HOST

  • Thread starter Thread starter labbo606
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
L

labbo606

Guest
ARE WE SUPPOSE TO CHEW THE HOST OR SWALLOW IT AT COMMUNION.

YHANKYOU
 
40.png
labbo606:
ARE WE SUPPOSE TO CHEW THE HOST OR SWALLOW IT AT COMMUNION.

YHANKYOU
Click to expand...
I would say chew and swallow…

As we are called to eat, part of eating is chewing…

Also, in the byzantine tradition we use levaned bread… This is much harder to swallow without chewing.
 
Yes, you may chew it. Prior to Vatican II the requirement was to prevent the Host from touching your teeth, so you may have heard that this was still the case from older Catholics. As a personal act of piety, however, I still attempt to allow it to dissolve rather than chew.
 
Christ said “Take and eat”, not “take and swallow”. Without any denigration to the aspect of sacrifice, one of the things Vatican II was trying to get across is the aspect of a sacred meal. I don’t know of any directive or rule that said one was not to chew the host prior to the introduction of thicker hosts; my guess is it is one of the pious practices the Church found to be skewed. Pious practices need to be kept in line with the heart and mind of the Church, or they lead us astray; the analogy is somewhat like morality; one can be too lenient; and one can be too strict; too strict is being scrupulous, and that isn’t pious; it is pietistic.
 
Pietistic would be if I were under the impression that anyone chewing it would be wrong…or if I felt terrible if I accidentally forgot and chewed. I don’t hold either of those positions. For me, holding the Blessed Host in my mouth for as long as possible helps me focus on the fact that this is truly the Body of Christ. If I am so aware of this, I wouldn’t feel like I was showing as much respect if I chomped down on it like a Ritz cracker.
 
My Priest actually prefers that it be totally consumed as soon as possible. That way there is no question that it was consumed, rather than used for any other illicit purpose.
 
I was taught to allow it to dissolve, in order to avoid the possibility that particles might get stuck in your teeth and later come into contact with other food or drink.

I didn’t know the requirement was changed after Vatican II; I received my First Communion in 1992 and this is what I was taught.
 
In receiving Our Lord, I feel that it is out of reverance that I do not chew the Host. the word “eat” was another form of the word “consume.” Just because it says “take and eat” doesn’t mean that you have to literally chew it. I also do not want any Precious Particles of Our Lord in my mouth when I go and eat something else later…
**:amen: **
 
SarahSmile said:
In receiving Our Lord, I feel that it is out of reverance that I do not chew the Host. the word “eat” was another form of the word “consume.” Just because it says “take and eat” doesn’t mean that you have to literally chew it. I also do not want any Precious Particles of Our Lord in my mouth when I go and eat something else later…

**:amen: **
Click to expand...

I could buy this idea if all of the rites used unlevaned bread, but they don’t.

So this idea, that one should allow the Host to disolve in ones mouth does not fit… How do you expect those of us in the byzantine rite churches to allow a Host, which is made of levaned bread, to disolve?

The is no teaching of this in the Church.

To say that you do so because you do not wish it to come into contact with other food is odd as when you chew you it you break it up into smaller pieces that disolve quicker.

I wonder where this idea came from but it sure wasn’t a teaching of the Church.

As for your arguement that “take and eat” doesn’t mean that you have to literally chew it, I would say that the burden of proof lies with you, as everyone knows what eat means. I am sure that the apostles ate, that is literally chewed, at the institution of the Eucharist.
 
****I do not chew the Host. I do this out of reverance for the Lord… my own personal feeling and belief. In my own conscious I don’t want the Precious Host to come in contact with anything else other than myself (meaning no other food), since we are also called to fast an hour before receive Our Lord in Holy Communion. I, personally, cannot be sure that all the particles are out of my mouth and off my teeth if i were to chew the Host, so to be safe, i just don’t chew.
I didn’t mean to say for you to get the assumption that everyone should do this or that everyone can. Nor did I say that there was a Church teaching on it. This was just stating what I felt, and what I practice.
 
SarahSmile said:
In receiving Our Lord, I feel that it is out of reverance that I do not chew the Host…I also do not want any Precious Particles of Our Lord in my mouth when I go and eat something else later…
**:amen: **
Click to expand...

I had heard this same response to a similar question on “Web of Faith” on EWTN.
 
