Fasting before recieiving the Eucharist

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I know one is supposed to fast an hour before receiving the Eucharist. Is it a mortal sin to receive it if you have not fasted for an hour? and how long after communion should one wait before eating once again?

God Bless
 
newone said:
I know one is supposed to fast an hour before receiving the Eucharist. Is it a mortal sin to receive it if you have not fasted for an hour? and how long after communion should one wait before eating once again?

God Bless
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Yes
About 20-30 minutes
 
Someone asked almost the same question in an EWTN forum. I’m not sure if not fasting for an hour before is a mortal sin or not, but Fr. Levis said there was no rule about how long to wait afterwards.

*“I wish that my heart could beat, that I could live and breathe only for Jesus, I wish that my tongue could utter no other name than that of Jesus; that my eye could see only Jesus; that my pen could write only about Jesus, and that my thoughts could soar to nothing but Jesus. I have often wondered where on earth there might be something on which I could center my love. But neither on earth nor in heaven do I find any such thing but only my beloved Jesus… I am the fruit of your passion, Jesus, born of your wounds. O Jesus, seek me in love; I no longer possess anything; you have stolen my heart…” * - St. Gemma Galgani
 
Given what we know to qualify for mortal sin, I’d say it’d be a mortal sin if you intentionally ate when you didn’t NEED to for medical reasons just either out of gluttony or to defy the Church teaching on fasting before the Eucharist. If you accidently ate within the hour before, it would be a venial sin as long as it was not intentional and you truly were sorry for it and would try your best to avoid doing so again.
 
well I did it without thinking. I drank some chocolate milk and didn’t even think. that was about 6:30 ish and I received communion somewhere around 7:20ish I think, so it might have been an hour or a little less than an hour. I was thinking about not receiving communion but I felt it was ok because it was a mistake and it was probably close to an hour if not an hour after I drank. If I had known it to be mortal sin before hand I wouldn’t have received communion but I just assumed which I shouldn’t have. so I should probably go to confess not fasting and receiving the Eucharist without fasting.
 
It sounds like you were fine on the time frame anyway. We usually time things from when Mass starts rather than when we will receive just because it is easier, but the actual rule is from the time of reception. If you are at all concerned, you could probably step to the back of the church and try to be among the last in line in order to give yourself more time, or simply make a Spiritual Communion instead. And as you said, just be more careful next time.
 
It really saddens me when people stress so much over the possibility of something so minor being a mortal sin. is God such a clock-watching tyrant? I remember talking to someone before Mass who badly wanted to see a priest over the fact that she’d called to visit a sick friend and had made her a cup of tea. The sick friend had asked her to have a cup herself, to keep her company. It was only afterwards when she looked at her watch that she realised she’d gone into the hour, and needed the priest to reassure her that she could still receive Communion, when surely most would not have given it a second thought (charity taking preference over rules every day, being one of Jesus’ messages, I’d have thought).

Surely the reason behind the fast is to remind us that we are about to do something so incredibly special that we need to prepare for it. By reminding ourselves that ‘Right, from now on, I won’t have anything to eat’, means that we bear in mind what’s going to happen.

So long as we are doing this, then the odd accidental mouthful or the odd minute is neither here or there, and certainly not a mortal sin. How can it be, when worrying about it proves we don’t have the slightest intention of cutting ourselves off?
 
newone said:
well I did it without thinking. I drank some chocolate milk and didn’t even think. that was about 6:30 ish and I received communion somewhere around 7:20ish I think, so it might have been an hour or a little less than an hour. I was thinking about not receiving communion but I felt it was ok because it was a mistake and it was probably close to an hour if not an hour after I drank. If I had known it to be mortal sin before hand I wouldn’t have received communion but I just assumed which I shouldn’t have. so I should probably go to confess not fasting and receiving the Eucharist without fasting.
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My answer didn’t differentiate all the possible situations. Generally speaking you are not required to receive Holy Communion every time you attend Mass. If you eat 45 minutes before, then receive without thinking about the time since you ate, you most likely didn’t commit a sin. But in my opinion it would be correct, in this case, to not receive because you will have the opportunity to receive Holy Communion again within a day or at most a week. You didn’t accidentally receive Holy Communion without realizing that you had not fasted one hour. You knew you had not fasted one hour and intentionally received Holy Communion without fasting.
 
