At one of our Masses last Sunday I fell somewhat bereft as I stood in one aisle at Communion holding the Blood of Christ and for one moment thought nobody was going to receive: eventually one child and one adult did.

Christ offers us his Body and his Blood. He did so at the Last Supper and he asks us continually to eat and drink in his memory. These are divine gifts. The Chalice is not poison; it is life!

It is true that for centuries the Church did not offer the Chalice to the laity. That prohibition has gone. Now of course many were brought up to regard the Chalice as 'forbidden fruit'. Its sudden availability is as much a culture shock as the removal of the Berlin Wall. But many older people have adapted to this well; many of the 'no-takers' seem to be younger people - many of whom were prepared for Holy Communion in the 'new' way (i.e. the ancient way).

Once the Chalice was the centre of great theological rages. The Reformers fumed at having been denied it. In Bohemia, Reformers even build chalice-shaped turrets on the roofs of their houses as a sign of their crusade. So the Catholic Church stressed that in receiving the Body, one received the whole. Many Catholics were brought up that way. But if we think about it, it is not a very good argument. We might just as well only provide the Chalice, and then say the same thing the opposite way round.

The Eucharist is a sign of unity. It is intensely personal, but also intensely communal. If one may say it thus, the Chalice is an even more intense sign of the community than the Host, for hosts are individual (even if technically broken from the one bread) whereas the Chalice is totally communal.

Instinctively we tend to be on our guard against 'community' and stress our individualism. Hence, possibly, some of the arguments against the Chalice (hygiene etc. which experts are constantly assuring us are invalid).

If the priest never distributes the Chalice, it suggests to many that it is second best, "the wine". That detracts not only from the gift but also from the lay ministers who distribute. Hence my practice of distributing both equally.