Spilling the blood during Mass!

[Laurie_86]

I’m a newbie converting so if I don’t say any of the terminology right you know why!

I was at mass today sitting up front next to the Eucharist Minister administering the blood of Christ. I noticed a gentleman had spilled some of the blood of Christ on him. The Eucharist minister noticed and was giving him instructions on what to do, but I was not sitting close enough to hear what her instructions were.

As a newbie I’m horribly afraid of desecrating the body and blood of Christ when I take my first communion. What if I spill the blood or Christ or drop the body of Christ? What should I do and who should be notified?

I don’t think God would be disrespected if the incident was accidental, but of course I want to be prepared should it happen because at times I can be a bit of a klutz.

 

[George_C]

Oh, boy…

I can be a klutz at times, too.

I’m jinxed for certain.:bigyikes:

 

[bpbasilphx]

You use normal care with the Holy Gifts, and common sense should any be spilled.

Accidental spillage is NOT desecration, which is a deliberate and malicious act.

 

[LilyM]

You use normal care with the Holy Gifts, and common sense should any be spilled.

Accidental spillage is NOT desecration, which is a deliberate and malicious act.

A bit more guidance than ‘common sense’ is necessary - there is a proper procedure which should be followed. It’s good that you want to know what to do should any Precious Blood be spilled.

Note, as previous poster has said, accidental spillage (which can happen to anyone, no matter how careful) is NOT the same thing as profanation or desecration. The two are as different as accidental breakage of a window and deliberately throwing a rock through the same window with malice aforethought.

What to do? Firstly the minister offering the cup should have a cloth - called a corporal, I believe - which is used to wipe the chalice in between communicants. It would probably be a good idea to blot up as much as possible of the spillage with this, as it will be properly and reverently cleaned after Mass.

Next - as soon as possible, take the garment that has the Precious Blood on it, and soak the garment (or just the spilled section if need be) in a container of plain water (I think cold water is better for this) until no visible appearance of the spillage remains on the garment. The garment itself can then be laundered as you normally would.

Carefully dispose of the soaking water by pouring it directly onto the ground, somewhere (preferably) where it will not be trodden on and will not, for example, go down a stormwater drain or anything.

 

[Linda_Marie]

Likewise, should you drop the Host, the priest, deacon, acolyte or EMHC who gave it to you should be the one to dispose of It properly. YOU shouldn’t have to do anything. It is their responsibility and part of their training. The cloth used by the minister to wipe the chalice is called the Purificator, the Corporal being the small square cloth placed on the altar to catch any fragments of the Host which might fall during the consecration.

You could ask your RCIA class if you could practice receiving communion with unconsecrated hosts and water in a chalice. If you are very afraid of dropping It, you also have the option to receive on the tongue.

 

[NPC]

You could ask your RCIA class if you could practice receiving communion with unconsecrated hosts and water in a chalice. If you are very afraid of dropping It, you also have the option to receive on the tongue.

Another option, of course, is not to receive the Precious Blood from the chalice at all. Christ is entirely present in the consecrated consecrated host as He is also present - body, blood, soul and divinity - in the Precious Blood. So if you feel the risk of spillage when receiving the Blood of Christ is too great, then you have the option to receive the host alone. As Linda Marie said, you may also consider receiving Holy Communion on the tongue - this may reduce the possibility of dropping the host, and in my experience, it certainly reduces the possibility of losing tiny particles of the host. Whatever you decide, do remember that one is not missing out at all by receiving under one species alone - you will be at no ‘disadvantage’ to those who receive under both species because of Christ’s complete presence in both the Sacred Host and in the Precious Blood.

 

[bpbasilphx]

A bit more guidance than ‘common sense’ is necessary - there is a proper procedure which should be followed. It’s good that you want to know what to do should any Precious Blood be spilled.

And these directions are, in fact, common sense.

What to do? Firstly the minister offering the cup should have a cloth - called a corporal, I believe - which is used to wipe the chalice in between communicants.

This cloth is a purificator. The corporal is so called because the Body of Christ, at least originally, rested upon it during the Consecration.