Not chewing because of a feeling of reverence is, I think, misplaced. The word that Christ used for “eat”, in the Greek is more closely translated “gnaw” (John, 6). Yes, I know he didn’t speak Greek, but Aramaic; it was written in Greek, and I assume the writer knew what word he was using. Worrying about whether or not the particles of the Host are going to mix with something else (they won’t do that in your stomach?) is to border on hyper reverence, not what the Church encourages us in, any more than the Church encourages scrupulosity.
Christ demands reverence. Does he not also demand common sense?
 
Personally, I let the Host disolve. I have no problem with chewing either, as long as you do not look like a cow chewing cud or smaking on gum (very common).
 
40.png
otm:
Not chewing because of a feeling of reverence is, I think, misplaced. The word that Christ used for “eat”, in the Greek is more closely translated “gnaw” (John, 6). Yes, I know he didn’t speak Greek, but Aramaic; it was written in Greek, and I assume the writer knew what word he was using. Worrying about whether or not the particles of the Host are going to mix with something else (they won’t do that in your stomach?) is to border on hyper reverence, not what the Church encourages us in, any more than the Church encourages scrupulosity.
Christ demands reverence. Does he not also demand common sense?
Click to expand...
Since when is reverence misplaced? It wasn’t necessarily the food mixing within the stomache but more of the fact that the Precious Host would still be on my teeth. The Church encourages reverence… I don’t understand where you are getting at with that whole post.
 
I agree with those who let the Sacred Host disolve on their tongues…definitly more reverent.
 
SarahSmile: reverence is misplaced when it becomes hyper reverence, just as morality is misplaced when it becomes scrupulosity. No one is suggesting that one not be reverent (and definitely not me), but I try to listen to what the Church teaches; it is definitely trying to teach us something when the hosts are changed to something more substantial (i.e. thicker). And I again go to John 6; the word used is a very graphic word in Greek, which translates a lot closer to gnaw than the concept of “dissolve”. Reverence is an attitude, not an emotion; but what I hear appears a lot closer to an emotion of reverence.
 
40.png
Annunciata:
I agree with those who let the Sacred Host disolve on their tongues…definitly more reverent.
Click to expand...
I would like to ask three a question of those who espouse this view…
  1. Are those who chew the host less reverent?
  2. What are those in the Byzantine Rite Churches, where levaned bread is used, to do?
  3. Does this fact that those in the Byzantine Rite Churches have to chew the Host make the Byzantine Rite inherently less reverant?
 
40.png
ByzCath:
I would like to ask three a question of those who espouse this view…
  1. Are those who chew the host less reverent?
  2. What are those in the Byzantine Rite Churches, where levaned bread is used, to do?
  3. Does this fact that those in the Byzantine Rite Churches have to chew the Host make the Byzantine Rite inherently less reverant?
Click to expand...
  1. No not necessarily. For me it’s a life long journey and I’m learning new things every day to enrich my relationship with Our Lord. If there are new things I’m learning to help me be more reverent by all means I’ll do them out of love. Just b/c someone may not know doesn’t mean they aren’t reverent, period. We can’t look into their hearts. I do know what you mean about scrupulosity (sp??), I would also warn about doing these things out of the appearence of piety, tsk-tsking those who don’t do them. Again, we can’t look into their hearts. Personally I do these things (bowing at the altar, etc.) for my own relationship and to maybe influence other people to take their relationship more seriously…
2,3) We aren’t Byz. so I’m not sure what difference that makes, with all due respect. They use leavened bread so they prob have to chew. What does that mean for me?

My 2 cents anyway…
 
Jennifer123 said:
1) No not necessarily. For me it’s a life long journey and I’m learning new things every day to enrich my relationship with Our Lord. If there are new things I’m learning to help me be more reverent by all means I’ll do them out of love. Just b/c someone may not know doesn’t mean they aren’t reverent, period. We can’t look into their hearts. I do know what you mean about scrupulosity (sp??), I would also warn about doing these things out of the appearence of piety, tsk-tsking those who don’t do them. Again, we can’t look into their hearts. Personally I do these things (bowing at the altar, etc.) for my own relationship and to maybe influence other people to take their relationship more seriously…

2,3) We aren’t Byz. so I’m not sure what difference that makes, with all due respect. They use leavened bread so they prob have to chew. What does that mean for me?

My 2 cents anyway…
Click to expand...

I agree with you and would like to add that meant no offence to our brother David in the Byzantine Rite…I’m just trying to live out my love for Our Lord as best as I know how…🙂
 
I do not let it dissolve. I chew the host. I do not feel I am being irreverent, as I am doing exactly what I have been commanded to do by our Lord. The church accepts the practice.

If you wish to let it dissolve because you feel it is reverent, then that is fine. Just do not question the hearts of those who “chews” to do otherwise. 😉
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top