If you drop the Holy Eucharist...

[Holland]

During a daily mass I attended, a very elderly gentleman, who was in front of me as we filed to the front for Communion, dropped the Eucharist. He quickly bent over, picked it up and put it in his mouth. I have never seen that happen before. What are you suppose to do if you drop the Eucharist during Communion?

 

[CARose]

He did it right! It seems like he’s a case where it’s best to receive on the tongue, so he doesn’t have to worry about it dropping. But he did it exactly right!

CARose

 

[Sir_Knight]

CARose:

a case where it’s best to receive on the tongue, so he doesn’t have to worry about it dropping.

Another reason why we should ALL receive on the tongue and if it should fall, and altar server would be there with a patent [sp] to catch it so that it doesn’t touch the floor.

 

[Eireann]

Sir Knight:

Another reason why we should ALL receive on the tongue and if it should fall, and altar server would be there with a patent [sp] to catch it so that it doesn’t touch the floor.

Correct, I DO wish we were receiving like this again, but sadly were not.
Receiving like this as a child was so respectful, now I’m afraid for me it’s not.
If it’s not broke don’t fix it, I hope and pray for this practice to return to our Church.

 

[puzzleannie]

Holland:

During a daily mass I attended, a very elderly gentleman, who was in front of me as we filed to the front for Communion, dropped the Eucharist. He quickly bent over, picked it up and put it in his mouth. I have never seen that happen before. What are you suppose to do if you drop the Eucharist during Communion?

exactly as this excellent genteman did, as he and I were instructed long ago, no doubt by the good sisters, who told us when we see the host fall to the ground we are seeing Jesus fall as he did on the road to Calvary and must come to his assitance.

by the way, receiving on the tongue is no guarantee against accidents, but they will be less if the priest is accompied by a server with a paten. Without this, especially when receiving from a minister who is unfamiliar with this practice, there is a great chance of dropping the host.

 

[Sir_Knight]

puzzleannie:

receiving on the tongue is no guarantee against accidents, but they will be less if the priest is accompied by a server with a paten

As a former altar boy, I’ve seen the host fall a number of times when people were receiving on the tongue but it fell on a clean, gold-plated paten and not on a dirty floor that people walk upon.

 

[kage_ar]

Sir Knight:

Another reason why we should ALL receive on the tongue and if it should fall, and altar server would be there with a patent [sp] to catch it so that it doesn’t touch the floor.

Our altar servers hold the paten under the hands of those who choose to recieve in the hand…

 

[CindyGia]

Two weeks ago my parish monsignor put an insert into the bulletin which contained instructions how to receive the Eucharist. The insert said that receiving on the tongue came about only a couple of hundred years ago where very pious people started to believe that they were not “worthy enough” to touch the Holy Host with their hands. Thus, started receiving on the tongue, and this practice spread throughout the world.

It went on to say that the correct way to receive Holy Communion is in the hand, since Christ Himself put His Body (the unleaven bread) into the hands of His Apostles. He did not distribute His Body onto their tongues.

For two years I wouldn’t dream of receiving in the hand, but now I do simply because of what this insert claimed. It actually feels right to me as well as receiving on the tongue.

For those who would like to know exactly what this insert said, I’ll go home tonight and find it and write word for word what is said about how the practice started with receiving on the tongue.

But this man was right in picking the Eucharist up from the floor and placing it in his mouth. I watched a woman who dropped the Host on the floor, pick it up - and after mass, left it lying on the ledge near the Tabernacle. I had to alert the Deacon. I felt very bad for her that she did not want to receive because Jesus fell on the floor.

 

[johnshelby]

the gentleman did right…

i was at a meeting of rcia a few weeks ago, the lady who
cleans the church came in, she had a host in her hand,
told Father she found it in a pew… he took it, thanked her,
and consummed it… (( yes, our priest teaches the rcia class ))

 

[vluvski]

A family down the street from us was mediocre in their Catholic faith. Once the son brought a friend to Mass, and the friend was not advised not to receive. He took Communion, didn’t like the way it tasted, and made it rather obvious and was ready to spit it out.
I was shocked and SO PROUD of the mother when she put out her hand to have him spit it out, and then ate it herself.

