Water mixed with wine?

[Lucia_Grace]

Hello,
I am exploring the Catholic Church, and wonder why water is mixed with wine at the Lord’s table? What does the water represent? Did the early Church use water as well?
Thank you.

 

[passus]

The meaning to the mingling of the water and wine in the chalice is actually very Biblical.

When the priest or deacon adds the water to the chalice, he prays quietly:
By the mystery of this water and wine
may we come to share in the divinity of Christ,
who humbled himself to share in our humanity.
The mystery the prayer refers to is that of the incarnation. The water is a symbol of our baptism, which purifies us and enables us to “come to share in the divinity of Christ” (the divine nature) which is mentioned in 2 Peter.

This is explained by the Council of Trent, which also incorporates the significance of the symbolism of the water which flowed from the side of Christ (John 10:34):
The holy council in the next place calls to mind that the Church has instructed priests to mix water with the wine that is to be offered in the chalice; because it is believed that Christ the Lord did this, and also because from His side there came blood and water; the memory of this mystery is renewed by this mixture, and since in the Apocalypse of St. John the “people” are called “waters,” the union of the faithful people with Christ their head is represented (Trent: Session 22, Chapter vii).

americancatholictruthsociety.com/docs/TRENT/trent22.htm

 

[Tsion]

JMJ

I have always thought that the wine becomes His Blood, and the water that is mixed with it represents His Divinity and the water that gushed from His side.

 

[ASD]

Hello,
I am exploring the Catholic Church, and wonder why water is mixed with wine at the Lord’s table? What does the water represent? Did the early Church use water as well?
Thank you.

It’s all about joining our sacrifice to that of the Priest, who renews the sacrifice of Calvary in persona Christi, standing in the person of Christ.

During the so-called Offertory, when the Priest celebrant mixes water and wine he says these words:

Traditional Latin Mass with new Mass in bold:

Deus, qui humánæ substántiæ dignitatem mirabíliter condidísti, et mirabílius reformásti: da nobis, per hujus aquæ et vini mystérium, ejus divinitátis esse consórtes, qui humanitátis nostræ fíeri dignátus est párticeps, Jesus Christus, Fílius tuus, Dóminus noster:

Traditional Latin Mass translation with new Mass in bold:

O God, Who in creating human nature didst marvelously ennoble it, and hast still more marvelously renewed it: grant that by the mystery of this water and wine, we may be made partakers of His Divinity Who vouchsafed to become partaker of our humanity, Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord,

New Mass translation alone:

By the mystery of this water and wine may we come to share in the divinity of Christ, who humbled himself to share in our humanity.

The fundamental idea is conveyed by those words.

A short explanation from Know Your Mass, a nice introduction for kids and adults:

The water stands for us. We shall be lost in the Blood of Christ at the consecration just as the water is lost in the wine now. We are thus united with Christ, we “partake of His divinity.” And so we are offered up with Christ in the Mass.

When God the Father receives the offering of His Son in the Mass, He receives us too.

ASD​

Traditional Latin Mass: Translation and Grammar

 

[teachccd]

JMJ

I have always thought that the wine becomes His Blood, and the water that is mixed with it represents His Divinity and the water that gushed from His side.

The water would represent His taking on our humanity so that we may share in His divinity…Small drop = humanity

teachccd

 

[passus]

The water would represent His taking on our humanity so that we may share in His divinity…Small drop = humanity

teachccd

I would be really careful with that. Jesus’s humanity was not a “small drop” compared to His divinity. That’s the heresy of Monophysitism.

 

[Chatter163]

I have always thought that the wine becomes His Blood, and the water that is mixed with it represents His Divinity and the water that gushed from His side.

That was a medieval allegory, thought up centuries after the practice was firmly in place. There are many examples of such after-the-fact allegories in the liturgy. Nothing wrong with that, but it was not the original reason.

 

[Cluny]

All of the classical pre-Reformation liturgies, East and West, have the mixed chalice.

It seems that in Biblical times, wine was almost never drunk straight, but mingled with water as an act of temperance (howsoever nominal).

