Chewing on the way to Communion

Our clergy have neglected their duty to remind parishioners of the meaning of the eucharistic fast. To my mind, this short fast is to etch into our minds that when we receive holy Communion, we are not eating ordinary food but the bread of eternal life. I see communicants who have eaten a sweet or are chewing gum on their way to the altar.  BS?Ryan

Let’s see what canon law has to say: “Whoever is to receive the blessed Eucharist is to abstain for at least one hour before Holy Communion from all food and drink with the sole exception of water and medicine” (c919).

It’s not difficult to understand that food is something digestible that everyone would recognise as edible for human consumption, such as bread, chips, meat, muffins, sweets. And drink is a liquid that human beings are accustomed to drink, such as tea, milk, lemonade.

The law says that you must abstain from food and drink at least one hour before receiving the Eucharist. This is not always easy to compute. Say you attend the 7 o’clock Saturday evening Mass and you guess that Communion will be distributed at 7:40. Having completed a snack by 6:40, you feel sure that you are within the law.

To your dismay, the priest preaches a short homily and Communion is distributed at 7:30. May you receive Communion? Yes. You have the right intention and you cannot foresee the precise time Communion will be given. As a wise priest once remarked: “God doesn’t keep a stopwatch.”

It is doubtful that those who know the law yet deliberately ignore it, have the right intention.

Here the right intention is always to show our deepest possible respect for the presence of Christ, the Son of God, in the Eucharistic food and drink we take, which as you say, is not ordinary food.

We should be fully aware of St Paul’s words: “Everyone is to recollect himself before eating this bread and drinking this cup, because a person who eats and drinks without recognising the Body is eating and drinking his own condemnation” (1 Cor 11:28).

I would agree that our clergy should periodically remind their parishioners to show their respect for the Eucharist, not only in their way of dress and general posture when receiving Communion, but also in taking care to observe the prescribed fast, with an explanation of why the fast is necessary.