Doing the Dishes
The Mass is a meal. It is the wedding feast of the Lamb. And
After Holy Communion, you’ll see the priest and/or deacon cleansing
much greater purpose for this ritual. You see, Catholics believe that
the bread and wine truly become the Body and Blood of the Lord
Jesus. It is precious beyond any earthly thing. So unlike an earthly
meal where any excess food or drink may be tossed out, every bit
of the Body and Blood of Christ must be consumed or reverently
put back in the tabernacle.
Before using a small cloth called a purificator to wipe the vessels
clean, the priest or deacon will first consume any of the Precious
Blood that is left in the chalice. They will also look for even the
smallest crumb in the ciboria, on the patens and even on the altar
cloth. If they find any, they consume them right away. Then each
vessel is washed with water, which the priest then drinks. Only
then are the vessels wiped clean and put away for the next Mass.
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just like a meal at your house, the dishes need to be done
after the meal.
the vessels that were used for the distribution of Holy Communion.
While this is done partly for sanitary reasons, there is a
Why does the priest take care of this task? If you had a meal at
your house, you would never dream of letting the guests do the
dishes, right? A good host takes care of that. So it is in God’s
house!
Notes