What to fast before Communion?

[david40]

I know that we should fast one hour before mass from food and drinks (except water).

How about a married couple? Can they have sex on the eve before mass?

The Orthodox church says:

1. Women may not take communion in church during their period (nor may people of either sex who are bleeding)
2. Adults must fast for 9 hours before communion, should dress appropriately, and abstain from sex on the day and eve of communion
   bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/christianity/subdivisions/coptic_7.shtml

What the Catholic Church says? I couldn’t find the canon law on regulating marital sexual relationship on the day and eve of communion.

Thanks for your research.

 

[1ke]

The Eucharistic fast is from food/drink other than water, not marital relations or anything else.

 

[5Loaves]

I know that we should fast one hour before mass from food and drinks (except water).

How about a married couple? Can they have sex on the eve before mass?

The Orthodox church says:

1. Women may not take communion in church during their period (nor may people of either sex who are bleeding)
2. Adults must fast for 9 hours before communion, should dress appropriately, and abstain from sex on the day and eve of communion
   bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/christianity/subdivisions/coptic_7.shtml

What the Catholic Church says? I couldn’t find the canon law on regulating marital sexual relationship on the day and eve of communion.

Thanks for your research.

The requirement in the Latin Church is to abstain for at least one hour before holy communion (Can. 919). There is nothing requiring abstinence from the marital act.The requirements for the Eastern Catholic Churches vary according to the norms of the particular law of its own Church sui iuris.

There is no “Orthodox church”. There are Orthodox churches and the requirements regarding fasting and abstinence vary depending on the church.

 

[david40]

Thanks for the answer. Now I can remove my guilt.

 

[bpbasilphx]

\There are Orthodox churches and the requirements regarding fasting and abstinence vary depending on the church.\

**Not true.

The traditional discipline for ALL Orthodox is to abstain from food and liquid from midnight.

However, this is for normal healthy people doing normal healthy things. Obviously, pregnant and nursing mothers, as well as infants and young children, are NOT to fast.

A spiritual father may lighten this discipline in particular cases, such as those with particular medical conditions, those whose employments require them to work all night before Liturgy, and the like.

In other words, the standard is what it is, and we come as close to the standard as we can.

It does seem in the USA that bishops of whatever jurisdiciton have mitigated the Eucharistic fast when Presanctified Liturgy, or the Divine Liturgy, is celebrated in the evening. In these cases, the faithful are allowed a light breakfast, but no food after noon. Generally water is allowed. But this is altogether exceptional.

(FWIW, I’ve been directed under obedience by three bishops NOT to observe any of the fasts, including the Eucharistic fast, in their ideal strictness.)**

 

[Joe_Kelley]

The requirement in the Latin Church is to abstain for at least one hour before holy communion (Can. 919). There is nothing requiring abstinence from the marital act.The requirements for the Eastern Catholic Churches vary according to the norms of the particular law of its own Church sui iuris. . . .

There is a reference in the novel The Godfather to abstaining from sex before receiving. I had never heard of it before that. The author is quite accurate on most of his details; so I think this may have been the practice, if not the requirement, at one time.

 

[AJV]

I know that we should fast one hour before mass from food and drinks (except water).

How about a married couple? Can they have sex on the eve before mass?

The Orthodox church says:

1. Women may not take communion in church during their period (nor may people of either sex who are bleeding)
2. Adults must fast for 9 hours before communion, should dress appropriately, and abstain from sex on the day and eve of communion
   bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/christianity/subdivisions/coptic_7.shtml

What the Catholic Church says? I couldn’t find the canon law on regulating marital sexual relationship on the day and eve of communion.

Thanks for your research.

The laws that the Roman church held on sex and the reception of Holy Communion have, AFAIK, lapsed for at least two centuries. Plus, we must add the fact that now in the Latin church the “fast” is excessively spiritualized, and the physical ‘fast’ is only an hour.

I might be wrong, being unmarried and all, but I cannot imagine that a marital relationship just before heading off to church can put anyone in the ideal state of preparation to receive Holy Communion. This is not to view it as something directly polluting or anything, but merely that I think when the two follow closely, it would be hard to occupy one’s thoughts with a more spiritual mindset.