If you received Holy Communion, and afterwards realized that the fast was not observed (tea, pop, a cracker, gum…) I don’t believe that would be a sin on your part. Don’t quote me on that though.

If one was aware that the fast was not observed, for whatever reason, and receives anyway then they’ve committed the sin of sacrilige, which would constitute a mortal sin.
 
no it is not a mortal sin unless done deliberately in order to show disrespect for th eEucharisit to receive a bit short of the 1 hour fast. generally this happens when we lose track of time or aren’t paying attention, feel faint and in need of food, but not deliberately. there is no rule about how long to wait afterward, but 15 minutes would be prudential, since that is about how long it would take to get someplace to eat after Mass
 
If one was aware that the fast was not observed, for whatever reason (aside from medical), and receives anyway then they’ve committed the sin of sacrilige, which would constitute a mortal sin.
 
latinmasslover said:
If one was aware that the fast was not observed, for whatever reason (aside from medical), and receives anyway then they’ve committed the sin of sacrilige, which would constitute a mortal sin.
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And your authority for this statement is…?

Betsy
 
latinmasslover said:
If one was aware that the fast was not observed, for whatever reason (aside from medical), and receives anyway then they’ve committed the sin of sacrilige, which would constitute a mortal sin.
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I agree that receiving without fasting is a sin, but I respectfully disagree that it is automatically sacrilege.

The one hour fast was promulgated by Pope Paul VI and codified at Can. 919 §1. “A person who is to receive the Most Holy Eucharist is to abstain for at least one hour before holy communion from any food and drink, except for only water and medicine.” Does someone who breaks this discipline commit sacrilege? Depends on what we define sacrilege as.

From the CCC 2120 ”Sacrilege consists in profaning or treating unworthily the sacraments and other liturgical actions, as well as persons, things, or places consecrated to God. Sacrilege is a grave sin especially when committed against the Eucharist, for in this sacrament the true Body of Christ is made substantially present for us”.

CCC 2120 references Can. 1367 “*A person who throws away the consecrated species or takes or retains them for a sacrilegious purpose incurs a latae sententiae excommunication reserved to the Apostolic See; moreover, a cleric can be punished with another penalty, not excluding dismissal from the clerical state.” *and Can. 1376 “A person who profanes a movable or immovable sacred object is to be punished with a just penalty.”

So is the person who receives without fasting “throwing away” the sacrament per Can. 1367 or “profaning or treating unworthily the sacrament” per the CCC? The best guidance I have been able to find is a response from The Pontifical Council for the Interpretation of Legislative Texts on “Contempt For The Eucharist” found at http://www.ewtn.com/library/CURIA/CILTEUCH.HTM It reads, in part:

“…the Church not only urges the faithful to avoid any form of disgraceful carelessness and negligence, but also considers the most unfortunate case of deliberate acts of hatred or contempt for the Blessed Sacrament. These actions certainly constitute by reason of their matter - a very grave sin of sacrilege…”

In talking about the latin verb “abicit” which is translated into English as “throws away”, the Council goes on: “The verb abicit should not be understood only in the strict sense of throwing away, nor in the generic sense of profaning, but with the broader meaning of to scorn, disdain, demean. Therefore, a grave offence of sacrilege against the Body and Blood of Christ is committed by anyone who takes away and/or keeps the Sacred Species for a sacrilegious (obscene, superstitious, irreligious) purpose, and anyone who, even without removing them from the tabernacle, monstrance or altar, makes them the object of any external, voluntary and serious act of contempt…It is helpful to remember, as was mentioned above, that the sin of sacrilege should not be confused with the offence of sacrilege; in fact, not all sins committed in this area are offences.”

So where does all this take us? In reading all of this together, it is clear to me that the sacrilege involves much more than receiving unworthily by misunderstanding or misapplying Church discipline. Sacrilege involves a clear act of the will to intentionally commit an act of hate upon the Eucharist or the Church. I do not think the OP’s actions rise to this level. A sin yes, a mortal sin maybe, but not sacrilege.
 
Br.Rich_SFO said:
That is kind of an odd question! Any Catholic should know what the Churches teaching on the Eucharistic Fast is.
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And any Catholic who cites it should be able to provide a reference. I am well aware of the requirements for the Eucharistic fast; I am not aware of a citation indicating that failure to meet those requirements constitutes sacrilege.

