"The Wine on my Moustache and Bread between my Teeth"

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ScrupulousMonk

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Hello all. I would just like to clarify something. Let us pretend and say that on a number of occasions, I have had the Bread of the Eucharist stuck between my teeth and the Wine sticking around my mouth and on my moustache. Suppose I floss my teeth and flush the bread down the drain or throw into the trash can. Suppose I also wipe off the Wine from face using my hand and wipe my hand on my pants.

Is it ok to treat the Body and Blood of Christ like that? I know this sounds a bit scrupulous, but this maybe a serious question. I would appreciate your response.
 
It sounds very scrupulous.

If you are intending to disgrace the Body and Blood of Christ by purposefully wiping His Blood on your pants or throwing His Body down the sink, then that is wrong because the intent is to disgrace the Eucharist.

If your intent is to be respectful and you just so happen to wipe the Precious blood from your face to your pants and the Body ends up in the sink by flossing then it’s not wrong because of un-intentional conduct.

I use to suffer with scruples (still kind of do) and the way to break it is to think of intent. If you are intending to do something that is bad, then you’re in the wrong. If you are not intending or completely unaware of the act you are doing that you are not fully responsible or in the wrong.
 
If your moustache hairs are so long that they’re getting into the Precious Blood when you partake of the Chalice, you need to either trim your 'stache or avoid the cup altogether.

EEEWWW!
 
I usually get a drink of water after Mass to rinse the particles out of my mouth anyway. And most of the time, if you just let the Host dissolve on your tongue, you don’t have to worry about it getting stuck between your teeth.

-ACEGC
 
Jesus ceases to be present when the appearance of bread and wine are gone.

Dried wine is not wine but dried up wine. Likewise, masticated bread is not bread.

Jesus left us food. You can’t help getting some on your lips and between your teeth. It is natural. Jesus understood this. Do the best you can, that’s all, and don’t make it harder on yourself than Jesus intended it to be.

-Tim-
 
edward_george said:
I usually get a drink of water after Mass to rinse the particles out of my mouth anyway. And most of the time, if you just let the Host dissolve on your tongue, you don’t have to worry about it getting stuck between your teeth.

-ACEGC
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Both of these are very traditional ways of hedging one’s bets against unintentionally profaning the Eucharist. They are simple and thus require no scrupulous attention to detail. In fact, taking a drink has a long history, as it was common in the Middle Ages, when the chalice was no longer offered to the laity, to nonetheless offer an “ablution [cleansing] of the mouth” in the form of unconsecrated wine from a chalice.

For the OP: don’t floss your teeth until at least 6 hours after Mass. Yes, I just made up that time window, but obviously the longer a gap before flossing the less chance the accidents of bread remain intact in your mouth.
 
Given the texture of the typical parish Host, I’d be surprised if even a particle in the teeth lasted long enough to remain in time to be flossed. And even if it did, as noted above, no longer the “appearance of bread.”
 
DaveBj said:
If your moustache hairs are so long that they’re getting into the Precious Blood when you partake of the Chalice, you need to either trim your 'stache or avoid the cup altogether.

EEEWWW!
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Yeah - agreed. Are you taking a huge gulp instead of a sip? If so, restrain yourself. 🤷

Also - how the heck does the Bread/Body of Christ end up stuck between your teeth? The bread is so processed that it dissolves within minutes. I’ve never heard of any bread - even whole grain bread - getting stuck between teeth.*

If you are concerned about random molecules - don’t be. They are not the Body or Blood of Jesus. That would be scrupulous thinking.

*Except maybe Dwarf Bread. But that would be more apt to break teeth & not get stuck between them. But then, you’d never have to worry about anything getting stuck between your teeth! 😃
 
Tarpeian_Rock said:
Given the texture of the typical parish Host, I’d be surprised if even a particle in the teeth lasted long enough to remain in time to be flossed. And even if it did, as noted above, no longer the “appearance of bread.”
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In my experience, it simply dissolves in a matter of moments.
 
Please don’t refer to the Blessed Sacrament and Precious Blood as bread and wine. It is not such and more.
 
Deo_Gratias42 said:
Please don’t refer to the Blessed Sacrament and Precious Blood as bread and wine. It is not such and more.
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Before consecration it is bread and wine; it reverts to that after consumption. I have often seen the Blessed Sacrament referred to as Bread and Wine - the upper-case letters make a difference.
 
Deo_Gratias42 said:
Please don’t refer to the Blessed Sacrament and Precious Blood as bread and wine. It is not such and more.
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Jesus referred to Himself as the Bread of Life. In the proper context, it is acceptable to use those terms.
 
ScrupulousMonk said:
Hello all. I would just like to clarify something. Let us pretend and say that on a number of occasions, I have had the Bread of the Eucharist stuck between my teeth and the Wine sticking around my mouth and on my moustache. Suppose I floss my teeth and flush the bread down the drain or throw into the trash can. Suppose I also wipe off the Wine from face using my hand and wipe my hand on my pants.

Is it ok to treat the Body and Blood of Christ like that? I know this sounds a bit scrupulous, but this maybe a serious question. I would appreciate your response.
Click to expand...
I think it was St Cyril, though I can’t remember wrote about what he did after receiving the Blessed sacrament, which I have taken as a practice myself…after receiving the cup, I wipe the Precious Blood from my lips and touch it to both eyes and ears while praying my eyes be opened that I might perceive and my ears be open that I might understand the goodness of the Lord.
 
DaveBj said:
If your moustache hairs are so long that they’re getting into the Precious Blood when you partake of the Chalice, you need to either trim your 'stache or avoid the cup altogether.

EEEWWW!
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Last in line could also work
 
Bonnie said:
Before consecration it is bread and wine; it reverts to that after consumption. I have often seen the Blessed Sacrament referred to as Bread and Wine - the upper-case letters make a difference.
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No, it does not revert back to bread and wine after it’s consumed. That’s a heresy. If you vomit after receiving communion, and the host is not dissolved, it’s to be retrieved out of the vomit, placed in water to dissolve, and then poured down the sacrarium.
 
Deo_Gratias42 said:
No, it does not revert back to bread and wine after it’s consumed. That’s a heresy.
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No, it’s not heresy because I didn’t mean immediately after swallowing. If you were to vomit within a few minutes of receiving then yes, the Bread would still be the Body of Christ. But it doesn’t take long for the process of chewing, saliva, and stomach acids to make even ordinary bread unrecognisable. By the time you get to the parish hall for your coffee & donuts, the Body of Christ isn’t any more, it’s just tiny pieces of unrecognisable bread.
 
Bonnie said:
No, it’s not heresy because I didn’t mean immediately after swallowing. If you were to vomit within a few minutes of receiving then yes, the Bread would still be the Body of Christ. But it doesn’t take long for the process of chewing, saliva, and stomach acids to make even ordinary bread unrecognisable. By the time you get to the parish hall for your coffee & donuts, the Body of Christ isn’t any more, it’s just tiny pieces of unrecognisable bread.
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What you just described is not what “reverts back”, which is a heresy that some misguided Catholics believe, as well as Transubstantiation not actually occurring. What you describe is something different, that the species no longer exists, thus the physical presence no longer exists.
 
Deo_Gratias42 said:
What you just described is not what “reverts back”, which is a heresy that some misguided Catholics believe, as well as Transubstantiation not actually occurring. What you describe is something different, that the species no longer exists, thus the physical presence no longer exists.
Click to expand...
I never took a theology class. Is using the “wrong” terminology a heresy?
 
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