Regarding the rules of the period (and though you didn’t mention it, ‘nocturnal pollution’): the Latin church for many years took the position that ti did not prevent. St. Gregory the Great wrote to St. Augustine in England when asked about this, and said that it was not necessary when it was due to something on the part of the body. However, though at Rome itself the custom did not take root, outside Rome in the newly-Christianized areas, as in many other things, the Levitical rules on purity (already obtaining on many parts of the East) came to strongly influence the practice. Gradually these took hold and injunctions were drafted forbidding the reception of Communion when bleeding, or due to a sexual bodily function, or similar. If you fastforward some centuries, when the Scholastics come to treat it, there is a lot of hemming and hawing, and 'well-it’s-not-sinful-unless-it-was-caused-due-to-some-sinful-thought-or-lust-was-involved-or-something-but-its-just-decent". Often a reason given was the thoughts that would follow after it. Almost all the Scholastics however, uniformly agreed that per se, these were not insurmountable and people could receive Holy Communion.

Most of these laws eventually lapsed from confessional manuals (except for those of the more rigourous of the Jansenists) though one was retained unto 1953. In the Roman Missal, at the beginning, there was a list of instructions for the priest. Among them, was an instruction dealing with ‘nocturnal pollution’. If it occurred due to a sin in thought, etc. on the part of the priest, then the priest was to abstain from the celebration of the Eucharist. If it was not, then the priest was free to celebrate celebrate, unless it caused him him excessive worry.

 

[EasterJoy]

I might be wrong, being unmarried and all, but I cannot imagine that a marital relationship just before heading off to church can put anyone in the ideal state of preparation to receive Holy Communion. This is not to view it as something directly polluting or anything, but merely that I think when the two follow closely, it would be hard to occupy one’s thoughts with a more spiritual mindset.

I think you are mistaken, because:

a) how recently one has acted on the thoughts has little to do with how distracting the thoughts are. If anything, I think it would be the most distracting to put marital relations off so that those habitually took place immediately after Mass. (Now there is a Pavlovian effect devoutly to be avoided!) Having said that, a person who cannot put themselves in the present moment at Mass is going to have difficulty with distractions, period.

b) seeing marital relations in the immediate context of Mass is good for a marriage, because those ought to be whole-person actions: physical, emotional, and spiritual. If the marital communion is healthy, then, it is no obstacle to greater communion with the rest of the faithful. Holy Communion itself, after all, is a profoundly intimate act which is also a whole-person mutual giving: physical, emotional, spiritual, between Christ and His Church, not just between Jesus and each individual. Marriage, too, is a vocation that is entered into for the good of the whole Church, not just the mutual pleasure of the spouses.

Now, that is not to say it isn’t a good habit to have a certain period of time before Mass when one does not do anything other than prepare for Mass. That means everything from marital relations to rushing through the dishes and trying to catch the end of the first half before turning off the TV. But that would be because the activities invaded the time immediately before Mass, because that time is better dedicated to prayerful reflection and quieting of the soul, and not because the activities were intrinsically problematic.

 

[puzzleannie]

The
I might be wrong, being unmarried and all, but I cannot imagine that a marital relationship just before heading off to church can put anyone in the ideal state of preparation to receive Holy Communion…

I cannot imagine any married couple with children having enough time on Sunday morning in the bustle of getting everyone ready for church to have either the time or the inclination for this.

on a side note we had our marriage prep at the Catholic college we were attending, a college that had and still maintains a relationship for some educational endeavors with a Jewish institution in the same town. On one occasion a rabbi talked to our class about the Jewish teaching on marriage in general, and on family purity laws in particular. ONe point that struck us was their observation that for a couple to engage in marital relations was a particularly good way to observe the Sabbath and to keep it holy. A beautiful view of marriage IMO.

 

[Joe_Kelley]

. . .On one occasion a rabbi talked to our class about the Jewish teaching on marriage in general, and on family purity laws in particular. ONe point that struck us was their observation that for a couple to engage in marital relations was a particularly good way to observe the Sabbath and to keep it holy. A beautiful view of marriage IMO.

However, I think the Jewish priests were obliged to refrain from sexual relations before offering sacrifice in the Temple. I don’t have a specific reference for it, but note 1 Samuel 21:4-6

4 And the priest answered David, “I have no common bread at hand, but there is holy bread; if only the young men have kept themselves from women.” 5 And David answered the priest, “Of a truth women have been kept from us as always when I go on an expedition; the vessels of the young men are holy, even when it is a common journey; how much more today will their vessels be holy?” 6 So the priest gave him the holy bread; for there was no bread there but the bread of the Presence, which is removed from before the LORD, to be replaced by hot bread on the day it is taken away.

