How long after Communion, before you can eat food again?

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“For as often as you shall eat this bread, and drink the chalice, you shall shew the death of the Lord, until he come. Therefore whosoever shall eat this bread, or drink the chalice of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and of the blood of the Lord. But let a man prove himself: and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of the chalice. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh judgment to himself, not discerning the body of the Lord. Therefore are there many infirm and weak among you, and many sleep.” I Corinthians 11:26 - 30

The Church requires a one hour fast before receiving communion. But how long after communion should you wait before eating again? :signofcross:
 
15 minutes is the length of time that the host is considered to be present in your system.
 
Not soon enough for most people who bring snacks along pretending it’s for the kiddos but they are chowing down on them in the crying room as if they are watching a movie or something.
 
Razanir said:
Well at least until Mass is over :rolleyes:
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And that comes shortly after Communion.😃

The Eucharist is the breaking of the fast. I don’t know of any specific ‘regulation’ regarding waiting a specified time after communion before eating.

Saying prayers before (and after) meals should remind us of the continuation of the Eucharistic celebration in our daily lives.
 
The_Serpent said:
The Church requires a one hour fast before receiving communion. But how long after communion should you wait before eating again? :signofcross:
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There is nothing in the nature of the sacrament that requires a fast before or after communion. It is a discipline of the Church that the Catholics refrains from eating before communion, in part to better discern if one will consume “worthily”. If this discipline were not in force, one would only need be in a state of grace (gone to confession) to receive.

In some Eastern Church’s, there is a pious tradition of waiting an hour to allow the body to digest the alcohol from the precious blood, symbolically representing the joining of one’s blood with the Blood of Christ. However there is no inherent need to do this. Once the Host has melted, or the alcohol has separated from the wine, the Eucharist ceases.
 
There has never been a requirement for any kind of waiting after receiving Holy Communion.

There used to be an informal idea that the first thing to consume was some water to wash down any remaining traces of the consecrated Host.

But usually within a few seconds, all remains of the Host are dissolved by your saliva.
 
Pretty sure I read in my Missal you were supposed to fast one hour before communion, and 15 minutes afterwards, short of medical considerations.

I’ll be happily corrected, though.
 
runningdude said:
Once the Host has melted, or the alcohol has separated from the wine, the Eucharist ceases.
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Upon consecration, there is no longer wine but merely the accidents of wine.

EWTN: Post-communion fast
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EWTN:
Answer by Colin B. Donovan, STL on 8/2/2001:
There is no explicitly defined legal obligation to such a fast. The fast is implictly contained in the doctrine that Christ is present as long as the species are present in us. Opinions differ as to whether that is 10, 15 or 20 minutes after reception. Normally the remainder of the Mass is sufficient time, but if it is too brief then, yes, communicants should wait some time more before eating.
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lynnareyno said:
15 minutes is the length of time that the host is considered to be present in your system.
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It used to be 15 minutes. The Church has removed that requirement, according to a priest who told me this in the confessional.
 
minion said:
Pretty sure I read in my Missal you were supposed to fast one hour before communion, and 15 minutes afterwards, short of medical considerations.

I’ll be happily corrected, though.
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The fastest I have ever seen a Mass declared over was 5-7 minutes after holy communion. The slowest was about 24 minutes and people were leaving well before that point.
 
I might be wrong, but i think 2 hours fast is required, also i need to find a copy of the GIRM to verify it.
The_Serpent said:
"
The Church requires a one hour fast before receiving communion. But how long after communion should you wait before eating again? :signofcross:
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marlo said:
I might be wrong, but i think 2 hours fast is required, also i need to find a copy of the GIRM to verify it.
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You are wrong. Why would you need to fast? The fast is for preparation to receive Christ. Once you receive Him, what are you fasting for?

In the Byzantine tradition shared by Orthodox and Eastern Catholics of the Byzantine Rite, we would eat blessed bread called antidoron. Now the tradition on when exactly the bread is given would differ, some the bread is there at the side during Communion, which means you get to eat some immediately after you received. Others would distribute the bread at the end of the Liturgy.

In our parish we would have Matins and Divine Liturgy every Sunday morning. It starts at 9:30am and typically would end around 11:45 at the earliest. Sometimes it goes past 12. Imagine we’ve been fasting for about 12 hours (the practice is fasting since midnight), so giving people a little bread to have enough strength to finish the Liturgy became tradition.
 
ConstantineTG said:
You are wrong. Why would you need to fast? The fast is for preparation to receive Christ. Once you receive Him, what are you fasting for?
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Because in the West we believe(d?) that the True Presence of Christ was so worthy of respect that it would be insulting to mix Eucharist with ordinary food until the sacred species were well and truly absorbed into our system. I do not know how popular, wide-spread, or binding this obligation was, but a post-communion fast seems to have fallen into disuse in the Latin Church, and since there is no evidence of it in modern law, whether Canon or Liturgical, then I would say it is hardly binding on Latin Catholics to observe in this day and age unless you are a strict Traditionalist - but how Traditional is the fast?
 
StrawberryJam said:
Not soon enough for most people who bring snacks along pretending it’s for the kiddos but they are chowing down on them in the crying room as if they are watching a movie or something.
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I do not believe most people do this. Actually, I think it would be very few.
 
Elizium23 said:
Because in the West we believe(d?) that the True Presence of Christ was so worthy of respect that it would be insulting to mix Eucharist with ordinary food until the sacred species were well and truly absorbed into our system. I do not know how popular, wide-spread, or binding this obligation was, but a post-communion fast seems to have fallen into disuse in the Latin Church, and since there is no evidence of it in modern law, whether Canon or Liturgical, then I would say it is hardly binding on Latin Catholics to observe in this day and age unless you are a strict Traditionalist - but how Traditional is the fast?
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Why is it insulting to mix the Eucharist with ordinary food? Was it insulting when Christ took flesh and dwelt among us ordinary mortals?

The belief that God is so holy that anything in the physical world is unworthy to touch him is a condemned Gnostic belief.

What did Jesus say to Peter in Acts 10:15?

[BIBLEDRB]Acts 10:15[/BIBLEDRB]
 
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