Did you ever doubt the doctrine of "the real presence"?

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Yes, for the first 38 years of my life. I was baptised but never received first communion, and I swore I never would because I didn’t think the real presence was something I could come to believe if I didn’t already.

Then someone explained faith is a gift and you’re allowed to ask for it. So I did.

One day I was reading Thomas Merton’s book The Living Bread in adoration. I walked out believing in the real presence and have not doubted since.
 
Yes, but because I was Protestant, which I don’t think counts. But after I became Catholic, no.
 
Askme said:
Did you ever doubt the doctrine of the real presence?
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All our faith rests upon faith in the Resurrection of Christ being nonfiction historical fact. If that really happened, then why doubt the Real Presence of Him in the Eucharist? Or anything else? They all hang together.
 
When I first learned about the real presence, I thought that was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever heard of.

I had just come into Christianity after being raised atheist, despite being baptized Catholic, and was attending a Protestant Church at the time.

It was the real presence that brought me back to the Catholic Church and it is the real presence that keeps me here.
 
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The quote from Tolkien about the real presence is even more beautiful

“Out of the darkness of my life, so much frustrated, I put before you the one great thing to love on earth: the Blessed Sacrament. . . . There you will find romance, glory, honour, fidelity, and the true way of all your loves on earth, and more than that: Death.
 
NO, I never doubt that Jesus is there and present. I don’t need a doctrine to tell me that.
 
Only when I lost my faith for a while and didn’t believe in the Church or God. Since I’ve come back I haven’t doubted it for a second.
 
I could never make the connection after I discovered the Greek word transliterated “Eucharist” simply means to “give thanks,” & never once refers to the communion bread in either the noun, adjective, & verb form in the NT.
 
May I ask, what Protestant community did you belong to?

I know some believe in the real presence even if it is in a different way (like consubstantation or even transubstantian for some Anglicans), although of course the have invalid orders anyway.
 
For a Catholic knowing the reality of a “doctrine” is not about “believing a doctrine”. It is about believing (and believing in) the living “apostle” telling me ‘what is’. If I do not believe the living Apostolic Messenger talking to me, then it will be judged that I have also rejected The ONE who sent him to tell me that “This is my body.”

Without living Magisterial proclamation there are only “things and ideas and opinions” to be “believed” with a “human work” of rational decision.

I start talking to “the living bread” because:
“My pastor and bishop tell me you are the body of my Lord for me. I believe in you and, so listen to these you send to me in their apostolic succession and authority to tell me ‘what is what’.”
 
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As a kid, after first communion, I had a child’s understanding that Christ was in the bread and wine. Something about being a kid makes belief easier with such an idea.
Like many Catholics, I did not think about it much as I grew. Not analytic thought.
By the time I learned a bit of our theology and tradition, it was clear that at best, we are talking mystery. As with the incarnation. Sometimes people try to delve to deep into mystery. They have discomfort with it.
To me the real presence is as reasonable as the reason of classic Theism.
Why do we exist at all, and moment to moment? We do! So there must be an explanation. Metaphysical truth yet mystery. A being sustaining everything, transcendant and imminent, is really not so hard to imagine present in the bread and wine.
We also believe in the Divine Indwelling. Mystery again, but it seems recognised in our catechism manifesting as that voice of conscience we all experience. ( That voice remains real yet outside of the grasp of science and explanation) When we receive, I have heard it described as presence meeting presence.
A Catholic should expect experience of such a thing does not lend itself to words. And that’s OK. If this helps, I think the imminent and transcendant aspect of God in the universe gives the real presence background. The passages in Colossians 1:15-17, for example remind us vividly of just why the incarnation is mystery. It isn’t an absence of an explanation, it is simply beyond our ability to grasp. The irony is you learn you have less than a child’s grasp.
 
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When I was an adolescent I was falling away from the church. I had a very dysfunctional family and I hadn’t formed a real relationship with Jesus despite the ccd classes I attended growing up. I think in my early teens I reached a point where I was questioning if God even existed. But, all of that changed when I met a devout priest who taught me the faith. I quite literally wept over my sins, reformed my life and have formed a close relationship with God ever since. After my reversion of sorts, I believed in the true presence. But, after a spiritual experience I had years ago, I know Jesus is truly present. God has been so good and merciful to me. I could never express sufficiently just how grateful I am for saving me. Viva Christo Rey!
 
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Never doubted what Jesus said in the Last Supper; never doubted the Church’s teaching. I first converted and believed in 2017. I think sometimes I lose that “awe” feeling of amazement, and I start to go down a rabbit hole of “Did I lose faith” But faith is not a feeling. It’s ok to not feel that awe feeling. Faith does not go by what we see or what we feel. I often cry out like the father in Mark 24. “Lord, I believe, help my unbelief.” While in adoration. I believe he hears me and increases my faith! <3 <3
 
There is much foreshadowing in the Old Testament pointing forward to Christ. One of those, I think, is when Moses approached the burning bush. I think this is revealed in the Old Testament to point forward to Christ in the blessed sacrament. I often wonder why my face isn’t sunburned when I leave the church!
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