During your fast, you shouldn’t be putting anything into your mouth, even just for chewing, except water and medicine. If you find something in there that you had unwittingly had left over from a previous meal, you should clear it right away, and not chew it like cud, but it doesn’t matter whether you swallow it or spit it out. If you have poppy seeds in your teeth, you’re not “still eating” unless you decide to pop them out to chew awhile longer.Okay thanks! That’s sort of what I thought, but up until recently I thought chewing (and swallowing) your finger nails wouldn’t count either, and my friend asked our pastor, who looked it up and according to St. Thomas it does, so I figured I’d get another person’s opinion…anyway, thanks!!
Unless you’ve just finished that Grand Slam Breakfast at Denny’s and intentionally passed up the toothpick.
We’re talking about wanting to be concientious, not scrupulous. Believe me, when you teach kids something like this, you get lots of questions about what is allowed or not allowed. They’re not Pharisees. They’re all little lawyers. So you have to explain why, if it is OK to go to communion if you find stuff in your teeth right before Holy Communion that it is not OK to still be chewing the gum you put in an hour ago.