Question about eating before Communion

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Carmelite1983

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I’m a hungry man. I’m also often a forgetful man.
Let’s say I accidentally start eating and Mass starts in a half hour. And let’s say I honestly forgot and wasn’t purposely eating before Mass.
I know taking the Eucharist after recently eating is a Mortal Sin, and I should not receive it.
If I refuse to receive communion because I was recently eating, am I still in Mortal Sin because I skipped communion?
Do I need to confess that I skipped communion? Or did I do the right thing in skipping, and I should just wait till next weekend, since I still attended Mass, and take communion next time?
 
Skipping Communion isn’t a sin of any kind—if you’ve eaten within an hour, that’s what you’re supposed to do.

That said, if you finished eating 1/2 hour before the beginning of the average Sunday Mass, odds are that by Communion, an hour will have passed.
 
You never have to receive. Maybe technically if it’s the last Sunday of Easter and you haven’t received yet this year or something bizarre. Don’t know all the technical rules on that one. But yeah you’re fine.
 
Maybe I am cutting corners too tightly but a half hr. before mass and that communion is closer to the end of mass, given the speed or slowness of the priest…I think would probably give you that hr. before receiving. If you forgot don’t beat yourself up over a few minutes, but try not to make a habit of forgetting. This is not a primise to repeat the ‘forgetting.’ Go to confession is always your best recourse when in doubt.
 
What are the consequences if one knows the restriction and eats within the hour before receiving? Venial sin? Mortal sin? Something else?
 
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JulianN said:
Skipping Communion isn’t a sin of any kind
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Well I feel silly because I didn’t know that!
I thought that was the “whole point” of Mass…
Thanks for the (name removed by moderator)ut!
 
Zach said:
What are the consequences if one knows the restriction and eats within the hour before receiving? Venial sin? Mortal sin? Something else?
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I just learned it is Mortal, and I felt really bad because I didn’t know that.
My priest told me however that since I didn’t know that, I shouldn’t worry, I just need to be more careful in the future.
 
Mortal sin requires all three of these conditions:
  1. Grave matter (such as breaking the Eucharistic fast)
  2. Full knowledge/understanding of the matter
  3. Full consent/intent to take that action in spite of the knowledge of the grave matter.
So, accidentally eating 30 minutes before Mass begins fits the above as follows:
  1. Maybe (you might not actually be violating the fast if an hour passes between food consumption and receiving, though that’s a very legalistic view that I’d recommend you avoid)
  2. Before you knew about this, no; now, yes.
  3. Was this truly accidental? Then no mortal sin (maybe venial). What is your intent? That’s the guidepost you should be using…
Consult your priest. You only have to receive the Eucharist once a year; otherwise the obligation is to be at Mass on Sundays/Holy Days, not necessarily receive communion.
 
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If you don’t go to Communion for obeying Canon Law requirements why would there be “consequences”?

Isnt the issue really why you eat within the hour?
Why would you choose to do that wilfully?

If you didnt do it willfully why are you worrying about personal sin?

Surely you do not believe we commit personal sin just for mechanically “breaking” a rule yet respecting the consequences (no receiving).

Storm in a teacup isnt it?
 
@Carmelite1983, one must abstain from food for at least an hour before receiving the Eucharist. The only exceptions are water and medicine.

However, the elderly, the infirm, and those who care for them can receive the Most Holy Eucharist even if they have eaten something within the preceding hour.
 
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So taking a cough drop during mass to prevent a coughing fit is okay?
 
Convert3 said:
So taking a cough drop during mass to prevent a coughing fit is okay?
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If you are in the USA, Hall’s Cough Drops are labeled as medicine. Those you can take if necessary. (Water also helps prevent coughing fits.)

In other countries, the same cough drops are labeled a hard candy. You can’t take anything that is candy because it would break your fast.

Hall’s also puts out Vitamin C lozenges. I wouldn’t advise taking those or any kind of breath mints before or during Mass.

If you’re a diabetic, you would be able to keep a bit of orange juice on you in case of emergency. One must always obey their dr.
 
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lilypadrees said:
If you are in the USA, Hall’s Cough Drops are labeled as medicine. Those you can take if necessary. (Water also helps prevent coughing fits.)

In other countries, the same cough drops are labeled a hard candy. You can’t take anything that is candy because it would break your fast.

Hall’s also puts out Vitamin C lozenges. I wouldn’t advise taking those or any kind of breath mints before or during Mass.

If you’re a diabetic, you would be able to keep a bit of orange juice on you in case of emergency. One must always obey their dr.
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This is precisely the inane kind of thing that I believe frustrated Jesus about the Pharisees. The law is made for us, not we for it. If you need a cough drop, take one. Who cares what the label says? I’m sure God doesn’t.

We must always focus on the intent of the action rather than the letter of the scrupulously interpreted law.
 
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Sophie111 said:
Surely you do not believe we commit personal sin just for mechanically “breaking” a rule yet respecting the consequences (no receiving).
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That’s not what I meant to ask. I asked if someone ate within the hour and received anyway, is it considered grave or venial sin. It’s unlikely that anyone would do this with knowledge and intent but it’s at least a hypothetical possibility. Maybe because I used the term “consequences” it wasn’t clear what I meant, though at least one person understood what I meant and gave an answer.
 
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Sorry.

Yet the same principles apply.
How can a non-thinking mechanical action be in any way a personal sin?
And even if we were culpably negligent for forgetting who would know anyhow?
So there is no outward scandal either.
Therefore its an absolutely forgettable incident.

It would be more significant if you were so distracted and late for mass on a regular basis.

But even then the sin would likely be in something else completely it seems to me (indifferent faith).
 
lilypadrees said:
If you are in the USA, Hall’s Cough Drops are labeled as medicine. Those you can take if necessary. (Water also helps prevent coughing fits.)

In other countries, the same cough drops are labeled a hard candy.
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Does the label make it candy, or make it medicine? Does putting a different label on it make it acceptable (or unacceptable) for the fast? 🤔
 
Of course not - but one’s intended use of said candy does.
If one eats such candy to stop a bad coughing and annoying fellow parishioners then it would be within Church rules to receive Communion within the hour.

Its an arbitrary rule to demonstrate respect for the Eucharist not Natural Law afterall.
 
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