Catholics do NOT (repeat NOT) eat bread and drink wine when they
receive Holy Communion. We eat Christ's flesh and drink his
blood, really, truly and substantially present under the
appearances only of bread and wine. This is Christ's power and
promise to us (John 6, passim). This Eucharistic faith is
central and essential to Catholicism, and if any Catholics doubt
or deny it, I assure you they will not remain Catholics very
long, except perhaps in name only.
According to J.J. Megivern in the New Catholic Encyclopedia, vol.
4, pp. 44-46, in the early Church, host and cup were ordinarily
both received. When any condition made this impracticable, the
host alone was given. This was usually the case when Communion
was carried outside the church to the sick, prisoners, et al. In
church giving Communion to large numbers and the danger of
spilling sometimes led to omitting the cup. In the Western
Church in the 12th century, it became customary to give Communion
under the species of bread alone.
This hardened into a doctrinal issue when certain followers of
John Hus insisted that Communion under both species was necessary
for salvation. Since Christ is present whole and entire under each
species, the Church rejected the Hussite view in the Councils of
Constance (1415) and Trent (1562), and henceforth required
Communion under one species, not as an ideal, but on the basis of
excusing circumstances, especially the refectation of the Hussite
error.
Communion under both species is becoming more and more widely
available today under the guidance of our Holy Father and our
bishops, and it is indeed the ideal way to receive Holy
Communion. Yet the fulness of Communion under one species is a
matter of faith and must never be denied.
Your question: "Haven't we been reacting to a centuries-old
heresy too long now?" causes me to ponder. Most of our doctinal
formulations are reactions to centuries - old heresies. Major
parts of the New Testament are reactions to heresies (Romans and
Galatians against the Judaizers, John and Revelation against the
Gnostics) and most of our Christological and Mariological
doctrines are reactions to heresy.
I'm' real happy we belong to a Church (THE Church) which
recognizes error, confronts it, and fights it.
Look around you. Reactionary is a BEAUTIFUL thing to be!!
Sincerely in Christ,
Father Mateo
- Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit -
-- | CIN (619-449-6030) Fido: (1:202/1613) http://www.cin.org/cin | St. Gabriel Gift & Book Nook: http://www.stgabriel.com/gabriel