45. Why does the Catholic Church give Holy Communion to the faithful in one kind only — namely, under the form of bread?
1. To prevent the Sacred Blood from being profaned, since, under the appearance of wine, it might easily be spilled, and could not well be reserved;
2. To make it easy for all to receive the Blessed Sacrament, as many feel a disgust at drinking out of a common chalice; and
3. To declare thereby against the heretics that Christ is present whole and entire under each kind.
In the very first times of the primitive Church, the sick, prisoners, and all those who commnnicated at home, received the Blessed Sacrament only under the form of bread. Thus only the breaking of bread is mentioned by St. Luke, xxiv. 30: 'Whilst He was at table with them, He took bread, and blessed and brake, and gave to them '; and in the Acts, ii. 42: ' And they were persevering in the doctrine of the Apostles, and in the communication of the breaking of bread, and in prayers' (comp. Acts ii. 46). Subsequently, it is true, Pope Leo and Pope Gelasius commanded the chalice to be received by the faithful in the public Communion, but only in order to combat the erroneous doctrine of the Manicheans, who detested wine as something diabolical, and to prevent these heretics from approaching with the Catholics to Communion. But this was only for a time and to meet an emergency. When that heresy disappeared, the faithful could return to the ancient and general usage.
46. Why does our Lord communicate Himself to all the faithful as food?
1. To give us a proof of His tender superabundant love, and to unite Himself most intimately with us: 'He that eateth my Flesh, and drinketh my Blood, abideth in me, and I in him ' (John vi. 57); and
2. To unite us also most closely together with one another by a bond of love and concord: 'For we, being many, are one bread, one body, all that partake of one bread' (1 Cor. x. 17).
47. What graces does Holy Communion impart to our souls?
