Iced Tea during Mass?

[BasiaGirl]

Every Sunday my sister brings a huge glass of ice tea (no sweeteners) to Church and drinks it all through the service. Then she goes up for Communion. She says it’s just iced tea and she gets thirsty. I told her to drink water. She just rolls her eyes and says I’m a nut. She thinks I’m being scrupulous. Is it a mortal sin to drink iced drink within the hour before taking the Eucharist?

 

[Tantum_ergo]

I’m sure your sister is probably going to be quite annoyed but. . .you are correct and she is not.

Canon law requires that for a period of one hour before reception of the Eucharist one must not ingest anything other than **water or medications. **The relevant passage from the Canon is below.
Canon law states, “One who is to receive the most Holy Eucharist is to abstain from any food or drink, with the exception only of water and medicine, for at least the period of one hour before Holy Communion” (CIC 919 §1)

Now I personally love tea of all kinds. . .but I would not drink it within the one hour prior to receiving the Eucharist. (That goes for coffee too, for all the ‘coffee hounds.’)

Your sister needs to switch to water only if she must hydrate herself. Does she also drink iced tea throughout every **other hour **of the day, I wonder?

She also calls you a ‘nut’? Hmm, I think she has some other things she needs to address in confession along with unintentionally breaking the fast. (Now that she knows what she did was not right I’m sure she’ll want to acknowledge this.)

 

[stteresasgirl]

What is the world coming to? :doh2: I’m adding this to the one my sister told me this week: She sat a couple pews behind a school-aged child who was playing their Nintendo DS during Sunday Mass. Christ, have mercy on us!

Stteresasgirl

 

[Agape_Thom]

Just curious regarding the emphasis on fasting before taking communion. After all, didn’t the disciples, at that first communion service, consume the elements at the end of a meal?

 

[amgp]

In a local parish bulletin, the pastor had to ask his congregation to refrain from leaving during Mass to go downstairs and get coffee and donuts. They were bringing the coffee and donuts back to the pews where they would then drink and eat during Mass. He had to point out to them that finding pieces of donuts floating in the Precious Blood was the last straw.


I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t read it myself.

 

[JimG]

I grew up at a time when everyone had to fast from midnight until receiving communion. (No food or water.) So the need to takes drinks to Mass seems a little incomprehensible.

 

[geekborj]

It must be looked at with loving eyes. Maybe God will look into her hearts and see that she really needed the iced tea during Mass.

Nevertheless, the mass is a sacrifice hence we should always look forward to facing and receiving Christ with pure heart and body.

 

[Tantum_ergo]

It must be looked at with loving eyes. Maybe God will look into her hearts and see that she really needed the iced tea during Mass.

Nevertheless, the mass is a sacrifice hence we should always look forward to facing and receiving Christ with pure heart and body.

Ummm… . .no. She didn’t really ‘need’ the iced tea for one measly hour of her life.

The OP says her sister tells her that she ‘just gets thirsty’.

I would suggest that “sis” gets checked for diabetes if her thirst is so overwhelming; furthermore, even if she were legitimately ‘thirsty’ (some people really would need hydration, and I mean NEED as opposed to simply 'WANT") but even so, hydration would mean water or water/saline/medication fluid (all permitted). Not, ever, ‘iced tea.’

We need to be very careful that we don’t get so caught up with appearing ‘loving’ that we permit abuses and defiance and flat out wrong to go on lest we be ‘unloving’. That would be the tyranny of evil masquerading as ‘goodness and light.’

 

[Catholic90]

Every Sunday my sister brings a huge glass of ice tea (no sweeteners) to Church and drinks it all through the service. Then she goes up for Communion. She says it’s just iced tea and she gets thirsty. I told her to drink water. She just rolls her eyes and says I’m a nut. She thinks I’m being scrupulous. Is it a mortal sin to drink iced drink within the hour before taking the Eucharist?

If she is that thirsty and cannot go for 1 hour without drinking something, she should see her doctor for a diabetes screening.

Diabetics get VERY thirsty. You may save her life!

 

[Jermosh]

Just curious regarding the emphasis on fasting before taking communion. After all, didn’t the disciples, at that first communion service, consume the elements at the end of a meal?

Its more of a disipine of respect, also St Paul was quite critical of turning Mass into actual feasts and drunken fests.

 

[paperwight]

If she is that thirsty and cannot go for 1 hour without drinking something, she should see her doctor for a diabetes screening.

Diabetics get VERY thirsty. You may save her life!

Yes indeed. When I was at school, my best friend kept dashing off between lessons to gulp water from the tap. We were both around 14. I didn’t know diabetes could develop, but thought it was something diagnosed at birth.

I actually thought she was developing OCD and urged her not to give in to it but fortunately her parents had more sense than me and took her to the doctor.

Is your sister losing weight rapidly, would you say? That’s another sign.

 

[thistle]

Every Sunday my sister brings a huge glass of ice tea (no sweeteners) to Church and drinks it all through the service. Then she goes up for Communion. She says it’s just iced tea and she gets thirsty. I told her to drink water. She just rolls her eyes and says I’m a nut. She thinks I’m being scrupulous. Is it a mortal sin to drink iced drink within the hour before taking the Eucharist?

The answer is no she cannot drink ice tea during Mass.
If she’s ill and requires medication she can take medicine or water. Ice tea is not classified as medicine or water.

If she’s not sick she can easily go for one hour without a drink otherwise she’s being disrespectful.

 

[BillP]

We need to be very careful that we don’t get so caught up with appearing ‘loving’ that we permit abuses and defiance and flat out wrong to go on lest we be ‘unloving’. That would be the tyranny of evil masquerading as ‘goodness and light.’

LOL That isn’t a problem I’ve seen on these boards.

 

[peary]

Every Sunday my sister brings a huge glass of ice tea (no sweeteners) to Church and drinks it all through the service. Then she goes up for Communion. She says it’s just iced tea and she gets thirsty. I told her to drink water. She just rolls her eyes and says I’m a nut. She thinks I’m being scrupulous. Is it a mortal sin to drink iced drink within the hour before taking the Eucharist?

Your sister might be one of these people that no matter what you say, or even show her the Church’s rule on fasting, she is going to dismiss it. You’re not a nut, but your sister is quite selfish.

 

[Bookcat]

Every Sunday my sister brings a huge glass of ice tea (no sweeteners) to Church and drinks it all through the service. Then she goes up for Communion. She says it’s just iced tea and she gets thirsty. I told her to drink water. She just rolls her eyes and says I’m a nut. She thinks I’m being scrupulous. Is it a mortal sin to drink iced drink within the hour before taking the Eucharist?

yes that breaks the fast. Not a scruple…but the discipline of the Church.

 

[josephdaniel29]

I grew up at a time when everyone had to fast from midnight until receiving communion. (No food or water.) So the need to takes drinks to Mass seems a little incomprehensible.

Eastern Catholics still follow that discipline, no food or drink from midnight. If she consumes tea within the one hour prescribed by the Latin Church then she should be denied the Eucharist, no exceptions.

Yours in Christ
Joe

 

[SugarMagnolia]

It’s also bad manners. It’s mass not a movie theater. People shouldn’t bring refreshments.