Holy Communion & Catholic Converts

[cascia]

Hi:

My husband and I converted to Catholicism this past Spring and our view of the Eucharist is very sacred as the body and blood are indeed Christ in the Catholic Church. When we were Methodist, the body and blood were to represent Christ.

Cascia

 

[AlegreFe]

Here is a 6 year old girl’s letter to Jesus
nennolina.it/let_gesueucaristia_EN.htm

She is on her way to Sainthood:
zenit.org/article-21327?l=english

Wow, thank you so much for sharing. This little girl had a great gift to know Jesus in the Eucharist. If only more & more people had this kind of faith that this little girl had.

 

[AlegreFe]

I agreed. This kind of feelings seem to occur at the begining of your spiritual journey. As you are more into your belief; faith becomes more important than the feeling.

This is true. We have to rely on Faith and not feelings as our journey progresses. As we know, we walk by faith and not by sight.

 

[Cat]

I was raised in the Conference Baptist denomination, and my husband was raised in the Assemblies of God. We started dating when we were 16, and married when we were 21.

While we were in college, we attended a Christian church. This particular denomination (they claim that they are not a denomination) offers Communion at every meeting.

My husband and I loved this. Instead of becoming rote and routine, Communion was more precious every week.

In fact, when we got married in 1979, we did not go along with the crowd and include a “unity candle.” Instead, we had Communion, a very strange thing at the time for Protestant churches. BUT…we did NOT offer it to the congregation; we took Communion. At the time, this was also very strange, but since we have become Catholic, we realized that the Holy Spirit was involved with this. Catholics should not take Communion in a non-Catholic setting, and had we offered Communion to the congregation, we might have caused Catholics to sin.

For the next 25 years of our married life, we continued to believe that Communion was “special.” And we always sensed that something was missing in the observance of Communion in the various Protestant churches that we were part of over the years.

When we started investigating the Catholic Church, we learned what was missing–Communion was never meant to be a “symbol,” but it was really Jesus. We both recognized Him in the Blessed Sacrament, and longed for Him.

All of the Old Testament now made sense to us. This was the New Passover, the meaning behind the Name “Lamb of God.” In the Old Testament, the Passover lamb was eaten, just as the Lamb of God, Jesus, is to be eaten today.

THIS is how we receive Jesus, not just through a “sinner’s prayer,” but through actually receiving Him into our bodies.

We even saw more meaning behind sex. Just as we become one with each other when we make love, when we receive Jesus in the Holy Communion, we become one with His Body. The pleasure that we experience in sex is very simliar to the “pleasure” that we experience when receiving the Eucharist. I hope that doesn’t sound profane, but it’s probably the best way I have to explain the way I feel when receiving the Eucharist.

I agree very much with mercygate, that we should not base our understanding of Eucharist on our feelings, which come and go depending on what we ate or didn’t eat for breakfast. Read the Bible, and you will see Eucharist throughout the entire Bible.

But even after almost four years (2004), my husband and I often become very emotional when we receive Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament during Holy Communion. It is such a privilege. We still can’t comprehend why God allowed us to enter His Church, while our friends and relatives were left behind.

 

[mercygate]

I was raised in the Conference Baptist denomination, and my husband was raised in the Assemblies of God. We started dating when we were 16, and married when we were 21.

While we were in college, we attended a Christian church. This particular denomination (they claim that they are not a denomination) offers Communion at every meeting.

My husband and I loved this. Instead of becoming rote and routine, Communion was more precious every week.

In fact, when we got married in 1979, we did not go along with the crowd and include a “unity candle.” Instead, we had Communion, a very strange thing at the time for Protestant churches. BUT…we did NOT offer it to the congregation; we took Communion. At the time, this was also very strange, but since we have become Catholic, we realized that the Holy Spirit was involved with this. Catholics should not take Communion in a non-Catholic setting, and had we offered Communion to the congregation, we might have caused Catholics to sin.

For the next 25 years of our married life, we continued to believe that Communion was “special.” And we always sensed that something was missing in the observance of Communion in the various Protestant churches that we were part of over the years.

When we started investigating the Catholic Church, we learned what was missing–Communion was never meant to be a “symbol,” but it was really Jesus. We both recognized Him in the Blessed Sacrament, and longed for Him.

All of the Old Testament now made sense to us. This was the New Passover, the meaning behind the Name “Lamb of God.” In the Old Testament, the Passover lamb was eaten, just as the Lamb of God, Jesus, is to be eaten today.

THIS is how we receive Jesus, not just through a “sinner’s prayer,” but through actually receiving Him into our bodies.

We even saw more meaning behind sex. Just as we become one with each other when we make love, when we receive Jesus in the Holy Communion, we become one with His Body. The pleasure that we experience in sex is very simliar to the “pleasure” that we experience when receiving the Eucharist. I hope that doesn’t sound profane, but it’s probably the best way I have to explain the way I feel when receiving the Eucharist.

