They ran out of the Host

[Padraig1972]

“Me” “I” “I” “Me”

It’s not about you or me. Make a spiritual communion and offer it up for all the sacrilegious communion receptions that go on.

I have to agree. This is far bigger than the average you and me`s. I wish more people could fully understand and realize that.

 

[Miriam1947]

“Me” “I” “I” “Me”

It’s not about you or me. Make a spiritual communion and offer it up for all the sacrilegious communion receptions that go on.

Get real. I love communion and I would miss not having the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus. That does not mean I cannot or would not make a spiritual communion.

Get over yourself. Judgmental doesn’t do you justice.

 

[gh4]

As the weekend sacristan, this is one of my nightmares!
I am also a EMHC and I was instructed by my priest to count the hosts in the tabernacle when I set up. I do this. I sit in the back of the church as I’m also a musician (very very small church, we all wear many hats) and I count people when Father starts his homily. Since the hosts are carried up with the offering and are at the back of the church until then, I can add more hosts to the ciborium if we have a ton of folks at mass and I underestimated.
Our priest adds some from the tabernacle if he thinks he needs them. Thankfully we have never run out.

 

[casey_zia]

Get real. I love communion and I would miss not having the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus. That does not mean I cannot or would not make a spiritual communion.

Get over yourself. Judgmental doesn’t do you justice.

Amen! I was in that position once, came last up the communion line from the back of the chapel (we were on retreat) where I was keeping a baby quiet, and they had run out of consecrated hosts. Sure, I made a spiritual communion, but we do need to be fed as well, and I did miss it! If we believe that it makes a difference, receiving Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, then it is natural that it would be difficult to go home empty!

 

[jimrob]

This can happen if there are a number of ministers giving Holy Communion. If one runs out, you go to a different one. If they all run out, it’s down to poor communication - but Eucharistic ministers are only human. What is supposed to happen is that the priest or minister breaks the hosts into smaller pieces so that there is enough to go around.

I was not at the Mass, but we once had far more communicants than expected and the priest had to include the exposition host.

 

[JimG]

But if he runs out, it’s not a big deal. But, it’s a big deal to me. I need the Eucharist. I can understand the running out bit but, it sure would make it a hard day for me.

It would be a disappointment, yes, but not a disaster. There have been times in the past history of the Church when it was not common for the congregation even to receive the Eucharist except for a few times each year.

 

[ConstantineTG]

It would be a disappointment, yes, but not a disaster. There have been times in the past history of the Church when it was not common for the congregation even to receive the Eucharist except for a few times each year.

Why repeat a past mistake?

 

[Newbie2]

“Me” “I” “I” “Me”

It’s not about you or me. Make a spiritual communion and offer it up for all the sacrilegious communion receptions that go on.

It is in part about “me”. That’s what a sacrament is for…me, and the rest of the people. God doesn’t need us to participate in the sacrament; WE need to participate in the sacrament.

A sacrament is rather useless if we don’t participate in it, no?

I can feel for those who have been “shut out” of the sacrament due to lack of hosts. Sure, it’s not a disaster, but let’s not minimize the disappointment of not being able to receive our Lord.

 

[ConstantineTG]

It is in part about “me”. That’s what a sacrament is for…me, and the rest of the people. God doesn’t need us to participate in the sacrament; WE need to participate in the sacrament.

A sacrament is rather useless if we don’t participate in it, no?

I can feel for those who have been “shut out” of the sacrament due to lack of hosts. Sure, it’s not a disaster, but let’s not minimize the disappointment of not being able to receive our Lord.

Nice post.

 

[mmbernadette]

In the big vault where they keep the unconcesrated hosts (that come in plastic bags, BTW) and the Sacristy wine when mass is not in session, you can see that sometimes, the supply runs a tad low before a big service. This is not the priest’s fault, and can have an altar boy run over to the house, which is where i believe they keep more, but sometimes supplies DO run low, and sometimes (I’ve seen it) kids break in and steal the hosts (unconsecrated) and wine for kicks (this was in a small town) from the Cathedral vault while it was left open during mass.

I’ve seen priests break hosts to try to fill a line, but sometimes they do run out, and hey - that’s okay (in my opinion). The participation of Mass is taking part of the Communion in a much larger sense, the mere ingestion of a host is, while important, much more symbolic than the participation in the Mass itself. The gathering of believers to offer up their prayers and belief is more important to God, in my humble opinion, than your need to injest a consecrated wafer.