 

[EasterJoy]

I cannot imagine any married couple with children having enough time on Sunday morning in the bustle of getting everyone ready for church to have either the time or the inclination for this.

on a side note we had our marriage prep at the Catholic college we were attending, a college that had and still maintains a relationship for some educational endeavors with a Jewish institution in the same town. On one occasion a rabbi talked to our class about the Jewish teaching on marriage in general, and on family purity laws in particular. ONe point that struck us was their observation that for a couple to engage in marital relations was a particularly good way to observe the Sabbath and to keep it holy. A beautiful view of marriage IMO.

The OP asked if couples could engage in marital relations the evening before Mass, not during the actual hour of the Eucharistic fast from food. You’d have to be without children and live across the street from the parish to be active during that time period.

 

[RichT]

I cannot imagine any married couple with children having enough time on Sunday morning in the bustle of getting everyone ready for church to have either the time or the inclination for this.

My wife and I are early risers, our children are not. That and going to the 10:30 Mass!

 

[drafdog]

Having sex with one’s spouse is part and parcel of administering the sacrament of matrimony. There can be no viable theological argument forbidding the administration of the sacrament just because another sacrament is to be administered soon afterward. It would be akin to saying I must not receive reconciliation within one hour of receiving the sacrament of the sick. The purpose of the sacraments is to communicate and share God’s love, life and blessings. The more often the better.

Brother Matthew

 

[Mattapoisett64]

Having sex with one’s spouse is part and parcel of administering the sacrament of matrimony. There can be no viable theological argument forbidding the administration of the sacrament just because another sacrament is to be administered soon afterward. It would be akin to saying I must not receive reconciliation within one hour of receiving the sacrament of the sick. The purpose of the sacraments is to communicate and share God’s love, life and blessings. The more often the better.

Brother Matthew

Surely the theology of the Sacrament of Matrimony is that the couple administer the sacrament to each other in the presence of the official Church witness, typically a priest or deacon. The initial marital act consummates the Sacrament, and ongoing marital relations may celebrate the Sacrament, renew the sacrament or similar, but you’ll have to cite where the Church teaches that ongoing marital sex is continuing re-*administration *of the sacrament. I would have thought that the Sacrament is validly *administered *only once in the lifetime of a couple.

 

[drafdog]

Mattapoisett64, a married couple continues to minister (not administer) the sacrament on an ongoing basis, day by day for the duration of their common life. It is even legitimate to say that the ministry begins even before the public exchange of the vows that bind them to ministering to one another (the wedding ceremony witnessed by the ordained clergy of the church). Please note that a wedding ceremony is NOT a marriage but a pledge be married, a pledge to minister to one another the sacrament of matrimony.
The failure of most marriages is in the failure to continue to minister to one another daily in that continuous process the makes matrimony a sign of God’s ministry to his people.

Brother Matthew

 

[Mattapoisett64]

Mattapoisett64, a married couple continues to minister (not administer) the sacrament on an ongoing basis, day by day for the duration of their common life. It is even legitimate to say that the ministry begins even before the public exchange of the vows that bind them to ministering to one another (the wedding ceremony witnessed by the ordained clergy of the church). Please note that a wedding ceremony is NOT a marriage but a pledge be married, a pledge to minister to one another the sacrament of matrimony.
The failure of most marriages is in the failure to continue to minister to one another daily in that continuous process the makes matrimony a sign of God’s ministry to his people.

Brother Matthew

Then I would appreciate your clarifying why **your **term (not mine) was “administer.” I don’t necessarily disagree with the direction of your last post, by the way, but I am more dubious as to your earlier statement “The more often the better” in the light of Catechism paragraph 2362, quoting Pius XII, wherein couples are warned to keep their pursuit of physical pleasure within marriage “within the limits of just moderation.” I have trouble equating “just moderation” with “more often the better,” but others’ mileage may vary.

 

[Jean_Anthony]

The thread is straying from the OP’s question. Please take any side discussions to new or existing threads in the appropriate forum. Thank you all.