Am I Missing Something In the Eucharist?

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stuartbrianhenlis

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Hi again,

This isn’t going to be easy for me to post, so please be gentle with me. I hadn’t attended church for a very long time because I didn’t “feel” anything after taking Holy Communion. I didn’t go because I sincerely believed that something was “wrong” with me and so was unworthy of the gift of the Holy Sacrament.

Now that I’m back, after I take the Communion, I consciously try to tell myself that the Lord is within me. The last Mass I attended I told myself that the Eucharist was Jesus as the Passover Lamb. I’m really trying hard here to accept the Eucharist as it is meant to be accepted.

Perhaps someone could offer me guidance?

Thanks,

Stuart
 
Feelings can lie. Feelings are not all-knowing or all-encompassing. Consolation, that feeling that some people get when they receive the Eucharist/grace, is not nessecary. Know that it is God. Embrace it. Maybe go to Eucharistic Adoration. But, it is not important that you feel that it is God, but know that it is God.
 
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Hebrews 11:1
 
Feelings don’t matter.
Pray for it to be a spring of grace and to your salvation, and not curses and damnation.
 
I am not sure what you believe you should feel?

The reality of the Eucharist is not discernable in its accidents. I don’t “feel” any particular way when I receive.

Feelings are subjective and can be deceiving as well.
 
I agree with the others that receiving the Eucharist (or any of the sacraments) is not fundamentally an emotional exercise. I will temper it a bit, though, and say it’s not that feelings are inconsequential. Feelings are a reality of being bodily beings. And there are certainly many times where I do feel something when receiving the Eucharist or Reconciliation.

But considering we are subject to disordered passions following the Fall, our feelings are not always going to line up with the reality of the situation.

So, if you do feel something, praise God for that gift of consolation. If you don’t feel something, praise God for the opportunity to grow in faith knowing that He is present in the sacraments even when we don’t feel it with our emotions.
 
stuartbrianhenlis,

Really a wonderful theme to explore.
I treasure the Emmaus experience.
From my boyhood I tried to really understand it, especially the feeling immediately after the eating the Host.
Mindful of the definition of the sacrament, that it is the visible of the invisible grace, I approach it.
Jesus after breaking the bread, the disciple eat it. Their minds are OPENED.
Now, for them the truth lie buried, till they met Jesus, and Jesus explained to them. They were CONSOLED. they found a new person who can explain the matter. Invited them to dine with them.
At the breaking of the word, they are consoled, and at the breaking of the bread, their minds are opened. I have experienced very intimate experiences immediately after the eating of the bread, when I kneel down, for sometime, irrespective of what others are doing,( I am boasting ), the dialogue become more intense with Jesus who has just in my heart, quite mystically.
I RECOGNIZE HIM, HIS VOICE, HIS PRESENCE, and soon the distraction of the concluding prayers of the Holy Mass distracts me.
As in Emmaus, He vanishes. Again to return to me, to meet me, to come to my heart at the next Eucharist. Surely that is his design, his wish to invite us for that heavenly banquet.
The Eucharist, which one American priest called it ‘an inexhaustible mystery’ continue to reign.
 
Ask Father or another parish employee when Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament is offered. It is our Eucharistic Lord, exposed and placed atop the altar for adoration by the faithful. In His Sacramental form, the Lord appears as bread - no doubt about it. What has changed is the substance of the bread.

You can do no better than to go and spend time with the One whom you claim to love. Ask Him - beg Him - to reveal His presence in the Holy Eucharist. Then, be as patient with Him as He has been with you. When the Holy Spirit illumines your heart, and you are aware that Christ is truly present, you will be changed.
 
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Also, read good materials on the Eucharist. “The Lamb’s Supper” comes to mind by Scott Hahn.
Read some of the writings of Padre Pio on the Eucharist.
It’s never too late to learn.
God bless you, and welcome home.
 
You can make acts of faith in His Eucharistic Presence without feelings. That helps us to grow in the virtue of faith. Jesus is there for you as an individual. Talk to Him as a friend.
 
Lambs Supper - Somehow i have read from Scott Hahn.
But it made me recall what struck me about 4 years ago. Yes this is Christmas time. While as a boy i used to make cribs, till i left my home,
Watching the crib for minutes used to be my lovely time. Years passed by.
I read a lot here and there about Eucharist. Being a regular so called cradle catholic christian, it is a practice to participate in the celebration.
The the reflection on the MANGER. the place the sheep is housed. Its food is offered in a type of basket. And it is exactly there our infant Jesus body was presented to the world. The sheep to have its food. Later Jesus told the disciple , take care of my sheep. Three times.
The FOOD continue to be provided as the Eucharistic bread, the Living Body of the Person Jesus. It is deeply mystical. But then that is the fact. One cannot help. That the wish of the designer, the God.
The nourishment for the soul.The live soul needs nourishment, especially when it is weakened by the sinfulness barged on to it.
The paining body and pining soul
Believe it first. Then know a little by little, through intermittent meditations with the Lord.
Through centuries the mystery of Eucharist is being exposed here and there, now and then.
Happy are those who believe without seeing. They do not have to torture their mind.

