Celiac disease and First Communion

Every now and then there's a flap about a family leaving the Church because special accomodations aren't made for their child with celiac disease (in which the child cannot digest wheat, and so can't receive the Host). Here's how an faithful Catholic family dealt with problem of celiac disease:

Sparky made his First Holy Communion on Sunday. It was a very special day of course, but even more special, in a way, because he has celiac disease. Celiacs cannot digest wheat and so Sparky could not take Jesus in the form of bread. Instead, he took only the Precious Blood.

Our pastor did a lovely job using Sparky's special circumstances as a teaching moment. In his homily he spoke of how Jesus, Body and Blood, is present in both the form of bread and wine.
...on Sunday, my heart lept for joy. I wept joyfully as my son took the chalice into his hands. All that mattered was that Sparky really loves Jesus and was thrilled to be partaking in Holy Communion. The wheat thing didn't matter at all.

Read the whole story, including Maureen's OSV article about her pain at realizing that her son could never receive the Host and the current options for sufferers of celiac disease.