April 14, 2023 | Father Isaiah Schick
Happy Third Sunday of Easter! Since we have recently begun offering the opportunity to receive the Precious Blood from the chalice as a general congregation at some of our weekend Masses again, I thought today might be a great day to explain a fun “churchy word” that you may have never heard of before: concomitance. Those who were at the training for Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion this spring may remember this spiel, but it is worth repeating again because it is a fancy word for an awesome reality!
Concomitance is basically a fancy way of saying that Jesus is Jesus is Jesus, is the Eucharist is the Eucharist is the Eucharist! Jesus is real, and he is alive, reigning in heaven, seated at the right hand of the Father. He is true God and true man. The Eucharist is the Person of Jesus, truly present under the appearance of bread and wine. When we receive the Eucharist, we receive the whole Person of Jesus, as he is now – living, glorious, Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity. We do not receive merely a part of him, nor just his Body, nor just his Blood.
What if I only receive the host at Mass? Then I receive all of Jesus, Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity! What if I only receive from the chalice? Then I receive all of Jesus, Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity! He is alive, which means his Body and Blood are present together, not as entirely separate. It can be confusing, because we can legitimately refer to the host as the “Body of Christ” and to the contents of the chalice as the “Blood of Christ” – because they are! But not to the exclusion of the other – so no need to fear “missing out” if you are only able to receive one or the other.
The last part of concomitance is also that you receive all of Jesus no matter how big or small the piece of the host, no matter if you just wet your lips from the chalice or have to consume all of what is left – so there is no “more” or “less” depending on the physical portion of the Eucharist that you receive. God is so generous to us! We receive the entire divinity of the Son, present and dwelling in us, every time we receive the Eucharist!
Thanks be to God!