What happens to those for whom there is no Host?

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Fergal

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This morning at Mass the Priest and EM’s of HC ran out of consecrated Hosts and two lines of the faithful were not able to receive.

One of our EM’s of HC promptly went to the Sacristy and obtained a bowl of unconsecrated breads and handed them to the Priest. Now I know this action says loads about the EM of HC and the realisation of the Real Presence and I do not wish to address that. It’s a seperate issue.

Father put the bowl with the unconsecrated breads aside and made his announcement with his apologies and said that attendance outweighed the number of consecrated hosts. WOW!

I was wondering does ‘ex opere operato’ come into force here since it was through no fault of their own they did not receive, or have these faithful missed an opportunity to receive? I know they could attend another Mass but for those who were not able to attend another what was the outcome??

Maybe the Priest could have offered a Spiritual Communion with them but alas hind sight is a great thing.

What is the situation for those who have not received?
 
When they run out, they run out. Not everyone was able to receive communion. Nothing more to it than that.

Ex opere operato has nothing to do with running out of communion hosts.

A spiritual communion is simply a prayer to be united with Christ; it can be done by anyone in the pews.
 
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JimG:
When they run out, they run out. Not everyone was able to receive communion. Nothing more to it than that.

Ex opere operato has nothing to do with running out of communion hosts.
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So the grace of the sacrament evades those who could not receive?
 
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JimG:
When they run out, they run out. Not everyone was able to receive communion. Nothing more to it than that.

Ex opere operato has nothing to do with running out of communion hosts.
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Just to be sure people understand–no Catholic is obligated to receive communion. We are only obligated to attend Sunday Mass, not receive the Eucharist, although we are encouraged to receive at least once a year, as I recall (if I’m wrong I’m sure someone will correct me! 😉 ). Besides, if the consecrated hosts should run out, people could receive just from the cup and still receive communion because either the consecrated host or the cup suffices since both are the whole body and blood, soul and divinity of Christ.
 
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Fergal:
So the grace of the sacrament evades those who could not receive?
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It doesn’t evade them. They just didn’t receive.

There is no guarantee that anyone will be able to receive the Eucharist. (or any other sacrament) In some places it is not available weekly. Miscalculating the number of hosts needed on one Sunday is an incovenience. But it does provide us the opportunity to reflect on the value of the Eucharist even as we are temporarily prevented from receiving.
 
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Fergal:
So the grace of the sacrament evades those who could not receive?
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No. If one cannot receive communion for whatever reason, one can still receive the grace of the sacrament as a spiritual communion if they so desire by simply praying for it. The grace of the sacrament of the altar is available to anyone who wishes to receive it, even those who cannot receive or attend Mass. And there are those who wish to offer up their inability to receive as a sacrifice of love to God, which is a worthy thing to do under the circumstances. Of course, this is assuming they aren’t in a state of mortal sin.
 
Those remaining after the hosts had run out could surely have received the Blood of Christ? This is not a secondary option - Christ is fully present in each kind.

cheers

cyberman
 
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cyberman:
Those remaining after the hosts had run out could surely have received the Blood of Christ? This is not a secondary option - Christ is fully present in each kind.

cheers

cyberman
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That’s an option, but not every parish offers communion under both species. And in the ones that do, usually the precious blood is depleted before they run out of hosts.
 
Often the priest, realizing that there is a “larger than expected” number of communicants, will begin to break the Hosts in half (or even smaller pieces) so that everyone who desires to receive may do so. It would be interesting to know why that wasn’t done in this case.
 
In our parish we have the ushers count the number of people at Mass. They generally count at the beginning of Mass, then at the homily the Sacristan gets the count from the usher, takes in to account any Consecrated Hosts that are in the Tabernacle (they look prior to Mass) and then put out enough unconsecrated hosts into ciborium and on the gift table. Before handing the ciborium and chalices to the EMHC the priest will ‘equalize’ the ciborium. If one minister runs out of hosts, they go to the closest minister to them for additional hosts. Rarely do Hosts ever need to be broken, but all are instructed to anticipate this by observing how many people are still in their line, how many Hosts are in their ciborium etc. We started this about 1 1/2 years ago and it has worked extremely well. It sounds a bit complicated, but it really isn’t, we have had very few problems.
 
