Everybody drinking from the same cup

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copland

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I just got confirmed into the Church last night. My wife who is not Catholic was there, and she asked me about why everyone drank from the same cup during communion. She was asking concerning sanitary reasons. It is not an issue to me but I would like to get some feedback so I can answer her intelligently. Thank you!
 
copland said:
I just got confirmed into the Church last night. My wife who is not Catholic was there, and she asked me about why everyone drank from the same cup during communion. She was asking concerning sanitary reasons. It is not an issue to me but I would like to get some feedback so I can answer her intelligently. Thank you!
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The alcohol in the wine minimizes the risk of spreading germs. However, the Church ask those who have colds, to refrain from receiving from the cup.
 
copland said:
I just got confirmed into the Church last night. My wife who is not Catholic was there, and she asked me about why everyone drank from the same cup during communion. She was asking concerning sanitary reasons. It is not an issue to me but I would like to get some feedback so I can answer her intelligently. Thank you!
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Personally, I sit towards the front so I am one of the first to receive. That reduces exposure. If I have a cold or something (like today 😦 ), I’ll only receive the Host and forego the Chalise.
 
Me too we sit right in front…except today I was an EMHC and there was some leftover…I always find that tough to finish off the cup.
 
If I even think I might be coming down with something, I refrain from drinking from the cup. I also eyeball the people in front of me. If they spend a lot of time in church hacking their way through mass, and then I see them drink from the chalice, there is no way I take a drink.
 
No sanitary problems when we keep the Chalice away from the laity. Only the priest should be recieving the Precious Blood.
 
Accepting both species, the Eucharist and the Cup for the entire congregation is only about 20-30 year old practice, so our Father said. You are recieving the Body and The Blood of Christ in either species, so it is only really necessary to accept the Eucharist or the Cup. It is very spiritually gratifying to participate in both species, but I only take a VERY small amount of the Cup. All you need is to touch your lips to the Blood of Christ, not take a big gulp.

I have to add this, please excuse my long post. But in Mel Gibson’s the Passion of the Christ, the Blessed Mother kisses the Feet of Her Son. The Soldier pierces the Side of Christ and His Sacrificial Blood sanctifies the crowd. There are several other statements about the Blood of Christ in the movie.
 
Caesar said:
No sanitary problems when we keep the Chalice away from the laity. Only the priest should be recieving the Precious Blood.
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This is not remotely in accord with the teaching nor the practice of the Church. The chalice was denied to the laity in repsonse to a specific heresy. The laity received from the chalice from far longer in the history of the Church than they did not receive. Your specious and incorrect assertion has the danger of elevating the Most Precious Blood above the Most Sacred Body, to a level that only the priest is worthy to receive it. The chalice can not be offered, as a matter of course, or it can. Likewise, the laity are not required to receive from the Chalice. It is quite true that both Sacred Species contain the fullness of the Most Sacred Body and the Most Precious Blood in and of themselves seperately, but absent the danger of profanation, there’s no reason why the Chalice cannot be offered to the laity. This was the original way Our Lord instituted the Sacrament and the discipline of the Church for nearly 1400 years.

Obviously, there are prudential reasons why some should abstain from the Chalice and there are prudential reasons for denying it at times.
 
JKirkLVNV said:
This is not remotely in accord with the teaching nor the practice of the Church. The chalice was denied to the laity in repsonse to a specific heresy. The laity received from the chalice from far longer in the history of the Church than they did not receive. Your specious and incorrect assertion has the danger of elevating the Most Precious Blood above the Most Sacred Body, to a level that only the priest is worthy to receive it. The chalice can not be offered, as a matter of course, or it can. Likewise, the laity are not required to receive from the Chalice. It is quite true that both Sacred Species contain the fullness of the Most Sacred Body and the Most Precious Blood in and of themselves seperately, but absent the danger of profanation, there’s no reason why the Chalice cannot be offered to the laity. This was the original way Our Lord instituted the Sacrament and the discipline of the Church for nearly 1400 years.