I once followed this same line of reasoning myself, and confessed having done this as a mortal sin, only to be corrected by my very stringent, orthodox and well-educated confessor. So I am curious to see what the authority for the statement is.

Betsy
 
While it’s good to be an informed Catholics and to know the rules, regulations and references, what amazes me about all this back and forth posting is both some people’s ideas of (a) rules being more important that the heart and (b) the God of love Whom we all supposedly believe in.

Although the 1 hr. fast was promulgated by Pope Paul VI, originally, Eucharist was in the context of a community meal. Fasting beforehand came about because of abuse. Remember what was going on in the very earliest days of the Church? Paul’s 1st letter to the church at Corinth (Chapter 11) admonishes them for what was going on in their Eucharistic meals:
In giving this instruction, I do not praise the fact that your meetings are doing more harm than good. 18 First of all, I hear that when you meet as a church there are divisions among you, and to a degree I believe it; 19 there have to be factions among you in order that (also) those who are approved among you may become known. 20 When you meet in one place, then, it is not to eat the Lord’s supper, 21 for in eating, each one goes ahead with his own supper, and one goes hungry while another gets drunk. 22 Do you not have houses in which you can eat and drink? Or do you show contempt for the church of God and make those who have nothing feel ashamed? What can I say to you? Shall I praise you? In this matter I do not praise you. 23 For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was handed over, took bread, 24 and, after he had given thanks, broke it and said, “This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes. 27 Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily will have to answer for the body and blood of the Lord. 28 A person should examine himself, and so eat the bread and drink the cup. 29 For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself. 30 That is why many among you are ill and infirm, and a considerable number are dying. 31 If we discerned ourselves, we would not be under judgment; 32 but since we are judged by (the) Lord, we are being disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world. 33 Therefore, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for one another. 34 If anyone is hungry, he should eat at home, so that your meetings may not result in judgment. The other matters I shall set in order when I come.
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This quote becomes even more meaningful when one reads the footnotes contained in the New American Bible.

I respectfully disagee with **latinmasslover **who wrote:
If one was aware that the fast was not observed, for whatever reason (aside from medical), and receives anyway then they’ve committed the sin of sacrilige, which would constitute a mortal sin.
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When we innocently lose track of time, sip a charitable cup of tea, or fret about “Is it 55 minutes or 65 minutes since I spit out that gum?”, we are showing a *lack of trust *in the goodness and love and mercy of God. He alone can read our hearts and minds, and knows our intentions – even better than we can do ourselves. He sees that we worry about being faithful and obedient Catholics. He sees the great love we have for Him which compels us to go to Mass in the first place, much less to receive His Body and Blood. When we love God so very much and our desire to receive Him is so great, that we worry, and then “take the chance” that it was 65 minutes, not 55, this is the love that He desires!!

My opinion and reference is from Scripture. If we believe that Scripture is divinely inspired, the word of God Himself, then it is He, not Hosea (Chapter 6), who says:
6 For it is love that I desire, not sacrifice, and knowledge of God rather than holocausts.
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Why, I don’t think that anyone who would care so much that they post in this forum would ever consciously desire to commit a mortal sin of sacrilege!

Our nit-picking over rules… What would Jesus have said?
24 Blind guides, who strain out the gnat and swallow the camel! Matthew 23:24
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**** POST TOO LONG!! CONTINUED FROM LAST POST !! ****

I am not saying that there shouldn’t be rules, nor am I saying that we should be lax in following rules. What I am saying is that our God is a God of love Who constantly calls to us, constantly reaches out to us, constantly gives Himself to us… One Who again and again, in so many situations, reassured us saying, “Be not afraid” “Fear not!” (Gen. 15:1, 21:17, 26:24, 46:3; Numbers 21:34; Deut. 1:21, 3:2, 31:6; Joshua 8:1,10:8, 11:6; Judges 6:23; 2 Kings 1:15, 19:6; 1 Chron. 28:20; 2 Chron. 20:15; Tobit 12:17; Isaiah 37:6, 41:14, 43:5, 44:2, 8, 54:4; Jere. 1:8, 23:4, 30:10, 42:11, 46:27; Ezekiel 2:6, 3:9; Zeph. 3:16; Zech. 8:13, 15; Mt. 8:26, 10:26, 28, 31, 14:27, 17:7, 28:5; Mark 4:40, 5:36, 6:50; Luke 1:13, 30, 2:10, 5:10, 8:50, 12:7, 32; John 6:20, 14:27; Acts 18:9, 27:24; Rev. 1:17, 2:10. I’m sure that there are very many other instances also.) Despite this, we treat God as a divine timekeeper, One who just waits to pop out and say, “Aha! I caught you!”, a Judge (though He is) to be feared rather than a Lover who loves us. How this must sadden His Divine Merciful Sacred Heart!

