Eucharistic Bread

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Trevelyan

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What do you think about using bread for the Eucharist that looks more like bread than a ‘host’ does?

I don’t necessarily mean home baked stuff, but just larger breads etc to be broken up rather than pre-manufactured circles of bread?
 
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Trevelyan:
What do you think about using bread for the Eucharist that looks more like bread than a ‘host’ does?

I don’t necessarily mean home baked stuff, but just larger breads etc to be broken up rather than pre-manufactured circles of bread?
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That is Ok as long as it is made of nothing except water and wheat flour.
 
Fidei Defensor:
…AND unleavened (no yeast)!!
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Isn’t that what Bro Rich said. He said only water and wheat flour. Water and flour have no yeast.
 
It was a long time ago that a directive came out (sorry, I don’t have the source) that the host was to look more like bread; at the time the hosts used were very thin and off-white. That has resulted in the general use of hosts that are thicker, and generally of the color of wheat bread.

As to making hosts, one needs a certain amount of expertise, as one should make bread that doesn’t crumble a lot; if for no other reason than avoiding the issue of crumbs, and the fact that some would be less than reverent in cleaning up and consuming them.
 
In the olden days the host tasted like and seemed very similar to gold fish food that used to come in square sheets. As kids we cut out hosts from it to play Mass. Wonder if kids do that any more. The new thin whole wheat hosts seem much better in “mouth feel”. Actually I once would have said that some form of flat bread would be a good thing, but to be truthful that proved to be a pain( lots of crumbs, took forever to break into bite size pieces by a gaggle of EMHCs). Whats wrong with the pre-manufactured whole wheat discs? After all Its what is present after the consecration, not what it looks and tastes like. I am becoming more and more convinced with all this GIRM stuff and quibbling about altar girls etc. on and on infinitum that we are losing sight of what is going down at Mass. Knowing or thinking we know so much puts us in liturgy police mode and the spiritual seems to slip away with concern for the least little screw up in the liturgy. I will admit that some of the gross errors are totally shameful and discouraging.
 
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rwoehmke:
In the olden days the host tasted like and seemed very similar to gold fish food that used to come in square sheets. As kids we cut out hosts from it to play Mass. Wonder if kids do that any more. The new thin whole wheat hosts seem much better in “mouth feel”. Actually I once would have said that some form of flat bread would be a good thing, but to be truthful that proved to be a pain( lots of crumbs, took forever to break into bite size pieces by a gaggle of EMHCs). Whats wrong with the pre-manufactured whole wheat discs? After all Its what is present after the consecration, not what it looks and tastes like. I am becoming more and more convinced with all this GIRM stuff and quibbling about altar girls etc. on and on infinitum that we are losing sight of what is going down at Mass. Knowing or thinking we know so much puts us in liturgy police mode and the spiritual seems to slip away with concern for the least little screw up in the liturgy. I will admit that some of the gross errors are totally shameful and discouraging.
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AMEN!!! :bowdown2:

I’m not even Catholic, yet and I wonder why so many people on these forums and over coffee and donuts after Mass want to bicker about meaningless, smallest of “t” traditions.

Let’s focus on the TRUTH!
:blessyou:
 
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Trevelyan:
What do you think about using bread for the Eucharist that looks more like bread than a ‘host’ does?

I don’t necessarily mean home baked stuff, but just larger breads etc to be broken up rather than pre-manufactured circles of bread?
Click to expand...
The problem with that is it would be more likely to crumble, and remember after consecration, it is no longer bread! It is Our Lord! It would be disrespectful to have Our Lord crumbling all over the place, especially in this country(america) were so many people recieve communion by hand.

Plus, it must be made out of only wheat and water, with no leaven…I don’t know if you ever baked bread…but hard to get positive results without leaven. I guess pita bread would come close, but I am sure it has some type of oil in it…don’t really know, never made pita.

Peace be with you…Pam
 
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LeahInancsi:
AMEN!!! :bowdown2:

I’m not even Catholic, yet and I wonder why so many people on these forums and over coffee and donuts after Mass want to bicker about meaningless, smallest of “t” traditions.

Let’s focus on the TRUTH!
:blessyou:
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I agree with that, however this thread is about big "T"s…the Eucharist…and Welcome Home, your going to love being Catholic! Catholicism is awesome…Peace be with you…Pam
 
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rwoehmke:
In the olden days the host tasted like and seemed very similar to gold fish food that used to come in square sheets. As kids we cut out hosts from it to play Mass. Wonder if kids do that any more.
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We used (name?) Necco candiy wafers…
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rwoehmke:
Whats wrong with the pre-manufactured whole wheat discs? After all Its what is present after the consecration, not what it looks and tastes like.
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well, I think the reason that the Church had us use the whole wheat discs is because they are more like bread than what we used to have, and the Gospels and Paul say “He took bread…”. one does not have to be anachronistic to do the same thing.

It (the discussion) reminds me of the question that still pops up about chewing; I am sure that God loves all the old (and deceased) nuns who said that one was absolutely not to chew (of course, that presumed that one could get it unstuck from the roof of the mouth).
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rwoehmke:
I am becoming more and more convinced with all this GIRM stuff and quibbling about altar girls etc. on and on infinitum that we are losing sight of what is going down at Mass. Knowing or thinking we know so much puts us in liturgy police mode and the spiritual seems to slip away with concern for the least little screw up in the liturgy. I will admit that some of the gross errors are totally shameful and discouraging.
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I would agree with the issue of gross errors. I am also seeing a number of questions about the legitimacy of perfectly ok options and rites/rituals. It seems we not only have the liturgical police hunting down every possible slight mis-step or error, but we now have others infected with the idea that anything they are not absolutely familiar with must be heterodox. Kinda makes one wonder what the mind is concentrating on; the prayer, or the format.
 