Obviously, there are prudential reasons why some should abstain from the Chalice and there are prudential reasons for denying it at times.
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It also may be necessary for members of the laity to receive only from the Chalice and NOT to receive the Sacred Host, for instance in the case of a severe allergy to wheat.
 
lak611 said:
It also may be necessary for members of the laity to receive only from the Chalice and NOT to receive the Sacred Host, for instance in the case of a severe allergy to wheat.
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Good point.
 
copland said:
I just got confirmed into the Church last night. My wife who is not Catholic was there, and she asked me about why everyone drank from the same cup during communion. She was asking concerning sanitary reasons. It is not an issue to me but I would like to get some feedback so I can answer her intelligently. Thank you!
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A group of people drinking from one cup how the Lord’s Supper is described in the bible.
Mark 14:23: “Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he gave it to them, and all of them drank from it.” (New Revised Standard Version translation).
In Matthew 26:27 it has: "Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you; …”.
Luke 22:17 “Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he said, “Take this and divide it among yourselves; …””
St. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 11:25-26 "In the same way he took the cup also, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.”
 
Our very own Karl Keating addressed this issue in his Newsletter of June 15, 2004:
CAN YOU CATCH A COLD FROM THE COMMUNION CUP?

The chalice or cup used at Mass is just as likely (or just as unlikely) to transmit disease as is any other cup that is shared among multiple people. The Consecration has no effect whatsoever on this.

Why? Because the Consecration affects only the substance of the wine, not its accidents. After the Consecration, what is in the cup is properly called the Blood of Christ, but it maintains all the outward properties of wine. Moreover, the Consecration has no effect on anything in the cup that is not wine.

If there are any contaminants in the wine prior to the Consecration, they remain in the cup. The contaminants are not themselves transubstantiated into the Blood of Christ. So, if there had been a particle of dust prior to the Consecration, there remains a particle of (unconsecrated) dust afterward.

Similarly, any foreign substance, such as a bacterium or virus, that is intruded into the cup after the Consecration remains what it is. It does not become consecrated into the Blood of Christ–nor does it lose its nature as a bacterium or virus.

Some pious people think that any contaminant, of any sort, is somehow neutralized by the Precious Blood. This is not true.

Others think that bacteria and viruses in particular are neutralized by the alcoholic nature of the now-consecrated wine. Again, untrue.

Alcohol kills only in almost-pure concentration. Altar wine commonly is no more than about 12 percent alcohol, far too low a percentage to kill off microscopic intruders. So, even though the consecrated wine (now the Precious Blood) maintains the accidents of the wine and, thus, the alcoholic properties that the wine had, those alcoholic properties aren’t enough to get rid of bacteria or viruses.

Bottom line: You are just as likely (or unlikely) to pass along disease through sharing a Communion cup as you are in sharing a cup of plain wine.

If you do not hesitate to use a wine glass that fifty other people already have used, then you should not hesitate to receive from the Communion cup that fifty other people already have received from.

If you think there is a problem with drinking from that glass of plain wine, you should think there is the same problem drinking from the Communion cup.

It’s your choice.
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Also, apologist Jimmy Akin takes on the issue of attending Mass while sick here.

Oh, and by the way: WELCOME into the faith, Copland!!!:clapping:
 
Thank you for that reminder. A few years ago, one of my extended family members attended mass while she had strep throat. I tried to tell her that illness was a valid reason to miss mass. But she went anyway. I felt a bit angry with her because I did not think that going to church with a contagious illness was the most charitable thing to do.

But I’m just family. What do I know?:rolleyes:
 
copland said:
I just got confirmed into the Church last night.
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Congratulations!
My wife who is not Catholic was there, and she asked me about why everyone drank from the same cup during communion. She was asking concerning sanitary reasons. It is not an issue to me but I would like to get some feedback so I can answer her intelligently. Thank you!
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I feel the same as your wife. The last time I took the wine was at my dad’s funeral. The bread and the wine each contain the full sacrament, so I pass up the wine.
 
:tiphat: De nada.
Nice to know every so often my brain does house some not-so-totally-useless-information!
 
mark_a said:
I feel the same as your wife. The last time I took the wine was at my dad’s funeral. The bread and the wine each contain the full sacrament, so I pass up the wine.
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THey don’t offer bread and wine to the laity at my church. We get the real thing. 😃
 
Because the Eucharist is fully in one of the species, it is not necessary to partake from the Chalice. That is the right of the priest.
 
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