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From our Pastor

From our Pastor

Dear Folks,

Behold He Makes All Things New!

With our prayer for Renewal of Love for the Blessed Sacrament, I am reminded of many questions about the fast before receiving Communion. Canon law states, “One who is to receive the most Holy Eucharist is to abstain from any food or drink, with the exception only of water and medicine, for at least the period of one hour before Holy Communion” (CIC 919 §1). Elderly people, those who are ill, and their caretakers are excused from the Eucharistic fast (CIC 191 §3). Now some specifications:

  1. The hour is counted from the time of receiving Holy Communion, not from the beginning of Mass. So yes, a long homily, can help here! On Sundays Communion is almost never less than 30 minutes after Mass starts. Mostly this just means you can’t eat on your way to Mass.
  2. Coffee and chewing gum DO BREAK the fast. Water does not. So no Starbucks pit stop on your way to Mass.
  3. Medicine never breaks the fast. If the medicine requires that it be taken with food, then this food does not break the fast.
  4. Sometimes I visit folks in hospitals, and they don’t know when I will arrive. If I arrive just after a meal, notice that the fast does not apply to the “ill and their caretakers.”
  5. The parish priests can, in individual cases, wave the fast for you. So, if you accidentally eat something, you could ask a priest to waive the required fast for you.

This last point leads to a story where I once had a high schooler who knew that I could waive the fast. One day he came to me asking to have it waived. Because I knew him well, and that he is a bit of a “wise guy”, I decided to investigate, and the conversation went thus:
Fr: “Why do you need the fast waived?”
Wiseguy: “Because I ate a donut.”
Fr: “When?”
WG: “Just now in the parking lot.”
Fr: “How could you possibly forget?”
WG: “I didn’t, I just figured I’d get an exemption.”
Fr: “You bought your ticket. You got your donut, and now you don’t get Jesus.”

All of this fast is about being sure to increase our spiritual hunger for Jesus, by controlling our physical hunger. The one builds off of the other and prepares us to more worthily receive Our Lord.

pax,

Father John Mosimann

September 10, 2023
Prayer for Renewal of Love for the Blessed Sacrament

Prayer for Renewal of Love for the Blessed Sacrament

Renewal of Love for the Blessed Sacrament
My Lord and my God,
You take the bread and wine we offer, and
through the priestly prayer of consecration,
make them your Flesh and Blood, which
was born of the Virgin Mary, hung upon
the cross, rose from the dead, and sits at the
right hand of the Father.
Your body is true food, and your blood is
true drink. Renew my heart and mind, in
love of the Most Holy Eucharist, and draw
all God’s children to your wedding feast.
May the Heart of Jesus, in the Most Blessed
Sacrament, be praised, adored, and loved,
with grateful affection, at every moment, in
all the tabernacles of the world, even until
the end of time. Amen.