Will the chalice be offered at Mass again?

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Chalice at Mass
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Msgr. Charles PopeQuestion: Will the ability of the faithful to receive holy Communion in both forms (the host and the chalice) ever be restored?
Mary West, Tampa, Florida

Answer: It is difficult to say for sure; “ever” is a long time. Yet, sensibilities about this matter have shifted significantly away from a shared chalice since the current health crisis. Even before the current pandemic, there were many who could not adjust to the sharing of a common chalice and bypassed it when receiving holy Communion.

Additionally, since receiving from the chalice is only mandated for the priest, and since the whole Christ is received in the host, there is no rush to restore the use of a common chalice in the Mass. This is one of those matters that will have to unfold in a post-pandemic setting.

Pets in heaven

Question: Will our pets be with us in heaven? Recently at the blessing of animals on the feast of St. Francis, a debate about this took place among us who awaited the blessing. Most of us thought yes, but a few thought this was just a sentimental hope. Is there any teaching about this?
Name, location withheld

Answer: The most truthful answer to this is that we just don’t know. God has not revealed this to us in the Scriptures or authoritative teaching. Hence, we are left to speculation. The more common answer from antiquity was that animals, since they lack a rational soul, will not be raised from the dead or be present in heaven. Their life simply ends with physical death.

However, there are hints that, at the second coming of the Lord, animals will, in some way, participate in the “new heavens and new earth” that John saw and wrote of in the Book of Revelation (cf. Rv 21:1-5). Long before that vision, Isaiah described a Messianic kingdom where, “Then the wolf shall be a guest of the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat; The calf and the young lion shall browse together, with a little child to guide them. The cow and the bear shall graze, together their young shall lie down; the lion shall eat hay like the ox. The baby shall play by the viper’s den, and the child lay his hand on the adder’s lair” (Is 11:6-8). Unless this is pure allegory, there is some hint that the animal kingdom will participate in the new heavens and earth prophesied to come after the Last Judgement.

St. Paul also spoke to a participation of all creation in the age to come: “For creation awaits with eager expectation the revelation of the children of God; for creation was made subject to futility, not of its own accord but because of the one who subjected it, in hope that creation itself would be set free from slavery to corruption and share in the glorious freedom of the children of God. We know that all creation is groaning in labor pains even until now” (Rom 8:19-22) So here, St. Paul, in a sense, personifies creation speaking to its “groaning” and longing for the “freedom of the children of God.” This too implies that creation in all its aspects (including animals) will be part of the new heavens and earth.

It is unlikely that this means that every cow, mosquito, or dinosaur, tree, shrub or earthworm that ever existed will be restored to existence. But there does seem to be some participation of the creation we recognize now in what is to come.

In this sense our pets may stand a pretty good chance of being among the animals that are present. This would be due largely to their relationship with us. Of all dogs, cats, guinea pigs or other animals, it makes sense that those most directly associated with us would be restored.

All that said, we are in the realm of speculative theology here and do well to avoid strong conclusions of which we cannot be certain. We must simply trust God that the glory of heaven and the new creation will far surpass whatever we can now imagine. Even if we reasonably conclude that all our pets should be there, God alone knows and will set forth his kingdom in justice and all wisdom.

Personally, I hope to see my pets in the great Parousia! May God grant it, if it be according to his will.

Msgr. Charles Pope is the pastor of Holy Comforter-St. Cyprian in Washington, D.C., and writes for the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C. at blog.adw.org. Send questions to msgrpope@osv.com.

Msgr. Charles Pope

Msgr. Charles Pope is the pastor of Holy Comforter-St. Cyprian in Washington, D.C., and writes for the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C. at blog.adw.org. Send questions to msgrpope@osv.com.