I agree very much with mercygate, that we should not base our understanding of Eucharist on our feelings, which come and go depending on what we ate or didn’t eat for breakfast. Read the Bible, and you will see Eucharist throughout the entire Bible.

But even after almost four years (2004), my husband and I often become very emotional when we receive Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament during Holy Communion. It is such a privilege. We still can’t comprehend why God allowed us to enter His Church, while our friends and relatives were left behind.

wow.

 

[Cat]

Please allow me to make another comment.

One of the reasons that my husband and I became disillusioned with our evangelical Protestant church during the 1990s is that Communion was offered less and less frequently, and in increasingly casual settings.

Our church only offered Communion a few times a year, and it was usually during a Sunday evening service when we couldn’t attend. At one point, I realized that it had been almost a year since I had experienced communion. To me, that was like not coming together with my husband in the act of marriage.

In fact, we noticed that both of the two remaining sacraments (called “ordinances” by many evangelical Protestant denominations), were offered less and less frequently. In almost seven years of attendance at the Evangelical Free church, we saw only a few baptismal services.

We began asking questions, and were not happy when pastors evaded our questions. They gave us the impression that they didn’t think these “ceremonies” were necessary, that they were just leftovers from “rituals of men.”

In fact, we began to grow fearful that if baptism and communion were eventually discarded, when would marriage (weddings) also be discarded?

When we started studying Catholicism and learning about the seven sacraments, we saw immediately that this lined up with Scripture. The sacraments are not just “symbols,” and we as God’s people cannot live fully as Christians without them. We can certainly follow Christ, but to live without the sacraments is like being on a spiritual diet.

 

[KarenElissa]

It’s so great to “feel” your enthusiasm! It picks me up too to hear stories such as yours. Thank you so very much for your (name removed by moderator)ut and thank you so much for being Catholic. We need more members like you to liven things up at times when needed.

Thanks, I appreciate the encouragement!

btw, I love those smilies, they crack me up!

Ya, I’m rather addicted to the smilies! I don’t know what to do when I’m doing stuff like email and don’t have them. They are just soo expressive!

 

[AlegreFe]

I was raised in the Conference Baptist denomination, and my husband was raised in the Assemblies of God. We started dating when we were 16, and married when we were 21.

While we were in college, we attended a Christian church. This particular denomination (they claim that they are not a denomination) offers Communion at every meeting.

My husband and I loved this. Instead of becoming rote and routine, Communion was more precious every week.

In fact, when we got married in 1979, we did not go along with the crowd and include a “unity candle.” Instead, we had Communion, a very strange thing at the time for Protestant churches. BUT…we did NOT offer it to the congregation; we took Communion. At the time, this was also very strange, but since we have become Catholic, we realized that the Holy Spirit was involved with this.

As I was reading this I said to myself (before reading your next statement), “This was the work of the Holy Spirit telling them that communion is more than just a symbol.” And then I read your next statement. Wow, how you must have felt!

…For the next 25 years of our married life, we continued to believe that Communion was “special.” And we always sensed that something was missing in the observance of Communion in the various Protestant churches that we were part of over the years.

When we started investigating the Catholic Church, we learned what was missing–Communion was never meant to be a “symbol,” but it was really Jesus. We both recognized Him in the Blessed Sacrament, and longed for Him.

Wow! You had an experience just like the apostles recognizing Jesus in the breaking of the bread!

All of the Old Testament now made sense to us. This was the New Passover, the meaning behind the Name “Lamb of God.” In the Old Testament, the Passover lamb was eaten, just as the Lamb of God, Jesus, is to be eaten today.

:yup:

THIS is how we receive Jesus, not just through a “sinner’s prayer,” but through actually receiving Him into our bodies.
We even saw more meaning behind sex. Just as we become one with each other when we make love, when we receive Jesus in the Holy Communion, we become one with His Body. The pleasure that we experience in sex is very simliar to the “pleasure” that we experience when receiving the Eucharist. I hope that doesn’t sound profane, but it’s probably the best way I have to explain the way I feel when receiving the Eucharist.

I know exactly what you mean. I’m sure you’ve heard of John Paul II’s Theology of the Body then?! Here’s another website for that also.

I agree very much with mercygate, that we should not base our understanding of Eucharist on our feelings, which come and go depending on what we ate or didn’t eat for breakfast. Read the Bible, and you will see Eucharist throughout the entire Bible.

AMEN!

But even after almost four years (2004), my husband and I often become very emotional when we receive Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament during Holy Communion. It is such a privilege. We still can’t comprehend why God allowed us to enter His Church, while our friends and relatives were left behind.

God has a plan for everyone. Perhaps your friends are not far behind if you witness to them. I’m sure I’m not telling you something you don’t already know, but as long as you show your faith through your love for your friends and family, they will soon follow behind you and learn to love the Catholic faith and hopefully, in God’s time, they will come home to the Catholic Church.
I will pray for you, your friends and your family.

