Silly Question from a Protestant

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sabrinaofmn

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I have been attending mass in consideration of converting. I stay in my pew during the Eucharist. From what I can see, it looks like only one element is given. In Protestant Churches I always received a little piece of bread and a little cup of grape juice. I had heard that Catholics all received a piece of bread and all drank from the same cup, but I don’t see anyone drinking from a cup at this parish. My husband thought that maybe the piece of bread was being dipped prior to being offered to the recipient. How is it that these folks are receiving both the flesh and blood? Am I missing something?
 
Whenever possible, both species should be used.

But, know that under either one you receive the Body, Blood Soul and Divinity of Jesus. We receive a risen Lord.

At consecration, the bread and wine are consecrated separately, to the Body of Christ and the Blood of Christ. Body and Blood separated recalls His death. But, and notice this next time at mass, right after we sing ‘Lamb of God…’ and kneel, the priest will break of piece of the Host (the Body of Christ) and put it into the chalice containing the Blood of Christ thus recalling His Resurrection. Body and Blood reunited.
 
Christ is wholly and really present in both the host and wine. We receive our Lord when we partake of either species. There are even times when it is permissible, and with extreme care taken, for an Extraordinary Minister to take just the sacred blood (consecrated wine) to the sick. This is done when only liquid can be taken by the sick. I say special care must be taken because each and every drop of the wine is truly Christ. 🙂
 
Well, for Novus Ordo masses (which are the non-latin ones) usually both species are distributed.

We believe that Christ is not divided, so when we take communion, we can take either species and receive the whole Christ. There’s a Scripture verse saying something like “Is Christ divided?”
 
Bud Stewart:
Christ is wholly and really present in both the host and wine. We receive our Lord when we partake of either species. There are even times when it is permissible, and with extreme care taken, for an Extraordinary Minister to take just the sacred blood (consecrated wine) to the sick. This is done when only liquid can be taken by the sick. I say special care must be taken because each and every drop of the wine is truly Christ. 🙂
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Or even an Ordinary Minister of the Eucharist (bishop, priest or deacon)!
 
Cephas said:
Whenever possible, both species should be used.

But, know that under either one you receive the Body, Blood Soul and Divinity of Jesus. We receive a risen Lord.

At consecration, the bread and wine are consecrated separately, to the Body of Christ and the Blood of Christ. Body and Blood separated recalls His death. But, and notice this next time at mass, right after we sing ‘Lamb of God…’ and kneel, the priest will break of piece of the Host (the Body of Christ) and put it into the chalice containing the Blood of Christ thus recalling His Resurrection. Body and Blood reunited.
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Not necessarily. In many parishes Communion under both species is reserved for special feast days – and it does seem to make a difference to the people.

Keep in mind that either species contains the full Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus the Christ.
 
Bud Stewart:
Christ is wholly and really present in both the host and wine. We receive our Lord when we partake of either species. There are even times when it is permissible, and with extreme care taken, for an Extraordinary Minister to take just the sacred blood (consecrated wine) to the sick. This is done when only liquid can be taken by the sick. I say special care must be taken because each and every drop of the wine is truly Christ. 🙂
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Catholics are not Lutherans. We believe in transubstantiation, not consubstantiation.

When the Eucharist is confected during the Mass, the wine and hosts BECOME the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ under the appearance of wine and hosts. There are no hosts and wine any longer though – they are the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ.

With the Lutherans (and others), when they have communion, it is their believe that both the Body and Blood and the wine and bread co-exist. (In reality because they do not have the means to confect the Eucharist, the bread and wine alone do continue to exist.)
 
Just to reiterate what has already been stated…Every single crumb of the Eucharist contains 100% of Christ. You don’t recieve any more or less of Him if you get a bigger or smaller piece. This is why the priest is (or should be) so very careful with it. He doesn’t want even the smallest spec of the Eucharist to fall on the ground. There’s actually a big long process you have to go though if you drop a host or spill the cup.

But Cephas is right. Both the bread and the wine should be offered whenever possible. Sometimes only the bread is offered because there aren’t enough Eucharistic ministers to distribute both the bread and wine, other times it is for other reasons.
 
Why if only one ‘species’ (all these new terms!) is used is it the bread not the wine - except apparently in special circumstances when it could be the wine only? What’s the difference here?

