Home › Forums › All Things Catholic › If you drink too much of Jesus’s blood, do you get drunk
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September 28, 2006 at 12:31 am #1403AnonymousInactive
“If you drink too much of Jesus’s blood, do you get drunk? Most programs of recovery for alcoholics require that you abstain from alcohol completely. I do believe in transubstantiation but when I go up to receive communion I don’t drink from the cup. I feel guilty about not drinking from the cup because I feel like it shows a lack of faith. I don’t know whether or not I should. Basically, I’m really confused.”
The Church teaches that, after Consecration, while the “substance” of wine is changed into the “substance” of the Lord’s Precious Blood, the “accidents” remain the same. This teaching is based largely on Saint Thomas Aquinas’ understanding of Aristotle, but that’s not particularly pertinent to your question ;anyway;In the context of your question, the intoxicating “accidents” of wine would remain even after the “substance” of the wine had been transubstantiated into the Precious Blood of Christ by the miraculous action of God and the liturgical prayer of a validly ordained priest. So, I suppose the answer to the first part of your question is: Yes, if a person were to drink too much of Jesus’ Precious Blood that person could get drunk.
First, the Church teaches very clearly that when a person receives EITHER the Body of Christ OR the Precious Blood of Christ, that person receives the Risen Christ whole and entire. So, a Catholic ought not feel “obligated” or that she/he is doing anything wrong by not receiving from the Cup. If for good reason, a Catholic chooses not to receive from the Cup, she or he is not manifesting a lack of faith.
Catholic liturgical theology says that by participating in Holy Communion under BOTH species ‚Äì that is, by receiving the Body of Christ AND the Precious Blood of the Lord ‚Äì a person of faith is participating MORE FULLY in the symbolic dimensions of Christ’s Eucharistic Presence. (Of course, we believe that the Eucharist is much more than a symbol only; it is the REAL PRESENCE of Christ. Nevertheless, the Eucharistic Liturgy has many important symbolic aspects.) Since we tend to think of a human person as “body and blood,” that ‘symbol’ is more fully experienced by the reception of both the Lord’s Body in the Host and His Blood in the Cup. Still, no Catholic should feel that she or he is doing something inappropriate if the particular circumstances of her or his life make not receiving from the Cup the more prudent course of action.
September 28, 2006 at 4:42 am #7016AnonymousInactiveI thought about this as well when the time for my first communion arrived.
I am deathly allergic to alcohol; just the smell of it gives me a bad migraine. Yet I receive the Precious Blood at mass without incident. However, I do not hold anyone else to the same.
September 28, 2006 at 2:09 pm #7018About Catholics TeamKeymasterIs it that you have to consume a larger quantity in order for those reactions to happen?
Even the Scriptures mention that you can get drunk from it. Paul writes to the Corinthians addressing this very issue. I think it is 1 Corinthians.
September 28, 2006 at 11:25 pm #7020AnonymousInactiveA single sip of rum and coke nearly knocked my unconscious. I expect I would feel some effect from a sip of wine.
September 29, 2006 at 7:13 pm #7021AnonymousInactive[color=darkred:zpace7w7]The option of not taking the wine is there. Either of them fulfill the sacrament.[/color:zpace7w7]
September 30, 2006 at 2:28 am #7022AnonymousInactiveIndeed, do not feel bad for not sipping the wine. Before Vatican II no one drank from the cup.
Often I don’t. The Body and Blood of Jesus is present in the accidental form of the bread.
September 30, 2006 at 2:32 am #7023About Catholics TeamKeymasterI do both all the time and feel weird when I’m at a small town church that doesn’t offer both.
September 30, 2006 at 4:35 am #7024AnonymousInactive[quote:33dik7v4]I do both all the time and feel weird when I’m at a small town church that doesn’t offer both.[/quote:33dik7v4]
Some churches don’t offer both? Strange. I have never visited a Church where the cup was not offered.
September 30, 2006 at 6:08 am #7025AnonymousInactiveI have been to at least one and heard of several more.
Most do offer both, however.
October 2, 2006 at 5:21 pm #7033AnonymousInactive[quote:3maar2ur][quote:3maar2ur]I do both all the time and feel weird when I’m at a small town church that doesn’t offer both.[/quote:3maar2ur]
Some churches don’t offer both? Strange. I have never visited a Church where the cup was not offered.[/quote:3maar2ur]
[color=darkred:3maar2ur]Neither have I. [/color:3maar2ur]
October 2, 2006 at 5:25 pm #7034AnonymousInactiveI was at one it was a weekday mass and only the priest was there to administer the host.
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