And, Bro. Rich SFO, I also respectfully disagree with you when you write:
My answer didn’t differentiate all the possible situations. Generally speaking you are not required to receive Holy Communion every time you attend Mass. If you eat 45 minutes before, then receive without thinking about the time since you ate, you most likely didn’t commit a sin. But in my opinion it would be correct, in this case, to not receive because you will have the opportunity to receive Holy Communion again within a day or at most a week. You didn’t accidentally receive Holy Communion without realizing that you had not fasted one hour. You knew you had not fasted one hour and intentionally received Holy Communion without fasting.
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Although you are correct in saying that we are not required to receive Holy Communion each time we attend Mass, what an incredibly glorious privilege to be able to do so (except in the case of bona fide mortal sin – and most priests are generally of the opinion, in keeping with the Catechism, that if one has to ask whether or not they are in mortal sin, then they are assuredly not!)! And I disagree with the attitude that you can always receive “again within a day or at most a week” (again barring cases of bona fide mortal sin) – it’s like saying, “I won’t get my car washed today because it’s raining. I can always get it done tomorrow.”

Receiving the Body and Blood of the Lord is so much more important.

For any of us to be so scrupulous (and this sounds more like a case of scrupulosity than anything else) to refrain from receiving because of some chocolate milk drunk so close to an hour before receiving, and to have had the chocolate milk without thinking (I refer to newone’s post:
well I did it without thinking. I drank some chocolate milk and didn’t even think. that was about 6:30 ish and I received communion somewhere around 7:20ish I think, so it might have been an hour or a little less than an hour. I was thinking about not receiving communion but I felt it was ok because it was a mistake and it was probably close to an hour if not an hour after I drank. If I had known it to be mortal sin before hand I wouldn’t have received communion but I just assumed which I shouldn’t have. so I should probably go to confess not fasting and receiving the Eucharist without fasting.
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I say again, that I am sure that if newone had not received, it would have saddened the Heart of our Divine Savior MUCH more than receiving with some chocolate milk which may or may not have still been in newone’s stomach.

The Lord and His Holy Church has given us rules to guide us, but God has also given us common sense, and He loves when we use the gifts that He has given us.

*“I wish that my heart could beat, that I could live and breathe only for Jesus, I wish that my tongue could utter no other name than that of Jesus; that my eye could see only Jesus; that my pen could write only about Jesus, and that my thoughts could soar to nothing but Jesus. I have often wondered where on earth there might be something on which I could center my love. But neither on earth nor in heaven do I find any such thing but only my beloved Jesus… I am the fruit of your passion, Jesus, born of your wounds. O Jesus, seek me in love; I no longer possess anything; you have stolen my heart…” *- St. Gemma Galgani
 
I have got to send this link to a parish member, for sure. Last spring, while preparing our child for her First Eucharist, one of the other parents overheard me say “my tummy is rumbling…haven’t had breakfast yet” something to that effect. Anyway, she asked me why I didn’t have breakfast so I told her that I never eat before I come to Mass and why. She looked at me, totally shocked and then told me “Oh…you are SO Vatican I”. Really? I don’t mind a few hunger pangs on a Sunday morning because I know I am going to have the best meal EVER that day. I am glad to know that I was correct in my belief that you should fast before Communion. That’s what all the priests in my life have taught me…including the priest at the parish I mentioned above.
 
newone said:
well I did it without thinking. so I should probably go to confess not fasting and receiving the Eucharist without fasting.
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Exactly! The priest will be delighted to hear such a sin confessed. You will know exactly the issue involved, its level of seriousness, and also that all confessed sins are received by the priest, made his own, and borne up to the Father for destruction. I thank and bless the priests, as reconciliation is a spiritual and physical strain on them. Ever hear Father Corapi teach about it?

Christ’s peace.
 
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