A Common Cup for a Communing People
Throughout the life of the Church catholic, the people of God have celebrated the Eucharistic feast by receiving wine from a common cup. That is, all receiving wine would drink from the same cup. The common cup is not mandated in Scripture, but it is part of the tradition of the Church. It captures the unity that we are living out as all those who come to the Father through Jesus his Son. St. Augustine reminds us in a sermon he preached on Pentecost Remember, friends, how wine is made. Individual grapes hang together in a bunch, but the juice from them all is mingled to become a single brew. This is the image chosen by Christ our Lord to show how, at his own table, the mystery of our unity and peace is solemnly consecrated. How we do things communicates what we believe (and think) is actually taking place. How we do things shapes and forms us in good and healthy ways; it can also form us in unhealthy ways.
On Pentecost Sunday (28 May) we will begin offering the common cup. We will continue to offer a cup for intinction (dipping the bread into the wine) if that is preferable for some. You may be thinking "doesn't this shift us away from a common cup, because right now we use only one cup for intinction." Fair question. Let me respond this way. As the Eucharist is one of the two sacraments–the other being baptism–the outward sign of the sacrament is significant to the invisible, spiritual grace received. There is something to be said about receiving a draft of wine and what it communicates about the inward, spiritual grace you also experience. We do not receive more of Jesus, if we consume more wine. But we experience the sacrament in a different way, one that I think can be helpful to us as a community.
One is not more spiritual than the other. If you are concerned about health issues–(e.g. won't drinking from a common cup spread diseases more easily?)–there has been plenty of research done on the transmissibility, or lack thereof, of diseases via the common cup. So far the research indicates there is little, if anything, to be concerned about. Thankfully the parish council has weighed in on this issue and are also supportive of (re)introducing the common cup. I am grateful for their leadership, thoughts, and encouragement. As always, let us keep the main thing the main thing. As we come together as the people of God, to the Table of our Lord, we do not come as individuals; we come as a redeemed people whom Christ has joined together in his body (the Church) and by his body (on the Cross). Thanks be to God.