Question about eating before Communion

[thequeen]

Being a type1 diabetic I am exempt from any type of fast before communion read my reply to how do you rate your priest.

 

[Carmelite1983]

I’m a T1 diabetic too!
But I can’t say with certainty that I’m always snacking for that reason. Sometimes I just like to munch

 

[Sophie111]

But when you have the shakes it is clearly medicinal - even if the label is Pam’s White Sugar.

 

[Brendan_64]

I think we need to exercise careful when judging what constitutes medicine and what constitutes food in this regard.

If we can go without it for an hour and a half (to allow time after Communion before arriving home) without our health being harmed then, regardless of whether or not something is classified as a medicine or not, should we not perhaps consider abstaining?

And I think it should not simply be down to whatever the official classification if a substance, but the intent. If I like the taste of cough lozenges and eat them because I like the taste, then I am eating them as food regardless of how they are classified.

 

[Sbee0]

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?

1/2 hour before a Sunday Mass might be a good enough time to stop eating and begin the brief Eucharistic fast, though that varies from parish to parish depending on the pace of Mass.

It’s not a sin to refrain from the Eucharist for any reason. With that said, I think if someone (who is healthy) decides they’ll just “skip” communion that day because they just want to eat something just before Mass is really doing themselves a disservice.

 

[babochka]

The label states the product’s intended use.

Off-label yes is perfectly acceptable. It is the intent of the user that matters, not the intent of the manufacturer or marketer.

If a diabetic drinks orange juice to cure low blood sugar, then that use of orange juice is medicinal. It doesn’t matter that it is not labeled as such.

 

[babochka]

Yes: Some people’s conscience is bothered by an obscure rule about fasting before communion. It seems obtuse to me, but I’ve got bigger sins to worry about than thinking about this.

How is fasting before Communion obscure? Maybe we need to return to a longer and more meaningful fast in order to clarify.

 

[babochka]

If you are having coughing fits, it is likely better that you stay home so you do not spread your illness to everyone else!

Or not. I have a chronic cough that results in some major fits. Entirely non-contaigious. Thank God I haven’t had to stay home from church for the last 20 years because of it.

 

[babochka]

The label states the product’s intended use.

In the USA, Halls Cough Drops are used to stop coughing. It’s medicine.

In countries like Belize, these same drops are labeled a hard candy.

Halls Cough Drops: Candy or Medicine in Belize? - San Pedro Scoop

I just read the link. Clearly, the product being sold South of the Border is a different product with the same brand as the cough drops sold in America.

Not that it matters, because my opinion remains the same about intent.

 

[OraLabora]

The label states the product’s intended use.

In the USA, Halls Cough Drops are used to stop coughing. It’s medicine.

In countries like Belize, these same drops are labeled a hard candy.

It isn’t the label, but the intended use of the consumer that makes something medicine or not. For a diabetic, food such as an apple, an orange or a cookie can be medicine if it’s used to ward off or correct a hypoglycemic episode. In such a case one isn’t eating for only nutrition, but to prevent a serious medical episode that can have dangerous consequences (fainting and falling and knocking one’s head, etc.)

Regardless of the labeling, if one is using Halls to prevent a coughing episode, then it is medicine. If one is consuming it because you simply like the taste, then it is not medicine, even if the label says so.

Prudential judgement is really what is required, not a detailed set of always unbreakable rules… the Law was made for Mankind, not Mankind for the Law.

 

[Peter_M]

Fasting isn’t obscure, but the fastidious attention to how many minutes before can I eat, what if I have a coffee, etc, focuses on the rules, and degrades the eucharis’s blessings.