of anticipating receiving Jesus’s own Self… Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity… I was thinking only…

"What is that label doing on her shoulder? Besides… “it’s” NOT “Eucharistic Bread!” It’s Jesus Himself… Body, Blood, Soul, AND Divinity!

Good thing I gently let that thought go out of my mind by the time I lifted my open palms, ready to say “Amen!”

Even now, I don’t remember what she said… if anything… as she handed Him over to my open palms.

No other EMHC had any type of label on their clothes, at all. So I don’t think it was a trigger for when she was around the altar that she was to be given the bowl that held consecrated Hosts.

What do you think? Or… am I out of whack even thinking that there was something if not “wrong,” but at least not usual nor to be expected that she have any kind of label of this type on her clothes at all?

That’s too bad. From my own experience, far too many EMsHC don’t have a clue. At my church we have a sign-in board with a map of where people are going to stand. Many times I hear “we need two more wines and a bread!” (3 EMsHC) from one of the EMsHC just before Mass begins. Now when I hear that I make a fairly direct correction.

 

[NPC]

My question would be, why did she have a label attached to her clothing at all? It seems utterly ridiculous - perhaps if the label had said “Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion” it would have made slightly more sense. Generally a label refers to the object to which it is attached, i.e. the label in this case referring to the person who was wearing it!

As for it being called Eucharistic Bread, this does not deny the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist - though in former times, I probably would have thought similarly to you! The General Instruction on the Roman Missal, for example, refers to the priest breaking “the Eucharistic Bread” (paragraph 83). I know that there are other ecclesiastical documents which use the same term. The crucial word, however, is “Eucharistic” - it is not ordinary bread. It is different - it is the Bread of Life, the Bread come down from Heaven, Christ Himself. Saint Paul also referred to the Eucharist in his letters as “Bread” - but it was clearly not ordinary bread that he was talking about, because if it were ordinary bread, how could one, by receiving it unworthily, be guilty of the body and blood of Christ? He too, was certainly talking about the True Presence of Christ in the Eucharist.

Overall, though, as I said, the silliest part of the whole thing was wearing the label

 

[MusicMan]

Makes me wonder if she was supposed to prepare the unconsecrated hosts or pick them up from wherever your church gets them from prior to Mass. It was a reminder or a “shopping list” of sorts, and she forgot to remove it after her task was completed.

 

[bpbasilphx]

\“it’s” NOT “Eucharistic Bread!” It’s Jesus Himself… Body, Blood, Soul, AND Divinity!\

What else does “Eucharistic Bread” mean but the Holy Mystery of Christ’s Body?

 

[agapewolf]

It sounds to me as if it is to label her particular job, as opposed to the distributing of the precious blood. (Everybody doesn’t have to be labeled for that to be a possibility).Probably not worded the best…however, remember, in the Eucharistic prayers itself…in the memorial acclamation, we say “when we eat this bread and drink this cup”.

Maybe it wasn’t the best decision to label it that way, but I don’t think its something to be that upset about.

 

[VeronicaAnne]

Thanks to everybody for your feedback.

In case anyone thinks that I’m upset… just please know that I’m not “that upset,” at all.

I was expressing that it was completely unexpected that anybody would be wearing a label on their clothing, much less that the label was “Eucharistic Bread.”

I know that the consecrated Host IS the Eucharistic Bread. I know all the Scriptural and doctrinal references made to Jesus AS BEING the Bread. But it’s not like “Eucharistic Bread” is a two-word phrase you ever hear in normal discourse.

I’m satisfied thinking that that it’s probably as someone here has suggested. I hadn’t thought of that reason – that the label “used to be” on the container. And she took if off the container really quick so that it would not be on the container. And the only place she had to “stash” the label was on the front of her left shoulder, which is the exact location that I saw it.

No other EMHC had a label of any kind on their clothing.

It was the Sunday evening Mass at that parish. I go to that church only when I’ve missed the morning Masses at my parish. So I have no idea if this is a “new” method they use there.

 

[agapewolf]

I was very distracted as I approached her… my left hand with flat palm laying on top of my right hand’s flat palm… as usual.

Instead of anticipating receiving Jesus’s own Self… Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity…** I was thinking only…**

"What is that label doing on her shoulder? Besides… “it’s” NOT “Eucharistic Bread!” It’s Jesus Himself… Body, Blood, Soul, AND Divinity!

Good thing I gently let that thought go out of my mind by the time I lifted my open palms, ready to say “Amen!”

Even now, I don’t remember what she said… if anything… as she handed Him over to my open palms.

?

Well, this manner of writing with the smilie and the exclamation points make it seem as if one would be upset.

Anyway, my comment was more generic.

 

[bpbasilphx]

\I was expressing that it was completely unexpected that anybody would be wearing a label on their clothing, much less that the label was “Eucharistic Bread.”\

What was the label supposed to say?

 

[peary1]

I was visiting a parish different from my own recently. There, the woman who was dispensing the consecrated host to folks who approached her was wearing a small, paper label attached to her upper shoulder. It had been cut with scissors into a 2 inch by 3 inch rectangle. Not even inside one of those plastic “name tag” pins that are used to put a piece of paper that has your name in at business meetings.

It was just a piece of paper that said “Eucharistic Bread.”

Was she intimating that *she *

 

[ProVobis]

sounds like an ego thing to me!
Is she also a walmart greeter??

Explains a lot of things, doesn’t it?