Priest passes out, hosts fall: what do you do first?

  • Thread starter Thread starter UKcatholicGuy
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
The question you have to ask is what jeapardy is the host in of desecration. If Father passes out because of say a medical condition, the host is in no jeapardy, go and assist the priest who is.

If Father fell because a bullet hit him when Sandinistas invaded the Church, the host is in jeapardy and needs to be consumed at the risk of the Father’s life and maybe yours.

Triage
 
In the situation you described, there is no intention of desecrating the hosts because of the attack. What you can do is call for a doctor while attending to the priest, while verbally yelling to people to watch for the fallen hosts. You will not be disgracing our Lord by doing that, provided you do whatever you can to prevent trampling. You can pick them up later and dispose of them in the prescribed manner.
 
Although this question is contrived and a bit silly in a sense, I will try to answer because I believe that there is sincerity behind the question.

The priest should be attended to first. That doesn’t diminish belief in the Real Presence. There is not much danger of damage happening to the hosts in the situation described. However, the situation made clear that the priest may be seriously injured. So that would take obvious priority. I would first see if the priest needed CPR. I would begin CPR if needed (since I’m certified). If the priest began breathing again and had a heartbeat again, or if he didn’t need CPR, I would then take out my cell phone, turn it on (since one should never have their cell phone on during Mass) and call 911.

There is no immediate danger to Christ in the situation offered here (or any other that can be dreamt up). Jesus can’t be hurt or harmed. Even in His Real Presence in the Eucharist, He is beyond suffering. Sacrilege hurts the sinner, not God. The pain done to Christ was experienced during his Passion.

It is Church teaching that Christ’s Passion was to atone for Original sin and all subsequent actual sins since the Original sin. If we reject God’s grace and the merits of Christ’s redemptive work on the Cross, we suffer in eternity, but we do not hurt Christ again. He paid the price once and for all through His Passion, Resurrection, and Ascension. That same price is re-presented to the Father at every Mass. However, we don’t add to His Passion by our subsequent sins. Rather, His Passion anticipated our future sins.

I hope that makes sense, but fear it will raise more questions.
 
Michael T.:
I hope that makes sense, but fear it will raise more questions.
Click to expand...
:clapping:

That made sense to me!

You said a lot, very succinctly, and I am in full agreement.

Alan
 
40.png
TheGarg:
WWJD???

Christ would tell you to attend to the other person first. He is kinda big on those selfless acts of sacrificing Himself for the Good of Mankind 😃
Click to expand...
“What would Jesus do?” is a very good question indeed, given the following passage from the Gospel of John, chapter 12:

3 Mary took a liter of costly perfumed oil made from genuine aromatic nard and anointed the feet of Jesus and dried them with her hair; the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil.

4 Then Judas the Iscariot, one (of) his disciples, and the one who would betray him, said,

5 “Why was this oil not sold for three hundred days’ wages and given to the poor?”

7 So Jesus said, "Leave her alone. Let her keep this for the day of my burial.

8 You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me."

I don’t mean to swat at the bee-hive here, but maybe there is some credence to what UKcatholicguy is saying?

From what I’ve been able to make of the argument, it seems as though no one is worried about the host because God would take of it, but we need to attend to the priest because men are more important than the “piece of bread.” But would not God care about that which is most important? To say that we need not worry about the host because God would protect it is to say that God would not care about the priest and let him suffer unless we did something about it because God wouldn’t protect him. If the human person was worth more that the Eucharist, would God not do more to protect the priest than the pieces of the host?

So, what would God do?

btw, I don’t really have an answer to this question, just trying to further the discussion a bit from what would otherwise be an obvious answer.
 
Easy. Christ’s Body and Blood are not in any grave peril lying on the floor. Help the “other Christ” that obviously is in peril.
 
help the Priest, then reverently place the hosts back into their proper place…I think Jesus will understand:)
 
Standard Red Cross First aid is Check, Call, Care:
  1. Check-first check to see if there is anything that could cause added injury to your or the victim(s)
  2. Call-if another person arrives at the scene, call for emergency personnel, or call and inform the emergency operator of the situation. They may advise you in caring for the victim.
  3. Care-care for the victim(s) based on who needs the most immediate attention.
 
Personaly, I would tend to the priest and ask someone to dial 911
 
We should tend to the Priest first. Our parish priest reminds us that “we do not hold Jesus captive in the Tabernacle and we cannot injure Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament”

The Eucharist deserves every respect and honor for what IT truely IS…Jesus, Flesh, Blood, Soul. We cannot injure Jesus by dropping a Host or the Cup. We could disrespect Him by desecrating the Eucharist, a deliberate act but we cannot harm Him in any physical way. So any person, Priest or Extraordinary Minister of the Eucharist, who in advertantly drops Cup or Host should respectfully take the appropriate actions. Should that happen due to illness or injury, we should care for the injured/ill and then carry out the appropriate actions.

Also, I was at a Mass, one time in my life, where I was the only person in attendence. It was a daily Mass at the VA Hospital in Portland Oregon. On that day, surely the Homily was directed at me, no other “sinners” being present! Thank God no Hosts were dropped. At that time I would not have had a clue what to do…
 
40.png
CheesusPowerKid:
help the Priest, then reverently place the hosts back into their proper place…I think Jesus will understand:)
Click to expand...
Exactly what I was going to say.
 
I would attend to the physical needs of the priest, moving hosts as neccesary, I really don’t think christ would get mad @ a medical emergency/ accident.

this is what he did for us by putting his life as ransom for ours
LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR
 
I thought the whole hypothetical a little too bizarre…

it would never happen in my neck of the woods…there are always others, always an altar server etc, etc
 
In this situation since you are the only one there with the priest, attend to him, then pick up the hosts. No one would be there to possibly step on them. As soon as the priest is stabilized, you can attend to the hosts.

Pretty far out situation.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top