Q. You said recently that the matter for Holy Communion (wheat flour and water) has not changed since Vatican II and that you don’t know of anyone getting sick from receiving the Eucharist. But what about those with a medical condition, such as Celiac Disease, who cannot ingest anything with wheat in it? — P.S. Nebraska.
A. Although we have written about Celiac sufferers in the past (see pages 297-299 of the book Catholic Replies 2), we were not thinking of them when we wrote the reply you mentioned, and we apologize for the oversight. Celiac Disease is an allergic reaction to the gluten in wheat that damages the digestive system and predisposes its victims to osteoporosis, neurological illnesses, and lymphoma.
One solution for those with Celiac was to receive only the Precious Blood, with the priest consecrating some wine in a separate vial because drinking from the chalice could be problematic since a small piece of the Host is placed in the chalice before Communion.
There were those who advocated using gluten-free hosts, but the Vatican’s Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith said in 2003 that hosts that are completely gluten-free are invalid matter. They said that low-gluten hosts would be valid matter “provided they contain a sufficient amount of gluten to obtain the confection of bread without the addition of foreign materials and without the use of procedures that would alter the nature of bread.”
A few years ago, the Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration in Missouri, after many years of experimentation, came up with a host made of wheat starch (wheat flour from which much of the gluten protein has been removed) plus water. Its gluten content is 10 parts per million, and it was given approval by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops for use in all American dioceses. Thus, persons with Celiac Disease can request the use of low-gluten hosts for themselves in their parishes.
These hosts are to be stored in an airtight container away from wheat products and are to be placed on the corporal on the altar in a closed designated pyx during Mass, taking care that no particles of wheat get into the pyx. The person with a gluten allergy should come to Communion either first or last so that the minister of the Eucharist can retrieve the pyx from the altar and distribute the Body of Christ.
Anyone wishing to contact the Benedictine Sisters can write to them at 31970 State Highway P, Clyde, MO 64432, or call them at 800-223-2772.
Q. After hearing the reading at Mass today from St. Paul (Romans 10:9), I can understand why Protestants think it is easy to be saved. But aren’t there other Scripture passages that contradict this notion? Also, when Jesus says that “in my Father’s house there are many dwelling places” (John 14:2), does that mean that salvation is possible apart from the Catholic Church? — D.M.D., via e-mail.
A. Regarding your first question, in Romans 10:9, Paul says that “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” Would that it were that easy. But Paul offers a stricter standard for salvation elsewhere in his letters, a standard that involves more than just confessing the divinity of Christ.
For example, in Romans 2:6-8, Paul says that God “will repay everyone according to his works: eternal life to those who seek glory, honor, and immortality through perseverance in good works, but wrath and fury to those who selfishly disobey the truth and obey wickedness.”
In Gal. 5:19-21, Paul warns against engaging in such “works of the flesh” as “immorality, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, hatreds, rivalry, jealousy, outbursts of fury, acts of selfishness, dissensions, factions, occasions of envy, drinking bouts, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”
If merely believing that Jesus is Lord and that God raised Him from the dead were enough to get to Heaven, then why did Paul say that Christians had to “work out [their] salvation with fear and trembling” (Phil. 2:12)? Or why did he say, “I drive my body and train it, for fear that, after having preached to others, I myself should be disqualified” (1 Cor. 9:27)?
Or consider this passage from the Letter to the Hebrews (10:26-27): “If we sin deliberately after receiving knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains sacrifice for sins, but a fearful prospect of judgment and a flaming fire that is going to consume the adversaries.” Or this from the Letter of James (2:14, 17):
“What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works?. . . So also faith of itself, if it does not have works, is dead.”
Jesus Himself also presented a stricter standard in His first public utterance when He called upon His listeners to “repent” of their sins “and believe in the Gospel” (Mark 1:15). He also said that “not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven” (Matt. 7:21). And He warned that those who failed to help the least of their brothers and sisters, and therefore failed to help Him, would be cast “into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matt. 25:40).
Regarding the second question, no, the words of Jesus do not mean that salvation is possible apart from the Catholic Church. There won’t be rooms or dwelling places or mansions in Heaven; there will only be eternal happiness in the glorious presence of God. The Catechism says that “the life of the blessed consists in the full and perfect possession of the fruits of the redemption accomplished by Christ. He makes partners in his heavenly glorification those who have believed in him and remained faithful to his will. Heaven is the blessed community of all who are perfectly incorporated into Christ” (n. 1026).
Although faithful members of the Church founded by Jesus and guided by the Holy Spirit have the surest route to Heaven, the key to salvation for those who are not Catholics is to believe in Jesus and faithfully carry out His will. How this can be accomplished by those who are ignorant of Christ was explained by Pope Paul VI in his Credo of the People of God:
“We believe that the Church is necessary for salvation because Christ, who is the sole mediator and way of salvation, renders himself present for us in His body, which is the Church. But the divine design of salvation embraces all men, and those who without fault on their part do not know the Gospel of Christ and His Church, but seek God sincerely, and under the influence of grace endeavor to do His will as recognized through the promptings of their conscience, they, in a number known only to God, can obtain salvation.”
While there will not be separate dwelling places in Heaven for each of the blessed, the saved will experience degrees of happiness that will depend on how devoted they were to God on Earth. St. Paul explained this when he said that “whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully” (2 Cor. 9:6).
He also said that “the brightness of the sun is one kind, the brightness of the moon another, and the brightness of the stars another. For star differs from star in brightness” (1 Cor. 15:41). In other words, those who practiced heroic virtue on Earth will shine brighter and enjoy a higher degree of happiness in Heaven than those who “backed into Heaven” after a spiritually mediocre life.
This situation, however, will not cause any envy or rivalry. Instead, said Fr. Charles Arminjon in his book The End of the Present World, “union, peace, and harmony will not reign any less in this countless array, in which the lesser ranks cooperate with the highest in the repose and harmony of all. The elect will form but one heart among themselves. Their one link will no longer be force or self-interest, but charity. Forming a single body, whose head is Jesus Christ, and having become living stones of the one building, they will share in the conquest with the same joy and the same love. Each will be rich in the richness of all; each will thrill in the happiness of all” (pp. 230-231).
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