The Master is Here and is Calling You

During the past few years in our diocese, we have followed the custom of receiving Holy Communion “under both species,” i.e., both the Sacred Host and the Precious Blood. That is, until it was suspended when COVID struck. Since then, we have received only the Sacred Host. Was something lost with the reception of the Host alone?

While Holy Communion under both species provides a “fuller sign” of the Eucharistic mystery, the Lord Jesus is “fully present” under each species. This is called the doctrine of “concomitance.” St. Thomas Aquinas teaches: “Nothing is lost by the body being received by the people without the blood: because the priest both offers and receives the blood in the name of all, and the whole Christ is present under either species” (Summa Theologiae, III, q. 80, a. 12, ad 3).

The Catechism (1390) states: “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."

The U.S. Bishops remind us that “it should never be construed…that Communion under the form of bread alone or Communion under the form of wine alone is somehow an incomplete act or that Christ is not fully present to the communicant. The Church’s unchanging teaching through the ages has witnessed to a constant unity of faith in the presence of Christ in both elements. Even in the earliest days of the Church’s life, when Communion under both species was the norm, there were always instances when the Eucharist was received under only the form of bread or wine. Thus, the Church has always taught the doctrine of concomitance, by which we know that under each species alone, the whole Christ is sacramentally present, and we receive all the fruit of Eucharistic grace.

We hope that at an appropriate time we can return to receiving Communion under both forms, but it is good to remind ourselves that even without the reception of Holy Communion by the chalice, no one is missing out on any part of the Eucharist. Remember the doctrine of concomitance!