 

[mercygate]

As I was reading this I said to myself (before reading your next statement), “This was the work of the Holy Spirit telling them that communion is more than just a symbol.” And then I read your next statement. Wow, how you must have felt!

Wow! You had an experience just like the apostles recognizing Jesus in the breaking of the bread!

:yup:

I know exactly what you mean. I’m sure you’ve heard of John Paul II’s Theology of the Body then?! Here’s another website for that also.

AMEN!

God has a plan for everyone. Perhaps your friends are not far behind if you witness to them. I’m sure I’m not telling you something you don’t already know, but as long as you show your faith through your love for your friends and family, they will soon follow behind you and learn to love the Catholic faith and hopefully, in God’s time, they will come home to the Catholic Church.
I will pray for you, your friends and your family.

I see that the comprehensive assessment of Cat’s story is just one word: wow.

Caps, exclamation points, and bold type would just obscure the point.

wow, Cat. Just: wow.

 

[AlegreFe]

I see that the comprehensive assessment of Cat’s story is just one word: wow.

Caps, exclamation points, and bold type would just obscure the point.

wow, Cat. Just: wow.

I know. That is exactly what I said when I read her post, “Wow!”

But you know me, talk, talk, talk… I like to express how & what I feel in my posts.
Sorry if that offends you.

 

[CalmDownWisWins]

…
But even after almost four years (2004), my husband and I often become very emotional when we receive Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament during Holy Communion. It is such a privilege. We still can’t comprehend why God allowed us to enter His Church, while our friends and relatives were left behind.

Your’s is the REAL Rapture!

…it hurts when loved ones are “left behind”.

 

[IrishAm]

When I was Protestant, communion was something we partook about once a month. It was reverent and respectful, but it was a symbol, a re-enactment of what Christ did, done in His honor.

As a Catholic, communion is something I receive as often as possible. It is the miracle that links me with my God, through the sacrafice of his Son, and with the community of believers. It strengthens me and consoles me . . . It is truly my link to life eternal. I am overwhelmed by the love it is.

 

[jmcrae]

If you converted to Catholicism from another Christian church, how is the experience of communion different for you now?

I haven’t read the whole thread, yet, so I’m probably repeating something, but the difference is, every Mass is a “service of Holy Communion” - you can even receive every day, if you choose to, and if you are properly disposed to do so - you don’t have to wait a month, or three months, or whatever, in between times.

The Mass itself is at once very simple, and very elegant - it takes the Sacristan about ten minutes to set up the Church for a Mass (versus two hours or more, for the Protestant service of Holy Communion that I was used to, before). The prayers are all relevant to what is happening on the Altar, as well as being connected to the community through the Prayers of the Faithful and the Intention of the Mass - there isn’t this awkward thing where they don’t know what to do with the events or the celebrations of the local community - there’s actually a tiny little place for them to fit in - you don’t feel like something’s been “pasted in” to the prayers in an inappropriate way.

There is also, of course, the matter of the fact that at Mass, we receive the Real Presence of Jesus Christ, Body and Blood, Soul, and Divinity, vs. the various Protestant ideas around symbolic or spiritual reception of Christ.

I want to have a better understanding of this because I am not completely comfortable with how communion is done in the church I am currently attending (Protestant).

You are free to attend Mass, if you would like to - without, of course, receiving Holy Communion yet, since you are not yet Catholic. But you could get a sense of it from being present at the Mass, and seeing what goes on.

On the one hand, you can see how simple and efficient it is, and then on the other hand, you can listen to the prayers, and see that they include a great deal more of what I would consider to be the essentials, in a highly structured and orderly manner.

If you’re a scholar of the Scriptures, you’ll also recognize that most of the prayers are quite Biblical, without being ponderously referential - if you didn’t know they were from the Bible, there’s no one beating you over the head with that particular fact; it all just flows in with the rhythm of the Mass, with very little in the way of “play by play announcements” or other kinds of distractions.

 

[DDClark]

I know that the next step is to go truly to mass (and I absolutely understand that I would NOT be receiving communion).

I’ve been to mass (many years ago), a catholic wedding and a catholic funeral. I’ve also, hopefully respectfully, stopped to pray at a local Catholic church in between services. That might seem an odd thing to do, because I know I can pray anywhere, but I felt led to do it.

The more I read, think, and pray - I realize that this is not the issue between myself and the Catholic church - that I can accept this on faith (the real presence).

I just know that I will never experience this without becoming Catholic … and I still have questions about other “differences”. I am grateful that the thread has stayed focused on holy Communion.

Thank you everyone who has shared their thoughts and experiences! I am hopeful that I if I ask future questions, I will also receive such a welcome response

 

[jmcrae]

Here is a 6 year old girl’s letter to Jesus
nennolina.it/let_gesueucaristia_EN.htm

She is on her way to Sainthood:
zenit.org/article-21327?l=english

WOW, that’s so beautiful!!