Analogy can be admiring the beauty of moon, without knowing much about its details.
The engulfs you, the heart is thrilled. The moment we come to know of the details, the mind causes as certain kind of havoc in the heart, even momentarily.
Worship Living God in the Eucharist. God alone deserve worship. And the living God is present in the Eucharist. And we consume Him. How do we relate ourselves to the element of Worship at that moment is the point to be grappled with.
Bu, now what is Worship? A clear understanding is required. Colleagues, Wake up.
Halleluia.
 
Stuart, (briefly) you’re never going to “feel anything” simply by receiving Holy Communion. In itself it is not going to make your mouth tingle or give you goose flesh, etc.

The Communion song that perhaps best describes the moment of receiving the Eucharist (to me) has the lyrics: “…look beyond the ‘bread’ you eat, see your Savior and your Lord…”

Receiving the Eucharist is the summit of your faith, affirmation of everything you know about Christianity, especially the truth of the Bible.

Every day of your life, you’re one day closer to death – one day closer to meeting the Lord face to face. Ideally, you are nurturing your faith so that your joy is increasing day by day.

I worked in a nursing home and was taking care of an elderly man. I didn’t try to chit-chat with patients nearly as much as I should have. But, this man came right out and said to me, You know? I’m a happy man, because I have accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. Shouldn’t you, lying on your death bed, be able to say the same?

We have WAY too many distractions and amusements, in my opinion. You should take back some time in the day to nourish your faith. Are you ready to give up your life for the Lord? (The Church approves: I’m reading a book titled “The Six Constant Mitzvos” from artscroll.com. You have to spend some time – on each page – to google the hebrew terms that are used in the book. But, this book guides you to what commands from God you should be obeying every second of the day (and explains that idea). One of these is to love the Lord.

At Mass, in the Eucharist, Jesus wants to give Himself to us. Are you really ready for that?
 
Well maybe a few considerations to think about.

We are humans, our intellect and will, separate us from the animals. Animals have passions and desires and appetites, as we do.

We cannot be led around by the presence or absence of feelings in anything. We need to strive to be above that given the dignity that Jesus gave the human race by the Incarnation. Feelings are wonderful; but for humans not necessary.

They are quite unreliable and need to be constantly “educated” about what is good and bad.

The lack of feelings, whether it’s at Holy Communion, or even in prayer should not move us a bit.

At 3:00 in the morning, one may lack “tender feelings” for a sick child throwing up as we try to clear our head and help that child, but we “act anyway”…we “love” anyway.

The “consolations” or feelings we have or don’t have, shouldn’t move us. If we have good feelings, we thank God…if we don’t, we thank God.

Someone said we love God with all we have…so we love Him with all our mind (intellect, imagination, memory, to the full extent of our reasoning capabilities), when we “run out of intellect” we still love God but we love Him with our faith, which can help us love God “beyond reason”. In this sense “faith gets us closer to God”…we use our intellect if you will…as a ladder to climb closer to God…when we quickly run out of rungs…we use faith, hope, and charity to get “ever closer”. (Our whole life could be thought of a happy struggle to get “ever closer” to God, using all the means He gives us).

So, concretely, I would simply pray simply and directly when receiving Holy Communion…
“Lord, for some reason You’ve not given me great feelings when I receive You in Holy Communion, right now in fact, but I am going to love you and talk to You anyway, because I love You for Who You are, not because of what I want, or what I want to get from you (feelings). Help make my love of You be ever purer, and never in the least self-seeking. If good feelings were necessary to love You, You would give them to me, that much I am sure of.”
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The words of St Thomas Aquinas in Adore Te Devote might help.
I devoutly adore you, O hidden Deity,
Truly hidden beneath these appearances.
My whole heart submits to you,
And in contemplating you, It surrenders itself completely.
Sight, touch, taste are all deceived in their judgment of you,
But hearing suffices firmly to believe.
I believe all that the Son of God has spoken;
There is nothing truer than this word of truth.
On the cross only the divinity was hidden,
But here the humanity is also hidden.
Yet believing and confessing both,
I ask for what the penitent thief asked.
I do not see the wounds as Thomas did,
But I confess that you are my God.
Make me believe more and more in you,
Hope in you, and love you.
O memorial of our Lord’s death,
Living bread that gives life to man,
Grant my soul to live on you,
And always to savor your sweetness.
Lord Jesus, Good Pelican,
wash my filthiness and clean me with your blood,
One drop of which can free
the entire world of all its sins.
Jesus, whom now I see hidden,
I ask you to fulfill what I so desire:
That the sight of your face being unveiled
I may have the happiness of seeing your glory. Amen.
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I agree.

Adoration helped me in my faith quite a bit. Don’t expect magic, you may not notice anything happening to you immediately. Over time as you look back you’ll see the changes in hindsight. To me it seems that we usually only notice God’s presence in hindsight (remember when God only showed Moses his backside? I believe that’s what He meant by it). If you don’t believe Jesus is present, tell yourself that it’s true because the Church tells you. Remind yourself often. It’ll come to you but not in your time, it’s up to God.
 
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