Having trouble getting anything out of the Eucharist

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Ben_Sinner

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I have a hard time getting excited about the Eucharist.

My problem is not that I just see it as a piece of bread either.

When I watch the Eucharist at Mass I do fully believe that is the body of Christ and a piece of Christ’s body is here in the church.

…but that the thing. It’s just a “piece of Christ’s body”.

Its only an inanimate piece of flesh from God. I can’t really get excited about a piece of skin.

If I never got to see a loved one but someone gave me a piece of their skin, I would say “whats the big deal in this?” So thats why I have trouble really being excited during the sacrament.

If it was the actual full bodied Jesus appearing that would be a different story but a piece of flesh? I’m sorry I just can’t really feel much for it.

Is there something I am missing about the Eucharist?
 
I think the problem is thinking the presence is partial. It is not. It is a whole type of thing. 🙂 God is there, not just a portion of some skin or something like that. Here is a Catechism of the Catholic Church quote to help:

**1374 **The mode of Christ’s presence under the Eucharistic species is unique. It raises the Eucharist above all the sacraments as “the perfection of the spiritual life and the end to which all the sacraments tend.” In the most blessed sacrament of the Eucharist “the body and blood, together with the soul and divinity, of our Lord Jesus Christ and, therefore, the whole Christ is truly, really, and substantially contained.” “This presence is called ‘real’ - by which is not intended to exclude the other types of presence as if they could not be ‘real’ too, but because it is presence in the fullest sense: that is to say, it is a *substantial *presence by which Christ, God and man, makes himself wholly and entirely present.”
 
Dacinom said:
Thank you for asking such a wonderful question.

The Eucharist is not just a piece of skin, it contains the body, blood, soul and divinity of Jesus Christ. You are taking the God that created the Universe, the very God that put the stars in the sky, the God that gave the ten commandments to Moses, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and taking Him into your body where he will become a part of your body.

When we eat something the food that we eat gets broken down and becomes a part of us. God became bread so He could become a part of us! This is so beautiful in so many ways it is beyond comprehension. God loves you, hope this helps a little, God bless you.
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Well stated.
 
The traditional Catholic formulation about the Lord’s presence in the Eucharist is that it is His “Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity”. It is the very essence of His personhood, not just a little cold bit of dead flesh. His whole glorious Person is there, in risen humanity and eternal, infinite divinity. His existence on the altar and in our bodies is a Sacramentum, a Mysterion, not a literal thing in the “scientific” sense. He is more present in the Eucharist than in any prayers of our own.

Many people have trouble with this. One remedy is to hold the Host on your tongue and let Him simply dissolve into your mouth. Imagine the flood of His grace, life, holiness, purity, virtue, and love washing over your soul - into your very being. Imagine yourself kneeling on the dust of the earth from which you came, clinging with your hands and your face to the flowing garments of Christ.

We cling to the Person who is the Lord, not to His flesh or His heart or His face or His wounds. Those things are meaningless without the Personality, the Life, the living God who inhabits the human nature that we receive hidden under the appearance of bread and wine…
 
Ben_Sinner said:
I have a hard time getting excited about the Eucharist.

My problem is not that I just see it as a piece of bread either.

When I watch the Eucharist at Mass I do fully believe that is the body of Christ and a piece of Christ’s body is here in the church.

…but that the thing. It’s just a “piece of Christ’s body”.

Its only an inanimate piece of flesh from God. I can’t really get excited about a piece of skin.

If I never got to see a loved one but someone gave me a piece of their skin, I would say “whats the big deal in this?” So thats why I have trouble really being excited during the sacrament.

If it was the actual full bodied Jesus appearing that would be a different story but a piece of flesh? I’m sorry I just can’t really feel much for it.

Is there something I am missing about the Eucharist?
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Yes, you’re missing something big time.

It’s not a piece of Jesus’ Body. It IS Jesus’ Body, whole, entire, and alive; unbroken and undivided.

And because Jesus is alive, where his Body is, there must also be his Blood, Soul, and because he is the Second Person of the Trinity, also his Divinity.

therefore what you behold in the Eucharist is no mere “piece of skin”. What you have before you is the Creator of the Universe, Almighty God himself. You’re not just expected to be “excited” about it. You fall on your knees in reverent awe and adore the Lord of all, “My King and My God!!!”
 
You are approaching the BODY AND BLOOD OF JESUS with the eye’s of reason - “a piece of skin”, you have not fully comprehended or fallen in love with JESUS in HIS surrendering HIS BODY AND BLOOD to us to feed us.

Reason will always fail you in approaching the BODY AND BLOOD OF JESUS. This is serious - take time before the BLESSED SACRAMENT and simply ask GOD to open your heart to know HIM, love HIM and serve HIM through HIS BODY AND BLOOD.

Kneel before that which you doubt and ask for GOD’s grace of faith to “believe” - not to understand.
 
I don’t mean this in a disrespectful way but, if you truly believe you are eating Jesus’ body and drinking his precious blood, then how is it people are not getting sick in church just from thinking about that? In some corner of your mind you have to be thinking it’s just bread and wine.
 
sscott said:
I don’t mean this in a disrespectful way but, if you truly believe you are eating Jesus’ body and drinking his precious blood, then how is it people are not getting sick in church just from thinking about that? In some corner of your mind you have to be thinking it’s just bread and wine.
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NO!
Quite the contrary. If we believe and profess that Jesus Christ is the 2nd person of the Trinity, then He is GOD. All things are possible with God. If God, the great Immortal God, in the Person of Jesus, deigns to come to me, a lowly servant, Body. Blood, SOUL, and DIVINITY, I am not in the least grossed out. I am humbled. I am in awe. I am sublimely happy. I am blessed beyond what I am deserving of.
Jesus comes into our body, our very being, not just our mind. It’s astounding and amazing. He comes under the appearance of bread and wine. Specifically so that we do not freak out. In a way that we can manage with our human minds.
If one is getting sick, one does not have a proper understanding of what we partake.
There are many good books on the subject. The Lamb’s Supper comes to mind.
Peace.
 
@pianistclaire- Thank you for your very interesting explanation. I can see you personally are truly elevated spiritually by receiving communion.
 
sscott said:
@pianistclaire- Thank you for your very interesting explanation. I can see you personally are truly elevated spiritually by receiving communion.
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Well, I’ve got the hardest working guardian angel in show business.
 
I think that this misperception about the Eucharist may be more common than we may realize. The Eucharist is not a piece of Christ’s body. It is all of Christ’s living body, all of his soul, all of his divinity, all of his manhood. He is totally and completely present in the Eucharist. The little host that we perceive are the accidents of bread. But the substance of the bread has been transformed into Christ himself. He could not be more wholly present if he stood before us, which he does in the Eucharist.
 
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