Do you chew?

Do you chew?

Amy mentions a purported Eucharistic miracle in Dallas, which supposedly started when a boy spit out a Host that didn’t dissolve in his mouth. that started a discussion with Melanie about whether you should only let the Host dissolve or whether it’s okay to chew it.

Certainly, in the recent past in some places there was a strict injunction against chewing—if not in Church law, at least in customary practice. I suppose it was determined to be disrespectful to go chewing on Jesus. On the other hand, The Lord is present under the appearance of bread and wine for a reason. He is true food and true drink.

Moreover, in John 6:54, Jesus tells us that he who “eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life.” The Greek word used there translated as “eat” is trogo, which literally means “to gnaw, to chew.” That’s very graphic and deliberate language. Certainly there are other words John could have chosen: esthio, phago, and others. In fact those words are used earlier in the chapter, but the more those who hear him in the Bread of Life discourse persist in their unbelief, the stronger his language becomes until he uses the very graphic trogo.

So what does this mean for us? I don’t think there’s a definitive teaching here, but I have to think that there’s nothing wrong with consuming the Host like you would any natural (as opposed to supernatural) food. Jesus gives Himself to us in the form of Bread, and I think he expects us to eat Him.

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