Also, to what is the ‘host’ referring and when does it cease to be the host? When it becomes Christ?

New to the Catholic world, I am glad both are given at the mass I attend just because this is what Jesus gave and it somehow seems more complete. ( I understand the former explanations re body, blood, soul and divinity in both and either.)
 
God bless you for preparing to become a Catholic. It sounds like you have not been instructed in the dogmas concerning the Holy Eucharist, which is the central mystery of the Catholic Church. Most of the postings prior to mine are excellent, but from your original questions I feel some of the answers may be assuming that you have received more background instructions than you actually have received. I don’t know of a simple book that explains the Holy Eucharist, but I do strongly urge you to buy and study the Catechism of the Catholic Church (frequently abbreviated as CCC).

There is a practice in the Church where the minister dips the Sacred Host in the Precious Blood. This is called tincture, but is not practiced everywhere.

The posts above are absolutely correct in explaining that every minute particle and every drop of the Sacred Species are the full and complete and physical substance of the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of the Living Risen Christ. The substance or nature of bread and wine did cease to exist at the instant of Consecration in conformity to and in compliance with the instructions of our Lord at the Last Supper. The “accidental” properties of bread and wine remain; that is the properties detected by our mortal senses. Remember, God is Infinitely Powerful; being present under the appearance of bread is no challenge for Him. This is why a Catholic is taught to adore the Sacred Body and Blood under the appearance of bread and wine, because it is God, not a symbol, not a memorial.

Once again, bless you on your journey. The more you learn of the the details of the dogmas of the Catholic Church the more you will love her. We call her Holy Mother Church.
 
sabrinaofmn,

You may find this link to paragraph 1390 and a larger section on the Eucharist and Mass in the Catechism of interest.

scborromeo.org/ccc/p2s2c1a3.htm#VI

and also this link to the entire catechism at the table of contents

scborromeo.org/ccc/ccc_toc2.htm

The bread is called the host when it becomes the Body of Christ because it retains the “accidents” (Aristotelean philosophy term) or physical/sense apparent form of bread, while in “substance” (Aristotlean philosphy term for what something really is despite its outward appearance). This change in substance occurs at the words of consecration “this is my body” and similarly the wine because the blodd with “this is my blood.”

The prayer of consecration is immediately preceeded by the prayer invoking the Holy Spirit:

“Father, may the Holy Spirit sanctify these offerings. Let them become for us the body and blood of Jesus Christ our Lord as we celebrate this great mystery which He left us as an everlasting covenant.”

As in all the sacraments it is Christ who is the true Priest and Minister; Christ who baptizes, Christ who confirms , Christ who offers Himself on the Altar, Christ who forgives our sins, Christ who annoints the sick, through the priest who stands in form Christ, “in persona Chrsiti”, as a servant leader of the Church, the Body of Christ.
 
1 Corinthians 10:16, and on into chapter 11, teach about as clearly as possible that when we partake of the elements we are having koinonia with the body -and blood- of Christ, and that if we fail to realize this, we eat and drink judgement on ourselves.

Lutherans do -not- teach consubstantiation. We teach Real Presence, and we don’t know how God does it on the level of chemistry and physics, just that it Is. So we don’t feel safe in taking a particular philosophical (aristotelian) definition as -dogma-. But it is still hoc est.
 
Dear Elizabeth,

Regarding your questions, which haven’t been addressed, it seems: the reason why only the “species” of bread came to be distributed comes down to some very ordinary factors–danger of spilling the Precious Blood was the main concern. Also, it is difficult to guage how many people will receive and thus, how much wine to have consecrated. So, over the centuries, as more and more people came to Mass and made distribution of the Precious Blood more difficult, it became more common to just receive the Body…and that became traditional so now that is what we generally do. It’s just much simpler to only distrbute the Hosts. Is that what you were asking about?

Speaking of “Hosts”–the word “hostia” means “victim.” So, in the song “O Salutaris Hostia”, we say “O Saving Victim.” The Host/Victim, then, is Jesus, fundamentally. We now speak of the bread as “hosts” but they don’t become “Hosts” until the Eucharistic Prayer.

You’re right–receiving both is more complete and better remembers the command of Jesus. Keep it up.
 
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