Why did my priest say "The body of Christ" in First Communion practice?

[childoforange]

I have, within the last two years, and through much prayer and soul-searching, become Catholic (former Baptist).

My 9 year old son was at First Communion practice yesterday, and as he approached the priest, the priest said “The body of Christ.” My son was given an unconsecrated host and was instructed to say “Amen,” which he did.

This greatly troubled me. Though the host was unconsecrated, the priest still told my son it was the body of Christ.

My son thought he had indeed recieved his first communion (though he had been instructed by me and church staff that this was only practice). Not only was he confused, but this caused a crisis of my (Catholic) faith: words mean what they mean. A big part of why I joined the Catholic faith, even with a strong and wonderful lifetime of Baptist worship is because of the well defined liturgy of the Church.

As I hope you can relate, the host becoming the actual body of Christ in mass was one of my most challenging aspects of Catholicism to come to believe (if I was wrong, the implications of idolatry were obvious).

All of this is to say that when a priest looks at me or any other parishioner, including children preparing for first communion, and says “(This is) the body of Christ,” it, in the name of our Lord should be. Right? Otherwise, how do we really know when he means it or not. I want my son to, in this context most especially, always believe and solemnly take to heart what the priest is saying.

I’m concerned it can become something that is just said rather than something that has deep meaning. To me (and I thought the Church) it means everything.

Thank you in advance for your kind and thoughtful response. I am truly seeking His will and comfort.

In Christ,

Banks

 

[Fr.Charles_Grondin]

Its all about context. In the context of a first communion practice they are trying to replicate what the children will experience so that when the day happens they will be comfortable and will know what to do and what to say. Perhaps they could do a better job of explaining to the children the difference between an unconsecrated host and a consecrated one but I don’t think they did anything inherently wrong here given the context. The problem with practicing with children (and adults sometimes too) is that any little thing that is different from practice/rehearsal can cause the children to freeze up or panic.