As a child, because my life was so intertwined with the church, I once asked this very question. The priest kindly told me, “God doesn’t care what you eat. God cares only that you pray about his body being a host, and being made manifest here on Earth.” And thinking back upon that, host could have been taken to mean many things, and “made manifest here on Earth” could have meant many things, as well.

Although your need to ingest a host could be the only way you feel complete, it could mean that you need to find a deeper route to your connection to Christ, because if it depends merely upon a wafer, then perhaps a more meaningful spiritual connection may need to be made. Again, this is only my opinion, and I cast no aspersions.

Perhaps it was growing up within the church and seeing behind the scenes, as it were, that makes me think people put too much emphasis on the wrong things. My dad taught at the local Seminary. My mom taught at the local religious school where the secular school would send the kids who elected to go for classes once a week, and also worked at a local religious college as their Grant Director. The Bishop (a kindly Polish man who was classmates with Pope John Paul II) lived across the street from my house. I learned to ride my bike in his long, winding driveway; he used that in more than one of his homilies. My sister and I played in the huge field behind his house (1/2 block of just green grass and trees) as we were growing up. We sang at mass every weekat the local Cathedral. We attended the local Catholic Grade school. Priests and nuns were at our house all the time. Our babysitters were priests and nuns, sometimes. I remember having a bad dream one night, and waking up to Msgr. R babysitting, and crying, asking him, “What if I die and get to heaven and find out I believed in the wrong religion and they won’t let me in? How do I know this one is the RIGHT one??” Bless his heart, he replied, “God doesn’t care what name you call Him, or how you believe in Him, just that you believe.” That’s always stuck with me - until this day.

So maybe that’s why I feel so confident in saying that the ingestion of a host isn’t the most important part of a Mass. Just your “communion” with God.

Blessings,

mmbernadette

 

[jmjconder]

**There is a part of me that says…YES! On so many levels this may actuaally be a good thing. This just may be a sign of how precious the Holy Eucharist IS.

In this event - I would feel called to pray of those that might not be receiving fully deposed and those in the world that cannot receive every Sunday. It would be no big “deal” for me.**

 

[Deo_Gratias42]

Although your need to ingest a host could be the only way you feel complete, it could mean that you need to find a deeper route to your connection to Christ, because if it depends merely upon a wafer, then perhaps a more meaningful spiritual connection may need to be made. Again, this is only my opinion, and I cast no aspersions.

Umm, it’s more than “merely …] a wafer”. Jesus’ body, blood, soul and divinity are fully and completely in the mos Blessed Sacrament.

 

[mmbernadette]

Umm, it’s more than “merely …] a wafer”. Jesus’ body, blood, soul and divinity are fully and completely in the mos Blessed Sacrament.

My quote was a little more than just that one statement, and taken out of context, yes, it could sound a little cold or unfeeling. And yes, in that setting, the wafer is the consecrated host, the Blessed Sacrament. But Mass itself is a Blessed Sacrament. And your participation in Mass brings you closer to God; ingesting the holy host is another step while participating in Mass, but as I said in my FULL quote:

“Although your need to ingest a host could be the only way you feel complete, it could mean that you need to find a deeper route to your connection to Christ, because if it depends merely upon a wafer, then perhaps a more meaningful spiritual connection may need to be made. Again, this is only my opinion, and I cast no aspersions.”

Perhaps I should have said consecrated wafer, but the meaning remains the same.

Again, I cast no aspersions, merely offer a suggestion. If you are unable to ingest a holy host, it does not mean your Blessed Sacrament of Mass is incomplete - your communion with God and Christ do not only depend upon the consumption of the Eucharist. Communion actually means connection and discourse. This is the primary function of Mass. Eucharist did not used to be offered at every service; only high Masses.

I’m sorry if you found offense in my wording.

Blessings,

mmbernadette

 

[JimG]

**There is a part of me that says…YES! On so many levels this may actuaally be a good thing. This just may be a sign of how precious the Holy Eucharist IS.

In this event - I would feel called to pray of those that might not be receiving fully deposed and those in the world that cannot receive every Sunday. It would be no big “deal” for me.**

In my youth, the Eucharistic fast required that one not take any food or drink, including water, from midnight until receiving communion. It wasn’t that difficult, since we were in bed by midnight, and Mass was early. So we just had breakfast after Mass. Still, it did impart a sense of the sacrednes of communion. At Mass, communion was more by the random access method than having ushers go pew by pew. In that way, no one felt pressured to receive if he was not in a state of grace just because everyone else was going up.

