Is It Wrong

[geetarplayer]

I know a guy who is a Eucharistic minister, and he is the guy who prepares the appropriate amount of communion wafers for Mass. When his daughter was younger (maybe three or four years old), he would give her some unconsecrated communion wafers when she was hungry before Mass. Does anyone else think that's kind of bizarre and irreverant, even if they aren't consecrated yet?

-Mark

[cmotherofpirl]

Bad example, don't you think?

[Colleen]

Yeah, that seems really weird and irreverant.

I remember that before my First Communion, the priest had us eat unconsecrated hosts, so that we would "know what it tasted like." I don't know if that was right, either, now that I think about it. Anyone know?

[zwergel88]

I saw someone doing that once, and I was kind of offended by it, I don't really know what to think though.

[MichaelFilo]

I was fed an unconsecrated wafer before my first commuinoin, to practice the real thing, so we wouldn't mess up (Eastern Churches give only by mouth). It is wrong to feed it as actual temporal food, because then she has a really bad example.

God bless,

Mikey

[homeschoolmom]

I could see possibly using them for "practice"... but come on... it's not a snack!

[Thy Geekdom Come]

[quote name='Colleen' date='Sep 14 2004, 05:21 PM'] Yeah, that seems really weird and irreverant.

I remember that before my First Communion, the priest had us eat unconsecrated hosts, so that we would "know what it tasted like."  I don't know if that was right, either, now that I think about it.  Anyone know? [/quote]
Yeah, ours did too. I don't like that practice. All this talk of how it tastes like bread and stuff and focusing on the accidents of the Eucharist I find might confuse kids even more and make them doubt the Real Presence. I mean...we shouldn't focus on the accidents, even though they do have some meaning behind them...little kids get confused...

[Kaeldra]

I don't think there's technically anything wrong with it. When I was like eight we went on a field trip to where the nuns made the wafers and they gave us some..I thought it was weird...but I asked my parents and they didnt think there was antyhing *wrong* with it. But yeah...it is strange and I wouldnt encourage it :-/

[Scofizzle]

well if you think about it. At that point it's only bread. The Eucharistic Miracle doesn't lie in the bread, it lies completely in the hands of Jesus. Granted there are other things that would be better to eat, but I don't really see anyhting technically wrong with it. It's going to be eaten anyways.

Edited September 14, 2004 by Scofizzle

[MichaelFilo]

I would hope its a mandatory practice in the East, where communion by mouth is the only option, and little kids need as much practice as they can get.

Granted, I never understood what the Eucharist was until last year, but that was probably from less than religious minded instructers, or the dialect barrier, but I believe its a fine mix.

God bless,

Mikey

[BLAZEr]

I can understand giving an unconsecrated host to teach someone what it tastes like . . . I've seen kids get freaked out after tasting it for the first time. This is perfectly allowable.

However, to just snack on the unconsecrated hosts seems odd, since, especially for a child, this type of bread must be seen as different, intended for a sacred purpose . . .

[reelguy227]

Whats so freaky about the taste ? It tastes like cereal or bread .

[musturde]

2 yrs ago in Lebanon I was at St. Rafqa's I think and they were the kind of bread the consencrated hosts are made of. I dont think it's soo much of a sin to eat them but I do think its a bad example to do in front of lil kids.

[HomeTeamFamily]

wrong? probably not

weird and unusual? definitely so

[disturbedxfairy]

[quote name='reelguy227' date='Sep 14 2004, 06:43 PM'] Whats so freaky about the taste ? It tastes like cereal or bread . [/quote]
i know i freaked out my first Communion 'cause my mom kept telling me it tasted like cardboard. so i was expecting paper flavored bread.

[Ash Wednesday]

I don't know if it's wrong or not, but I would think that it would be a bad habit to get into, because people shouldn't get the idea that the wafer is just a "snack."

If someone has a young child, they should just bring a small bag of triscuit crackers with them.

[homeschoolmom]

I think it is really, really confusing for children. My son is always asking me to bring him back some. He just doesn't really understand why I don't. Anyway... I think it just makes it harder to believe in the Real Presence if you treat the unconsecrated wafers like Ritz crackers...

[Norseman82]

Time out.

The sin might be in "stealing" wafers that belong to the parish without permission. However, there is no sacriledge involved, as they were not consecrated.

As far as "snacking" on unconsecrated wafers being considered weird...is anyone familiar with oplatki? These are wafers made similarly to communion wafers that are part of a Polish custom at Christmastime to share the wafer with others.

[homeschoolmom]

Okay. No, I'm not familiar with that... but... The situation given to us in the first post was a guy giving them to his young child to snack on. And I think that can be very confusing for children. That's all...

[DemonSlayer]

Definitely strange, yeah.