This is one of the things I love about the Byzantine Rite.

Before the start of the Divine Liturgy our bread looks very much like bread. It has to do with our use of leavening.

But having said that. I have no problem with what is used in the Latin Rite.
 
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PassthePeace1:
Plus, it must be made out of only wheat and water, with no leaven…I don’t know if you ever baked bread…but hard to get positive results without leaven. I guess pita bread would come close, but I am sure it has some type of oil in it…don’t really know, never made pita.

Peace be with you…Pam
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I still can hear Father Corapi’s famous “Don’t mess with it!” [The Eucharist] when he heard of a parish using vanilla flavoring and sugar in their “Eucharist” (emphasis on quotation marks).
 
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otm:
We used (name?) Necco candiy wafers…

well, I think the reason that the Church had us use the whole wheat discs is because they are more like bread than what we used to have, and the Gospels and Paul say “He took bread…”. one does not have to be anachronistic to do the same thing.

It (the discussion) reminds me of the question that still pops up about chewing; I am sure that God loves all the old (and deceased) nuns who said that one was absolutely not to chew (of course, that presumed that one could get it unstuck from the roof of the mouth). I would agree with the issue of gross errors. I am also seeing a number of questions about the legitimacy of perfectly ok options and rites/rituals. It seems we not only have the liturgical police hunting down every possible slight mis-step or error, but we now have others infected with the idea that anything they are not absolutely familiar with must be heterodox. Kinda makes one wonder what the mind is concentrating on; the prayer, or the format.
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See post #7 above.

How many times can I post the same response in one thread?

:amen: :blessyou:
 
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rwoehmke:
In the olden days the host tasted like and seemed very similar to gold fish food that used to come in square sheets. As kids we cut out hosts from it to play Mass. Wonder if kids do that any more. The new thin whole wheat hosts seem much better in “mouth feel”. Actually I once would have said that some form of flat bread would be a good thing, but to be truthful that proved to be a pain( lots of crumbs, took forever to break into bite size pieces by a gaggle of EMHCs). Whats wrong with the pre-manufactured whole wheat discs? After all Its what is present after the consecration, not what it looks and tastes like. I am becoming more and more convinced with all this GIRM stuff and quibbling about altar girls etc. on and on infinitum that we are losing sight of what is going down at Mass. Knowing or thinking we know so much puts us in liturgy police mode and the spiritual seems to slip away with concern for the least little screw up in the liturgy. I will admit that some of the gross errors are totally shameful and discouraging.
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Goldfish food??? Yuck!
 
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m134e5:
Goldfish food??? Yuck!
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The stuff was like very white and stiff cardboard. Dissolved almost instantly on the tongue. No flavor. Contained no insect parts or anything like today’s goldfish food.
 
otm said:
It was a long time ago that a directive came out (sorry, I don’t have the source) that the host was to look more like bread; at the time the hosts used were very thin and off-white. That has resulted in the general use of hosts that are thicker, and generally of the color of wheat bread.

As to making hosts, one needs a certain amount of expertise, as one should make bread that doesn’t crumble a lot; if for no other reason than avoiding the issue of crumbs, and the fact that some would be less than reverent in cleaning up and consuming them.
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You’ve predicted exactly what goes on in my parish. We have communion BREAD (not wafers). 1/2" to 5/8" high “loaf” that the pastor must tear apart at every mass (except for hosts out of the tabernacle from a previous day).
It’s sad. He looks like a church mouse cleaning up all the “crumbs” at every mass. The reverent tone that used to be there when the miniscule particules of the wafers were there is completely gone. If not a church mouse, then the next impression that quickly comes to mind is a bus boy bussing a table at a restaurant. Very sad.
Communion recipients routinely pluck “crumbs” from the palm of their hands on their walk back to their pews.
My question: Does baking ONLY wheat flour and water result in a “loaf” of that height - the appearance and consistency of which is exactly like that of a slice of store-bought whole wheat bread from the typical 5"+/- high loaf that you buy (i.e. not the consistency of pita, or matzo, or cracker, etc)? In fact, if you took one THICK end slice (i.e. “crust” covered) of store-bought whole wheat bread and laid it flat on a plate - that’s pretty close to the consistency of what we use. Yet, my pastor claims it is only wheat flour and water. Can that be right?
 
Your women’s guild needs to get themselves together, have a bake sale and use the proceeds to buy ready-made communion wafers. No fuss, no muss. Afterall, this is the body of Christ we’re crumbling all over the place.
 
LeahInancsi said:
Your women’s guild needs to get themselves together, have a bake sale and use the proceeds to buy ready-made communion wafers. No fuss, no muss. Afterall, this is the body of Christ we’re crumbling all over the place.
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Unfortunately, they think of themselves as “Communion Bread Ministers” in charge of the “Communion Bread Ministry” and if they did as you would suggest - they could only think of themselves as equals to all the women over past generations who made the parishes run so great (as you and I might observe). But to them that would be a demotion in “rank” and they wouldn’t have a title - nor, in our horizontal U.S. Church, could they, the Bread Ministers, consider themselves the equals of our pastor, the Priest Minister. So, Nooooo Waaaaaay to that idea, they would say.
The only way I can hope to get this situation improved is if I can demonstrate that there is something else in the recipe other than wheat flour and water - hence my question. If no one can assist me I am going to have to become a baker and see if I am able to duplicate what they do with only wheat flour and water. Hopefully, someone can point me to a source that already has the answer. Thanks.
 
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