 

[Paris_Blues]

Holland:

What are you suppose to do if you drop the Eucharist during Communion?

Quickly pick It up and start to CRY!!! CRY!!! CRY!!! :crying: :crying: :crying: :crying:

 

[Holland]

Sometimes at the local church someone will make the bread for Mass. A couple of weeks ago I happened to be near the end of the Communion line and the priest gave me 2 pieces. It was very hard to swallow. Would it be improper for me to offer to buy the hosts for Mass?

 

[Lady_Cygnus]

Someone once dropped the host in front of me (I was kneeling by the isle) and that person kept walking. For a while I didn’t know what to do, so I was just there looking at it. I finally decided to pick it up and ask one of the Extraodinary Ministers after mass. I remember sitting there throughout mass wondering what one does with the host once it’s fallen on the ground (bury it? perhaps burn? hey I was young ). When I took it to the EMEu she immediately consumed it. I remember thinking that if that was all that needed to be done I could have done it when I first picked it up.

I’ve since asked a priest, he said that you should always consume the host if possible. If for some reason you can’t, then it should be put in water and allowed to disolve then poured down the special sink in the sacristy (suporium???). That sink send it directly into the ground, not into the sewer lines.)

 

[Flopfoot]

If it falls on the floor aren’t you supposed to bend down and pick it up with your tongue, and consume it?

 

[coyote]

I am not interested in sharing mouth bacteria with every person that receives the body of Christ before me. Place it in my hand please.

 

[Lady_Cygnus]

Flopfoot:

If it falls on the floor aren’t you supposed to bend down and pick it up with your tongue, and consume it?

…trying not to laugh

 

[Brian_Crane]

CindyGia:

Two weeks ago my parish monsignor put an insert into the bulletin which contained instructions how to receive the Eucharist. The insert said that receiving on the tongue came about only a couple of hundred years ago where very pious people started to believe that they were not “worthy enough” to touch the Holy Host with their hands. Thus, started receiving on the tongue, and this practice spread throughout the world.

This is absolutely incorrect. Both methods of receiving communion were practiced in the early church. Neither was universal. In some places, receiving on the tongue was the norm and in others the hand was the norm. From around the eleventh century to the 1970’s, communion on the tongue was the norm.

Unfortunately there is much misinformation about this issue on the internet from both sides, traditionals and liberals. I hope your priest was merely an innocent victim of liberal propaganda and not a willing participant.

 

[msgstephen]

A monk told me a funny story about that once. Yes, he did get down on all fours and tried to suck it up as he had made a devotion never to touch the Holy Eurachist with his hands.

The priest told him to “Cut it out”.

 

[TobyLue]

Sometimes at the local church someone will make the bread for Mass. A couple of weeks ago I happened to be near the end of the Communion line and the priest gave me 2 pieces. It was very hard to swallow. Would it be improper for me to offer to buy the hosts for Mass?

What was being used to make the bread? Only whole wheat and water is to be used. No, absolutely, no additives are to be used. Not even a smidgen. I knew of this parish next to mine who would have different ladies make the communion bread and they used honey and other additives. To me this is just ridiculous when there are so many nuns that make the proper altar breads to be used.

 

[TobyLue]

by the way, receiving on the tongue is no guarantee against accidents, but they will be less if the priest is accompied by a server with a paten. Without this, especially when receiving from a minister who is unfamiliar with this practice, there is a great chance of dropping the host.

Not only that but what about clean hands?
I help a priest friend of mine who has a very poor parish so I serve just about every week during an evening mass. He has had some young teens who are attending confirmation classes to go to mass right after class. Once the priest was out and had a visiting priest and this man was so, so gentle in handling the consecrated host. Then these kids come up to receive commuion and of course they are all taught to receive it in the hand and these two young girls had a filthiest hands I have seen on a young girl in a long time. I mentioned this to my priest when he came back and he said he has told them about having clean hands but apparently they dont pay attention. I also mentioned it to the confirmation class teacher and she she she would check the hands of all the teens before they went over to the church. I use a paten when I help the priest distribution communion and I will hold the paten under the hands of those receiving it in the hand as well as under the chin for those few who received it on the tongue. I myself receive on the tongue.