Question on the Eucharist.

  • Thread starter Thread starter graceandfaith
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
graceandfaith said:
I started RCIA a few weeks back. I’m in the phase of Inquiry; and I have a quick question. The question I have is: Would it be acceptable for a pregnant woman to take the “blood of Christ”(wine) during Communion? If it indeed is the blood of Christ, would it be now safe for a pregnant woman to drink? I just had this thought this morning, and I don’t wish to stir the pot. I just want you thought on the matter.
Click to expand...
I just dont see how the Sacred Blood of God could harm any one. If you cant trust God, who can you trust?
 
Link0126 said:
In Europe they typically drink wine while pregnant, I think you’ll be fine. Also, goodness, back a generation or two they smoked and drank and those kids turned out alright… people are overly concerned about the smallest things now days.
Click to expand...
My mother drank and smoked and I’m OK but I think she just got lucky. I avoided alcohol totally while pregnant. I’ve never smoked but in pregnancy number 1 I was surrounded by smokers except when in my own home; with baby number 2 I was sometimes around smokers; with baby number 3 I was never around smokers. The only difference between pregnancies was my exposure to second hand smoke and the size of my babies reflected the amount of exposure perfectly. In fact, baby 1 was mistaken for a preemie by public health nurses. Anecdotal, maybe, but just seeing the increase in the fetus’s heart rate when mom lights up should make any pregnant woman butt out forever.

Child 1 also was a severe asthmatic as a child.
 
Babies and pregnant women have received the Precious Blood of our Lord for two millenia to no negative effects. Of course drinking from the cup is not a very regulated way as it is receiving from the spoon in the Byzantine Rite
 
wisdomseeker said:
I just dont see how the Sacred Blood of God could harm any one. If you cant trust God, who can you trust?
Click to expand...
I think your missing two key points.
  1. Those who choose not to receive from the cup, are trusting God -trusting the wisdom The Spirit has given us concerning the matter which is transubstantiated into the Precious Blood of Jesus.
  2. Receiving only one species doesn’t mean someone receives any less of the body, blood, soul and divinity of Christ.
If the wine were, as was previously pointed out, transformed into the precious blood instead of transubstantiated into it, we’d be having an entirely different conversation.
 
Whitacre_Girl said:
A pregnant woman can choose to skip the chalice if she wants to.

A small sip of alcohol won’t hurt a developing baby. My sister-in-law actually had a glass of wine here and there throughout her pregnancy with no problems. The issue comes when you slam down a TON of it.

An important thing to bear in mind about communion too is that while it becomes the body and blood of Christ in it’s spiritual/physical context, it is still chemically exactly the same as bread and wine. This is why those with a severe gluten allergy only take wine, and cannot receive the host.

There is a lot of really great literature out there about this.
Click to expand...
Just a side-note on this point - there now exists a very low-gluten host that can be consecrated for those with celiac disease.

low gluten hosts

In case someone needs them. People usually bring one in a pyx to put on the paten with the other hosts.
 
wisdomseeker said:
I just dont see how the Sacred Blood of God could harm any one. If you cant trust God, who can you trust?
Click to expand...
I’m sure you’re thinking this is all modernism. Well, you should look up the rite of pregustation in the old form of the pontifical Mass, in which the sacristan would taste the bread and wine to make sure that they weren’t poisoned. Now, why would that ever be necessary if we believed that after consecration the sacred species were incapable of causing harm?
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top