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JMJ
When the Angel disappeared, along with the Chalice, Francisco asked his older cousin, Lucia, whether he and his sister had received Holy Communion since they did not receive a Host. Lucia affirmed that they did indeed receive Holy Communion. Lucia responded correctly since in either the Sacred Host or in the Precious Blood, Jesus is really and truly entirely Present. This confirms the centuries-old practice of receiving only the Consecrated Host at a Traditional Latin Mass. It confirms that our Eucharistic Lord is really and truly Present in His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity in the Host alone. One does not have to “drink from the cup,” as they now say, in order to receive the Precious Blood of Christ, as it is contained in the Sacred Host.
Lucia’s answer, as well as the Angel’s words, are reflections of Chapter III of the Thirteenth Session of the Council of Trent, which stated: “ … this faith has ever been in the Church of God, that, immediately after the Consecration, the veritable Body of our Lord, and His veritable Blood, together with His Soul and Divinity, are under the species of bread and wine; but the Body indeed under the species of bread, and the Blood under the species of wine, by the force of the words; but the Body itself under the species of wine, and the Blood under the species of bread, and the soul under both, by the force of that natural connection and concomitancy whereby the parts of Christ our Lord, Who hath now risen from the dead, to die no more, are united together; and the Divinity, furthermore, on account of the admirable hypostatical union thereof with His Body and Soul. Wherefore it is most true, that as much is contained under either species as under both; for Christ whole and entire is under the species of bread, and under any part whatsoever of that species; likewise the whole (Christ) is under the species of wine, and under the parts thereof.”
The Thirteenth Session of the Council of Trent, Chapter IV, decrees that at the consecration of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, “… a conversion is made of the whole substance of bread into the substance of the Body of Christ Our Lord, and the whole substance of wine into the substance of His Blood; which conversion is, by the Holy Catholic Church, suitably and properly called Transubstantiation.” Nevertheless, in the context of Trent Session Thirteen, Chapter III: Jesus Christ is really and truly Present: Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity in either species, as affirmed by the Fatima Message.
But then, why did the Angel give the Precious Blood to Jacinta and Francisco? The teaching in the Fatima Message was not just for Latin Rite Catholics but for Eastern Rite Catholics as well, especially those in what would become the Soviet Union, who would soon find their Holy Catholic Faith threatened by the errors of Russia – as Our Lady would foretell on July 13, 1917. In the Eastern Rites, young children make their First Holy Communion as infants at the time of their Baptism by receiving a drop of the Precious Blood in the form of Wine. After that, as they are growing up and are too young to receive Jesus in the form of Bread, the Priest gives them a drop of the Precious Blood with the tiny spoon used to administer Holy Communion under both species to those who are of age, as is the custom in the Byzantine Catholic Rite.
There is nothing wrong with the Eastern-Rite Catholic tradition of the Priest giving the Consecrated Bread mingled with Consecrated Wine on a small spoon directly into the mouth of the Communicant. In his classic booklet, Communion Under Both Kinds: An Ecumenical Surrender, Michael Davies begins by saying: “There is no theological objection to the laity receiving Holy Communion under both kinds (sub utraque specie). The controversy on this topic was initiated by those who claimed that there is a theological objection to the reception of Holy Communion under one kind only.” It should be noted that the misguided insistence on the necessity of the laity receiving Holy Communion under both species was a basis for the 15th century Hussite Heresy.Courtesy of the Remnant
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