Flesh AND blood of Christ; question

[Phalanx]

Heya

This thursday I finally managed to go to confession and get absolved from my 6 years of sin. And to make my return to our faith official I went to mass today and was going to take the “full” communion for the first time… I have not taken the communion since i was very young so I have only recieved the Body of Christ.

When it was time to recieve the communion one of the priests took the chalice with the blood of Christ away to another part of the church, and at the altar one could only recieve the body. And I don’t think that the priest who took the chalice brougth any “bread” with him

Is this common?

On my way to mass i was being all nervous and thinking:
“that chalice has to be filled with all kinds of bacteria and other nastyness, I mean what if someone with herpes takes a sip”

So when the priest left with the chalice I thougth oh well, he could be going to lock it away, maybe the wine part is not practised anymore

But he returned with it and it seemed like the furthest away part of the church only got the blood of christ, and those closest to the altar only got the body of christ…

I am totally confused

 

[bzkoss236]

Heya

This thursday I finally managed to go to confession and get absolved from my 6 years of sin. And to make my return to our faith official I went to mass today and was going to take the “full” communion for the first time… I have not taken the communion since i was very young so I have only recieved the Body of Christ.

When it was time to recieve the communion one of the priests took the chalice with the blood of Christ away to another part of the church, and at the altar one could only recieve the body. And I don’t think that the priest who took the chalice brougth any “bread” with him

Is this common?

On my way to mass i was being all nervous and thinking:
“that chalice has to be filled with all kinds of bacteria and other nastyness, I mean what if someone with herpes takes a sip”

So when the priest left with the chalice I thougth oh well, he could be going to lock it away, maybe the wine part is not practised anymore

But he returned with it and it seemed like the furthest away part of the church only got the blood of christ, and those closest to the altar only got the body of christ…

I am totally confused

Both the bread and the wine become fully the body and blood, soul and divinity of Christ. If you receive under one species, you get the fullness of Christ. So no one missed out.

 

[RoseMary131]

Heya

This thursday I finally managed to go to confession and get absolved from my 6 years of sin. And to make my return to our faith official I went to mass today and was going to take the “full” communion for the first time… I have not taken the communion since i was very young so I have only recieved the Body of Christ.

On my way to mass i was being all nervous and thinking:
“that chalice has to be filled with all kinds of bacteria and other nastyness, I mean what if someone with herpes takes a sip”

But he returned with it and it seemed like the furthest away part of the church only got the blood of christ, and those closest to the altar only got the body of christ…

Congratulations on receiving the Sacrament of Confession and being back to the Sacrament of Holy Communion.

If you are concern about germs on the chalice, it is acceptable to only receive the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Our Dear Lord in the form of the Consecrated Host.

Both the Consecrated Host and the Consecrated Wine become the True Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Our Dear Lord.

While the person says “Body of Christ” when giving the Consecrated Host and “Blood of Christ” when giving the Consecrated Wine, each is truly the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Our Dear Lord.

Stay close to Jesus in His Sacraments. What a wonderful blessing you received in coming back to the Sacraments. Congrautlations.

 

[Robyn_p]

Congratulations on making your confession! Welcome home!

Don’t worry though, the Church teaches if you receive under one species, you receive the entire Christ, Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity.

Take a look at this passage from 1 Corinthians 11

So then, whoever eats the bread, OR drinks the cup in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body AND blood of The Lord. (1 Cor 11:27)

St. Paul here says by receiving either the bread or the cup, we receive both the body and blood of Christ.

So by just receiving the host you received all of Christ. You and those who only took of one didn’t get any less than those who received under both.

 

[Brendan]

Heya

This thursday I finally managed to go to confession and get absolved from my 6 years of sin. And to make my return to our faith official I went to mass today and was going to take the “full” communion for the first time… I** have not taken the communion since i was very young so I have only recieved the Body of Christ**.:

Just to be clear, in what ever form you receive Holy Communion, you receive both the Body and Blood of Christ.

You receive the whole Christ, Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity.

The two species do not differ in Substance ( they are the same ‘thing’, the Risen Christ), they differ only in how they appear to our senses.

So rest assured, every time you received Christ Present in the Eucharist when you were young, you DID receive both the Flesh and Blood of Christ

 

[Zekariya]

On my way to mass i was being all nervous and thinking:
“that chalice has to be filled with all kinds of bacteria and other nastyness, I mean what if someone with herpes takes a sip”

I have never heard of anyone who drinks the remaining consecrated wine in the chalice getting any sickness let alone something big like herpes. In most Eastern Churches, the priest serves the Blood of Christ to the people using a spoon and no one gets any sickness let alone something big like herpes.

This is how one gets sick:
1 Corinthians 11:28-30 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body. For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep.

 

[Brandon_Cal]

Your theological question has already been answered well, so I’ll just step in quickly to make a quick comment about your worry of Herpes.

Yes, the Herpes Simplex virus is spreadable by sharing a cup as studies have shown the virus to remain viable for up to 120 minutes after contact. Nevertheless, you probably already have oral Herpes (some liberal estimates place nearly 75% of all adults as having Herpes Simplex type I). If you’ve ever had a cold sore or a fever blister, you have oral Herpes. Genital Herpes is an entirely different strain of the Herpes Simplex virus, and unless other parishioners are imbibing the Blood of Christ through their nether regions, you have nothing to worry about.