From the beginning of the Church, and continued for 12 centuries, receiving Communion meant receiving both the Bread and the Cup. Not to do so (except for special reasons, such as sickness) was considered an abuse.
By the 13th century, a number of things came into play that would change this traditional practice. One factor was an emphasis on seeing and adoring the Eucharist at Mass, rather than receiving it. Thus, there was more emphasis on the Bread. You could see the Bread, but you couldn’t see the wine because it was in the chalice. (The elevation of the Bread after the consecration was introduced in the 13th century.) Receiving communion became so rare that the Church eventually legislated the requirement of Communion once a year – and “Communion” meant the Bread.
By the 15th century, lay reception of the cup had all but disappeared in the Latin Church. In 1415, the Council of Constance forbade the laity to take the cup – thus making into law what for the first 12 centuries of the Church had been considered an abuse.
The rest of the Church (the Eastern Rites) continued the traditional practice of both the Bread and the Cup.
This became an issue at the time of the Reformation – with many of the separated churches restoring the tradition of the Cup. In the latter part of the 16th century, the Council of Trent took up the question, but made no decision.
The restoration of the Cup in the Latin Rite would thus await the 20th century and the Second Vatican Council’s Constitution on the Liturgy.
Passages about the relationship between Jesus and the Father can seem complicated at first, but if we take our time with them, we discover very simple truths.
• Jesus is truly a human being. But he is a human being who is also God. He is one with God the Father, from whom God-life flows. The Opening Prayer on the feast of the Baptism of the Lord says: “May we who share his humanity come to share in his divinity.”
Jesus is the bridge to a relationship with God that we could never acquire on our own. (He will later give us a simple image – He is the vine; we are the branches.)
Jesus is not just a helper. He is the mediator, the link between God and human beings. There is no other – no saint, no bishop, no mystic. He alone is the “bread of life.”
What a gift. So simple. So profound.
Too many words can get in the way. Just let it sink in.