On Mondays, I answer questions frequently asked by those considering a return to the Catholic Church. How do I know this stuff? I was away for more than 30 years myself, and am the co-author of When They Come Home: Ways to Welcome Returning Catholics, a book for pastors and parish leaders interested in this ministry.
I’ve been to confession and am back in the Church’s good graces. I get that the host at communion is Jesus’ body. But the parish I’ve been going to also offers wine at communion, and the idea of drinking from a communal cup, wiped or not, grosses me out. What should I do?
Here’s what the Catechism has to say on the matter:
Since Christ is sacramentally present under each of the species, communion under the species of bread alone makes it possible to receive all the fruit of Eucharistic grace. For pastoral reasons this manner of receiving communion has been legitimately established as the most common form in the Latin rite. But “the sign of communion is more complete when given under both kinds, since in that form the sign of the Eucharistic meal appears more clearly.”
So, basically, in receiving the host, you are receiving “all the fruit of Eucharistic grace.” If the chalice truly bothers you that deeply, don’t partake of it. Indeed, at many parishes, the laity is not offered the chalice except under special circumstances.
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