What to Do If You Accidentally Mishandle the Eucharist

[Marie16]

I’m embarrassed to ask this but I can’t stop thinking about it and want to know if I should do anything differently in the future.

Sunday mass didn’t go very well for me. I sometimes have problems with anxiety during mass but this was more extreme than the norm. Physically I felt fine preceding so I went forward for communion. I received the host without issue but when I went to receive from the chalice immediately after the EMHC handed it to me I went to drink and felt very dizzy and couldn’t make sense of what was going on. I think I had started to hyperventilate without noticing and then walking forward made things worse. I remember the cup/wine being really blurry and then partially (or maybe wholly) spitting what I received of the blood back into the cup as a reaction before walking away to try and get back to the pew. I felt really bad because I essentially spit Jesus out… Should I have said something to the EMHC? Is there more I should have done? I don’t think I meant to react that way. I was a little startled and disappointed I did that with the Eucharist. I’ve had a couple episodes where I was shaky and almost dropped the host before but this time I felt fine before going forward or I never would have tried to receive from the chalice. I do think I will take a little break from receiving the blood for now but does anyone have suggestions to better handle this if it happens again?

 

[berniemcken]

I receive on the tongue so I never have to worry about dropping the Blessed Sacrament and I never receive the blood. If it’s a problem, just know that if you receive one one, you receive Jesus fully just the same.

 

[SanRafael1102]

You’re a trooper! God loves you!

Let Father know about your issues, and perhaps he can give you Communion afterwards in private. I know that they do this with physically ill parishioners, so I don’t see why anxiety would be barred from that consideration.

Yes, you should’ve said something for sanitary reasons, but I don’t know if an EMHC is always going to be johnny on the spot (<–I’m not even English) with how to fix the problem.

 

[ahs]

Should I have said something to the EMHC? Is there more I should have done?

Nope.

I’ve had a couple episodes where I was shaky and almost dropped the host before but I felt fine before going forward or I never would have tried to receive from the chalice. I do think I will take a little break from receiving the blood for now but does anyone have suggestions to better handle this if it happens again?

I would suggest you receive on the tongue. This will help prevent any mishaps, should you have episodes in the future.

 

[Cor_ad_Cor]

I disagree with those advising you to receive on the tongue; if it were me, that would only heighten the anxiety and potentially cause a bigger problem (and dropped hosts do happen with that reception method, or patens wouldn’t have been used for ages). I would talk to your priest. As another said, perhaps you can commune privately, or what we do around here is someone comes to you at your seat. You need to figure out what will minimize your situation.

 

[Maxwell03]

Is this an often problem in the states? Here in my country Priest usually do an intinction and there’s always an altar boy with a communion plate (paten). The most horrible thing an altar boy can imagine going wrong inside the mass is one not being able to catch the falling host, I remember fellow junior altar server crying after mass because he wasn’t able to catch our Lord with the paten. But for me the best advice I could give you is ask if father could give you communion in private or only receive hosts on your tounge.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

Intinction is pretty rare in the States. I agree it is a better option for giving Holy Communion in both forms to people who are elderly or ill/ disabled and may have difficulty managing to hold and drink from a large cup. It’s usually expected that those who can’t handle the cup reliably will just refrain from receiving the Precious Blood. The one priest I know who regularly uses intinction in USA has a lot of elderly people and ill people at his regular Mass.

 

[Marie16]

Thank you for the advice. I do worry receiving on the tongue will only make this a greater ordeal but I may try it in the future. For the most part I make it through the mass ok. It took a long time to get to where mass attendance felt semi-normal and I mostly looked forward to going so I hate that I feel like this is a huge step back. I almost always refrain from the chalice and will likely do so in the future. I would have never approached it if I felt physically off in any way but in this case I did not until it was too late.