Communion on Plastic Spoons

I couldn't believe my eyes when I read the blog of Fr.Peter-Michael Preble: Communion on Plastic Spoons, on Facebook tonight. The question raised under the comments by Matthew Moore was even more to the point. "Why isn't the priest getting sick?" At the end of Liturgy the priest must consume the remaining content of the chalice. The same chalice that has served each and every communicant by way of the "spoon". If it were diseased he would in fact, be sick with every conceivable disease known to his congregation.

So, once again we look to science to dispute facts, yet are all facts known to science? If they were, there would be an end to cancer and disease, as we know it. Wouldn't there be an end to research? We do not have all the facts nor will we, as some things are meant to be mysteries, the "unknown." Bread and wine becoming the Body and Blood of Christ are one of those mysteries. It is a question of belief or faith.

When I was pregnant years ago, old wives tales prevented me from breast feeding. Leona my mother-in-law at that time, told me that the baby would get sick through me, a healthy mother. Many had strange ideas concerning what God gave us naturally. Instead, they relied on science or modern technology, to find the perfect baby formula. Nothing is better than the natural breast and its milk. Not only is it the right temperature, available when the baby needs it, the correct amount, but contains antibodies and other aids which cow milk does not have. Cow milk is for calves. Breast milk is for babies. Okay, I bought that argument for the first child, but knew better for the second one.

Sex was a taboo subject years ago, which you did not talk about. Even breast feeding. This is truly an unbelievable story but true. When I was breastfeeding my second child and got a cold, she sent over face masks so I wouldn't give my germs to the baby. I threw them in the closet totally upset. Common illnesses such as colds, flu or diarrhea cannot be passed through breast milk. If a mother is sick her breast milk will have antibodies in it. Go here for more information. The exception is: HIV. Hepatitis C can be transmitted through cracked nipples. There are many more examples of protection from disease, if it is present in the mother.

A Good and Loving God provides. If you have faith and love for who you believe IS in the bread and wine transformed mysteriously into the Body and Blood of Christ, as you draw near to receive Him, why the doubt?

The scripture answers the question for us in Matthew 26:26 (The Orthodox Study Bible), Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and give it to the disciples and said, "Take, eat; this is My body."

I am not a theologian but this is my take on why the priest isn't getting sick with any disease. Because no disease, or anything impure, nor sin, can exist in the Body and Blood of Christ God, the only sinless One.

Just as our belief is that the Virgin Theotokos, was ever-blessed and most pure, and bore Christ in her womb physically, being purified by Him, and contained in her womb "He" who cannot be contained. And, (Ps 103:3) "Who heals all your diseases" as a fact.

Unless you believe that the One in her womb was God, the One who died on the cross for our sins, the One who gives Himself to us in the mystery of Holy Communion, you are still in the world.

The world of science, and of sin, lacking faith, and using plastic spoons for communion.

Now for the big questions, to be repeated is: What Happened To Those Spoons? And What were you thinking?