JC Nixon:
We started this about 1 1/2 years ago and it has worked extremely well. It sounds a bit complicated, but it really isn’t, we have had very few problems.
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Actually, it doesn’t sound complicated at all. It sounds simplistic and unobtrusive. I like it. I’ve rarely been at a Mass where the hosts ran out, but when that was a danger, the priest would simply start to break the remaining hosts so all could receive. Even the smallest crumb contains the entire Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Christ. God is SO awesome to take care of us like that! :yup:
 
Michael Welter:
Actually, it doesn’t sound complicated at all. It sounds simplistic and unobtrusive. I like it. I’ve rarely been at a Mass where the hosts ran out, but when that was a danger, the priest would simply start to break the remaining hosts so all could receive. Even the smallest crumb contains the entire Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Christ. God is SO awesome to take care of us like that! :yup:
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Often the problem at my parish was an overflowing ciborium at the close of the last Mass on Sunday.

We fixed that by collecting data on how many people actually receive Holy Communion at each Mass. We compensate a bit by reviewing the contents of the ciborium in the tabernacle prior to each Mass. Sometimes we set out a bit more, sometimes a bit less – it’s really no big deal.

Simply counting the people at each Mass is a less accurate measure, because an unknown percentage of people actually receive at each Mass. It’s also uneeded busy-work, but it’s certainly better than having each person move a host from one vessel to another as they enter the church.
 
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Fergal:
This morning at Mass the Priest and EM’s of HC ran out of consecrated Hosts and two lines of the faithful were not able to receive.

One of our EM’s of HC promptly went to the Sacristy and obtained a bowl of unconsecrated breads and handed them to the Priest. Now I know this action says loads about the EM of HC and the realisation of the Real Presence and I do not wish to address that. It’s a seperate issue.

Father put the bowl with the unconsecrated breads aside and made his announcement with his apologies and said that attendance outweighed the number of consecrated hosts. WOW!

I was wondering does ‘ex opere operato’ come into force here since it was through no fault of their own they did not receive, or have these faithful missed an opportunity to receive? I know they could attend another Mass but for those who were not able to attend another what was the outcome??

Maybe the Priest could have offered a Spiritual Communion with them but alas hind sight is a great thing.

What is the situation for those who have not received?
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This is why the Hosts resreved in the tabernacle should not routinely be included in Holy Communion at Mass. There should be enough hosts Consecrated at each Mass for those present. If more are needed the extra Hosts in the tabernacle could then be used. Usually those distributing Holy Communion will begin breaking Hosts in half or quarters when they notice that the number of people exceed the number of Hosts.
 
If there is a “baptism by desire” or “baptism by blood” for those who could not receive the actual Sacrament of baptism by water, would the same hold true for the Eucharist?

Just curious…
 
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mike182d:
If there is a “baptism by desire” or “baptism by blood” for those who could not receive the actual Sacrament of baptism by water, would the same hold true for the Eucharist?

Just curious…
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Spritually, yes. Sacramentally, no.
 
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mike182d:
If there is a “baptism by desire” or “baptism by blood” for those who could not receive the actual Sacrament of baptism by water, would the same hold true for the Eucharist?

Just curious…
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Yes that is what has been said. Baptism of Desire and Baptism of Blood are not Sacraments but do provide the necessary Grace of the sacrament. A Spiritual Communion would do the same for Holy Communion.
 
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cyberman:
Those remaining after the hosts had run out could surely have received the Blood of Christ? This is not a secondary option - Christ is fully present in each kind.

cheers

cyberman
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Sure I agree! The Priest and the EM’s of HC had already consumned all the Precious Blood.
 
Our priests have always started breaking hosts in half when they thought there might not be enough. I guess these priests or EM’s weren’t paying attention,
 
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