 

[tbtcom1213]

When this happened at my parish the priest took the benediction Host from the custodial in the tabernacle and broke it into at most eight pieces. He gave holy communion to the remaining communicants. At the following Mass a Benediction Host and full ciborium was consecrated. The solution for the following Sundays was to consecrate a full ciborium every Sunday to prevent a situation where we run out of the sacred hosts.

 

[ConstantineTG]

When this happened at my parish the priest took the benediction Host from the custodial in the tabernacle and broke it into at most eight pieces. He gave holy communion to the remaining communicants. At the following Mass a Benediction Host and full ciborium was consecrated. The solution for the following Sundays was to consecrate a full ciborium every Sunday to prevent a situation where we run out of the sacred hosts.

Yes, the bread the Latin Rite uses keeps well and the priest can consecrate a lot of hosts on Sunday (or Saturday evening) and then use it up during the week for the weekday Mass since there’s a lot less people then.

 

[ProVobis]

It is in part about “me”. That’s what a sacrament is for…me, and the rest of the people. God doesn’t need us to participate in the sacrament; WE need to participate in the sacrament.

A sacrament is rather useless if we don’t participate in it, no?

If this were true, then why allow priests to say Masses for themselves alone?

Of course, the priest offers the Holy Sacrifice to God for everyone’s benefit, whether you’re there or not, or whether you understand it or not, or whether you receive or not.

 

[TimothyH]

My quote was a little more than just that one statement, and taken out of context, yes, it could sound a little cold or unfeeling. And yes, in that setting, the wafer is the consecrated host, the Blessed Sacrament. But Mass itself is a Blessed Sacrament. And your participation in Mass brings you closer to God; ingesting the holy host is another step while participating in Mass, but as I said in my FULL quote:

“Although your need to ingest a host could be the only way you feel complete, it could mean that you need to find a deeper route to your connection to Christ, because if it depends merely upon a wafer, then perhaps a more meaningful spiritual connection may need to be made. Again, this is only my opinion, and I cast no aspersions.”

Perhaps I should have said consecrated wafer, but the meaning remains the same.

Again, I cast no aspersions, merely offer a suggestion. If you are unable to ingest a holy host, it does not mean your Blessed Sacrament of Mass is incomplete - your communion with God and Christ do not only depend upon the consumption of the Eucharist. Communion actually means connection and discourse. This is the primary function of Mass. Eucharist did not used to be offered at every service; only high Masses.

I’m sorry if you found offense in my wording.

Blessings,

mmbernadette

You are not ingesting a wafer. You are not ingesting a host. You are not even ingesting a Holy Host. At the moment of consecration the host is gone. Only the appearances of the host remain. You are ingesting Jesus Christ. It is Jesus.

The primary function of Mass is to worship God. Worship without sacrifice is an absurdity. The only sacrifice which God is worthy of is a sacrifice of himself. That is why the priest makes Jesus Christ, the Second Person of the Trinity, present upon the altar, raises him, and offers him to God the Father, the First Person of the Trinity. It is a perpetuation of the sacrifice made by Christ to God the Father on calvary, and that was the most perfect offering of worship that will ever be made to God - an offering of himself to himself. That is the primary function of Mass, to worship God through an offering of God the Son on the Cross to God the Father in Heaven.

The Eucharist is the source and summit of our faith and that is because the Eucharist is Jesus. Jesus is the source and summit of our faith. When one consumes the Eucharist, one consumes Jesus. We can do nothing without the Eucharist because we can do nothing without Jesus. With the Eucharist we can do anything because with Jesus we can do anything.

There is nothing deeper.

-Tim-

 

[Nelka]

So, I was attending the evening Mass. When it was my turn to take communion, they ran out of Hosts and didn’t have any in back-up. I thought I had seen it all, but apparently I was wrong.

Has anyone else experienced this?

Yes, in the village in Poland.

So many people crammed into the church that many did not receive at all.

 

[Newbie2]

If this were true, then why allow priests to say Masses for themselves alone?

Of course, the priest offers the Holy Sacrifice to God for everyone’s benefit, whether you’re there or not, or whether you understand it or not, or whether you receive or not.

Not sure of your point. ???