So this is something that has come down in practice from the Apostles.

 

[malphono]

All of the classical pre-Reformation liturgies, East and West, have the mixed chalice.

It seems that in Biblical times, wine was almost never drunk straight, but mingled with water as an act of temperance (howsoever nominal).

So this is something that has come down in practice from the Apostles.

I’m not so sure the reason wine was mixed with water in biblical times had much (if anything) to do with temperance as such. More likely, it had to do with the fact that the wine was just too strong and needed to be diluted to make it palatable. That would not have been uncommon in warm, dry climates, especially with the old methods of vinting.

 

[Cluny]

More likely, it had to do with the fact that the wine was just too strong and needed to be diluted to make it palatable. That would not have been uncommon in warm, dry climates, especially with the old methods of vinting.

---

Wine is wine, and it all has an acholic content of som 11-14%. When it gets any higher, fermenation stops because the alcohol kills the yeast. (Obviously different strains might be killed at different levels of alcohol.)

And I’ve read in several sources dealing with other things that wine was generally mixed with water to a greater or lesser extent as a temperance gesture.

 

[LUISV]

I agree, in the times of the early Church, wine for export, not drunk at the vinyard, was dehydrated to a certain extent to allow for greater range of transport without spoilage. The addition of water made it palatable and was the norm. What we have in the liturgy of the mass is an attempt to re-create our Lord’s last Passover Sedar Meal. So we add water to the wine.
The act itself, as so many of our traditions, gained new meanings, new symbolism over the centuries. But at the core is a simple re-enactment of an ancient but very common nesessity.

 

[PJM]

Hello,
I am exploring the Catholic Church, and wonder why water is mixed with wine at the Lord’s table? What does the water represent? Did the early Church use water as well?
Thank you.

Great question:tiphat:

As other post have indicated, it has a biblical basis.

It steems from Jewish Tradition, were the water was not alwys pure, so it became a common practice to mix water and wine to in a real sense medicate it.

1 timothy Chapter five verifies this: 23 "No longer drink only water, but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments. " Paul to Timothy.

** In it’s present application there are two three aspects…

Keeping alive Sacred Tradition

Medicine for our Spiritual health**

**The water represents us; thus a small amount is used, while the wine represents the Sacred Blood of Jesus. Thus we are in Jesus, and Jesus is within us:bowdown2: **

What awesome imagery, and what a terrific way to Thank Jesus!

 

[Aramis]

One should also remember: water was often undrinkable by itself; adding wine killed the stuff living in the water.

BTW, many wines can get up to 18% by volume. Champagne yeast can tolerate it, at least in mead. My strongest batch of mead measured at 18% by volume, and the yeast were still going.

 

[teachccd]

I would be really careful with that. Jesus’s humanity was not a “small drop” compared to His divinity. That’s the heresy of Monophysitism.

Point well taken. Jesus is fully God and fully man. Not one more than the other. I was merely referring to what St. Paul refers to in his letter to the Philippians, Chapter 2, Verses 5-11 whereby Jesus empties Himself and does not regard equality with God but rather takes on the form of a slave.

So while we know that Jesus’ humanity is as full as His divinity, we know that Jesus humbled Himself to become flesh. When comparing the two natures apart from Christ, God is infinite and human is finite. It is the mystery of faith that allows us to comprehend that Jesus could be both one and the same…teachccd

 

[passus]

Point well taken. Jesus is fully God and fully man. Not one more than the other. I was merely referring to what St. Paul refers to in his letter to the Philippians, Chapter 2, Verses 5-11 whereby Jesus empties Himself and does not regard equality with God but rather takes on the form of a slave.

So while we know that Jesus’ humanity is as full as His divinity, we know that Jesus humbled Himself to become flesh. When comparing the two natures apart from Christ, God is infinite and human is finite. It is the mystery of faith that allows us to comprehend that Jesus could be both one and the same…teachccd

Really great explanation. That last line is important.

Thanks.

 

[teachccd]

Really great explanation. That last line is important.

Thanks.

You’re welcome. God bless…teachccd