How important is it to receive the Blood of Christ at Mass?

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Like the topic says, how important is it for me to also receive the Blood of Christ at Mass in addition to The Holy Eucharist?

I ask because I rarely, if ever, drink the Blood of Christ from the cup at Communion due to germs etc. but what has me a bit concerned in the first place is that it says this in the Bible…

"So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves.” - John 6:53

so unless I am missing something, it seems like it’s quite important with the ‘and drink His blood’, or is receiving The Holy Eucharist, like I have been doing, enough?
 
The
MAS79 said:
Like the topic says, how important is it for me to also receive the Blood of Christ at Mass in addition to The Holy Eucharist?
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The Blood is the Holy Eucharist.
MAS79 said:
"So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood , you have no life in yourselves.” - John 6:53
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Christ is alive!

You cannot receive his body and not his blood. Nor receive his blood but not his body. The sacrament is complete whether you receive either the host or chalice.

Receiving either provides all the graces of the sacrament. Receiving both is an act of devotion to the sacrament.
 
The Eucharist is the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Christ. The Eucharist under the accidents of bread is not just the Body but the Blood.

In short it is not necessary to receive and parishes have often not offered the Eucharist under the accidents of wine at many times.
 
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So that’s probably why not much emphasis is placed on the cup, but the Eucharist.

but come to think of it, I should have known since I have heard the ‘Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Christ’ before in reference to the Eucharist.

thanks for the replies as that clears things up 😉
 
MAS79 said:
I rarely, if ever, drink the Blood of Christ from the cup at Communion due to germs etc.
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“Germs, etc?” Really? It’s an individual choice as both species are the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ. But not to receive due to “germs, etc?”
 
MAS79 said:
So that’s probably why not much emphasis is placed on the cup, but the Eucharist.
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“The Eucharist” is the entirety of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. The Most Blessed Sacrament is offered under two species – the Precious Blood (confected from wine) and the Precious Body (confected from wheat hosts.)
 
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MAS79 said:
Like the topic says, how important is it for me to also receive the Blood of Christ at Mass in addition to The Holy Eucharist?

I ask because I rarely, if ever, drink the Blood of Christ from the cup at Communion due to germs etc. but what has me a bit concerned in the first place is that it says this in the Bible…
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Please don’t be a germophobe in regards to drinking the Most Precious Blood of Christ. Do you really think that our Lord would enable any germs to get you sick while consuming His Most Precious Blood?

As others have already stated, the sacrament is complete whether you receive either the host or chalice. So if you don’t want to receive His precious blood, that’s okay in regards to the sacrament of Holy Communion.

I just don’t want you to be afraid of contracting germs if you do decide to receive the precious blood (and body) of our Lord from the cup.
 
It’s okay if you skip the cup due to concern for germs. Yes, you can get sick by drinking from a common cup, which is why most of the parishes around here stopped offering it for a couple months during the bad flu epidemic last year, and also why people who have a cold, flu, cough or other transmittable illness are supposed to use good sense and refrain from the cup until they are well.

The priest, deacon or EMHC offering the cup takes precautions by wiping the rim and turning the cup, which removes a lot of germs because they are either wiped or they die quickly before that part of the rim gets turned around for someone to drink again, but there’s still some possibility you could catch something. The Precious Blood does not magically protect you from transmitted disease. We are expected to use common sense, as with everything else.

If you receive the Eucharist in the form of the host, you are receiving both the Body and Blood, so you are not missing out on the Precious Blood by skipping the cup in that instance.
 
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The early Church always distributed Communion under both kinds. Then a heresy arose which stated that a person had to receive both kinds in order to receive Christ’s body and blood. This is wrong. The Church teaches that the entire body, blood, soul and divinity of Christ is present in the tiniest crumb of the host. For this reason, the Church stopped distributing the chalice to laypeople. They used the liturgy to teach doctrine; they knew that how people pray affects what they believe.
 
The cups aren’t magic. Yes, you could catch a cold from sharing a cup with 200 of your closest friends. Transubstantiation doesnt include a disinfectant. The alcohol in the wine and the wiping of the cup does help, but it’s not a silver bullet.

When I was little, we lived in a very small town. The priest didn’t employ EM’s, he just distributed the Body. So I never got in the habit of receiving the Blood, and to this day (I’m 40) I rarely receive the Blood.
 
Phrancez said:
It’s an individual choice as both species are the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ.
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This is true. One does not have to receive from the cup because you receive the full Body, Blood,Soul and Divinity in the Host.
Phrancez said:
But not to receive due to “germs, etc?”
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This has been talked about here at the forum many times. There is no way anyone could know if they picked up a germ from drinking after someone or not but it is a possibility. I do not receive from the cup because I do not think it is sanitary. That is my choice. I receive the Precious Blood in the Host.

I also do not receive from the Cup because I have occasional sudden arm twitches and almost knocked the Cup out of someone’s hand once.

Point is there are many reasons for not taking from the Cup and that is okay.
 
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Am watching a live stream video of the contemporary Mass at the Vatican; no lay communicant is receiving the species of wine.

 
It is not necessary to recieve the Blood of Christ.

In fact, in most countries the Blood is never (or rarely) offered for the congregation. I have only recieved the Blood of Christ once (when I was recieved into the Catholic church).
 
Hmm, America and UK sometimes emulate each other it would appear.
 
anon48198893 said:
Someone on another site made an interesting point: if you attend Mass at the Vatican, for example, communicants will only receive the Host.
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I attended Mass in Bologna, Italy and it was the same, only the Host. Same in Germany and The Netherlands. But here in Canada both species are offered.
 
So, receiving under both species as a widespread practice seems to be a North American innovation?

I’m curious to hear from Mexican Catholics.
 
Many people have the unfortunate misunderstanding that the cup holds the Blood of Christ, and that the communion is the Body of Christ, and that you need both to receive a full grace. Both cup and the wafer holds the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Christ. If you receive from one you receive everything.

That you need to receive both, or even just merely that it provides more grace to receive both, has been formally condemned as a heresy by one of the councils.
 
“leonhardprintz said:
Many people have the unfortunate misunderstanding that the cup holds the Blood of Christ, and that the communion is the Body of Christ, /quote]

Where is the misunderstanding? You go up to receive Holy Communion. The Host is referred to as “The Body of Christ” and you respond “Amen.” You walk over and receive from the Chalice, “The Blood of Christ” and respond “Amen.”

Yes, both hold the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Our Lord and Savior. But if there is any misunderstanding by Catholics, it’s because separately, neither is referred to as “The Body and Blood of Christ” or “The Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Christ.” Each is referred to using the words Jesus Himself used which He instituted the first Holy Communion.
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I believe in eucharistic concomitance (Christ as a whole is present in either species) but what is the fundament for it? I’ve never heard a bible passage or a patristic writing that justifies it, and the quote by the OP from Saint Paul seems to go against concomitance (just for the word “and”).

Perhaps the story about the disciples of Emmaus? I don’t remember the wine being there…
 
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