She drank it all!

[cindybubbles]

This one is from what my mother saw.

We attended Sunday Mass and were heading to the priest and lay ministers to receive Holy Communion. Now this church serves both the Body and the Blood of Christ, but my mother and I opt to only receive the Body because of the grossness of backwash in the Blood; yes, those who take the Blood have to drink it out of the same cup! And it can be so nauseating that the last time I took the Blood, I gagged so hard that I almost spat out the Host!

Now back to what my mother saw. After Mass was over, she told me that she spotted a woman go up to the lay minister serving the Blood, was offered the cup and DRANK IT ALL until the cup was empty!

So the lay minister went to her colleague and told her: "SHE DRANK THE WHOLE THING!" and had to go back to the altar and sit down!

Did you have something like that happen to you?

[HYHYBT]

Although it loses a bit of the symbolism, I very much like that Methodists, etc. tend to use a tray of tiny, individual cups.

[AccountingDrone]

Although it loses a bit of the symbolism, I very much like that Methodists, etc. tend to use a tray of tiny, individual cups.

Baptists [at least the western NY First Baptists] do as well. They sell some lovely communion sets.

[cindybubbles]

You're lucky. At least you don't get germs when receiving the Blood of Christ.

[Kheldarson]

As a note, a lot of parishes/dioceses allow for intincture, where you commingle the Body and Blood by dipping the Host into the cup. That would cut down on germ exposure for you

[cindybubbles]

We have one person serve the Body and another person a few steps away serve the Blood. So it's always backwash time since we're expected to have the host in our mouths by the time we get the wine.

[Kheldarson]

So do we. *waves at fellow practicing Catholic* And there are members at my church who go the intincture route. They carry the Host over to the cup and dip it in before placing the commingled Body in their mouth. It's no big deal.

[cindybubbles]

Thanks for letting me know. However, to me, it's like dipping your chicken nuggets into a sauce after everyone else has double-dipped into it. It's just gross, at least to me.

[fireheart17]

Now back to what my mother saw. After Mass was over, she told me that she spotted a woman go up to the lay minister serving the Blood, was offered the cup and DRANK IT ALL until the cup was empty!

I can offer 3 suggestions for the woman drinking from that cup.

#1) She was an alcoholic and thought "Hey, free wine!"
#2) She was extremely devout and thought that taking the blood would bring her closer to God or something.
#3) She was a complete looney tunes.

[TheHuckster]

I can offer 3 suggestions for the woman drinking from that cup.

#1) She was an alcoholic and thought "Hey, free wine!"
#2) She was extremely devout and thought that taking the blood would bring her closer to God or something.
#3) She was a complete looney tunes.

I could see it being a combination of any of those suggestions, as well.



In Catholicism, the reason we don't drink from tiny cups, I believe, is because not a single drop of the consecrated wine should be wasted, and you'd have to ritualy clean each cup individually before it gets returned to the tabernacle during mass, which would be a time consuming practice.

It's also possible (not sure entirely) that the cups themselves would have to be reused, due to the possibility of any residue of the blood being disposed of with the cup.

[Kheldarson]

In Catholicism, the reason we don't drink from tiny cups, I believe, is because not a single drop of the consecrated wine should be wasted, and you'd have to ritualy clean each cup individually before it gets returned to the tabernacle during mass, which would be a time consuming practice.

There's that, but also, it's representative of being One Body in the Lord as we all take from the same bowl/chalice, as well as being a recreation of the Last Supper, where there was one bread, one cup mentioned.

[cindybubbles]

Yes, but, thankfully, we only need to take either the Body or the Blood of Christ; not both.

The two churches that I've attended before offered just the Body to the congregants.

[Cia]

I could see it being a combination of any of those suggestions, as well.

In Catholicism, the reason we don't drink from tiny cups, I believe, is because not a single drop of the consecrated wine should be wasted, and you'd have to ritualy clean each cup individually before it gets returned to the tabernacle during mass, which would be a time consuming practice.

It's also possible (not sure entirely) that the cups themselves would have to be reused, due to the possibility of any residue of the blood being disposed of with the cup.

IIRC at my mom's Catholic church the priest would do his spiel over the little circle of unleavened bread, dip it in in his chalice then eat it and drink the liquid. After he was done two of the alter boys would bring out a trays of little cups half full of grape juice, he'd do his spiel and the alter boys would stand on either side of the priest then another alter boy would bring him the bread in a basket, wash, rinse and repeat. The people would form a line down the middle of the church, hold their cupped hands out, the priest would say "the body and blood of Christ" or something close to that, place the bread in the person's hands who'd then turn left or right and take one of the cups offered by the alter boys. They went through a lot of little cups.

[Panacea]

In Catholicism, the reason we don't drink from tiny cups, I believe, is because not a single drop of the consecrated wine should be wasted, and you'd have to ritualy clean each cup individually before it gets returned to the tabernacle during mass, which would be a time consuming practice

When I was in RCIA, the priest explained that using individual cups defeated the communal purpose of Communion.

IIRC at my mom's Catholic church the priest would do his spiel over the little circle of unleavened bread, dip it in in his chalice then eat it and drink the liquid. After he was done two of the alter boys would bring out a trays of little cups half full of grape juice,

My priest would have a stroke at the idea of using grape juice for communion. I've never been to a Catholic Church that did that. Grape juice is not what became the Blood of Christ.

[TheHuckster]

My priest would have a stroke at the idea of using grape juice for communion. I've never been to a Catholic Church that did that. Grape juice is not what became the Blood of Christ.

My understanding is the Catholic Church allows mustum to be used, but only in certain circumstances.