Replies

Are you Catholic? If so I have a question.

I attended a Catholic funeral yesterday and I had a question about something I did not understand. The family sat in reserved seating on one side and friends on the other. There were about 5 people in front of us on the friends side that were the only people that knew what was going on. They appeared to be workers at the church. They did not seem to know the family. When it was time for communion they went up on the platform and took communion (bread and wine). After they took communion, the priest came down in the aisle to the family and gave them only bread. I was just curious as to why the family went last and received only the bread. Do you know why?

The whole service was very interesting and very different than funeral services I have been to before. My husband and my father are both pastors and have officiated many funerals.

Thank you in advance.

The priest receives communion first and this is an official rule. There is no deviation from this.

Typically, those handing out Communion, Altar boys, the choir, etc. go next. But I can’t seem to find a reference that this is mandatory. I do not think it is mandatory - it is just custom.

What happens during Communion is the priest, with God’s help, turns the bread into the Body and Blood of Christ and he turns the wine into the Body and Blood of Christ. During transubstantiation the priest uses the words that say he is turning the bread into the Body of Christ, but that does not mean that it is not also the Blood of Christ. Same thing for the wine - he uses the words “this is my Blood”, but it is also the Body of Christ.

Theologically, we know the wine becomes both and the bread becomes both because of:

1 Corinthians 11:27

27 So then, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord.

The key word above is “or”, leading to a sin against both.

So receiving either “species” (that is the word we use) is sufficient because you receive ALL of Jesus with either one, according to St. Paul. So there is no requirement to receive from the Chalice if you have already received Jesus from what was bread. A large percentage of people do not receive from the Chalice. But since it was present at the Funeral I see know reason they could not have also received from the Chalice. Maybe it was something as simple as they didn’t line up for it.

Thanks for asking the questions you have asked. It is always a blessing to tell people about the Catholic Church.

When one receives either the consecrated Host or the chalice, one received the whole, living Christ (Bony, Blood, Soul and Divinity) --- which, incidentally, is what makes this different from cannibalism. With cannibalism, a person is eating dead body parts. With Communion, one receives the whole Christ, living and eternal and personally present.

So one receivces the whole, living Christ even if one receives just a drop from the chalice or a tiny frangment of the consecrated Host.

Why the family did not receive from the chalice, I don't know. Sometimes if a person has an alcohol problem, they just receive the Host. Sometimes if a person has, say, celiac disease, and is allergic to wheat gluten, they receive just the Lord's Blood from the chalice. This is all OK. But I don't know what might have been the reason in their particular case. Blessings to you!