I don't get that much out of Communion

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I don’t get that much out of communion. Anyone else experience this?
I want to say I mean NO disrespect for the Eucharist.

The last couple years…I just don’t feel any different after receiving. EVER.
 
I don’t feel much different after getting my flu shot - I tend not to strongly react to vaccinations.

Doesn’t mean I’m not different - I am protected against the flu, which I wasn’t beforehand after all.

There’s that lovely passage in scripture where one of the prophets experiences various dramatic things - an earthquake, a whirlwind and so on. God turns out not to be in any of those big dramatic things, but instead in a still small voice afterwards.

Make sure to spend some time after communion thanking God for giving Himself to you in this way, and listening for that still small voice.
 
I Kings 19

11

Then the LORD said, “Go outside and stand on the mountain before the LORD; the LORD will be passing by.” A strong and heavy wind was rending the mountains and crushing rocks before the LORD - but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake - but the LORD was not in the earthquake.

12

After the earthquake there was fire - but the LORD was not in the fire. After the fire there was a tiny whispering sound
 
1 Kings 19:11-13. I’m on an iPhone so I can’t copy the whole text for you right now.
 
I don’t get that much out of communion. Anyone else experience this?
I want to say I mean NO disrespect for the Eucharist.

The last couple years…I just don’t feel any different after receiving. EVER.
Kate,

You are right on track. Keep going to Communion until you do. Much of what we do is prefigured by what we think…If you think you are not going to get anything out of communion then when you go to communion you will not get anything out of it…

Imagine…behold the Lamb of God…do you see a lamb?..who takes away the sins of the world…do you sin? Happy are they…are you happy? called to His supper…are you hungry?

Just some things to think about…before you go to communion again…
 
Hi,

My personal experience is that I once meditated on the ‘Road to Emmaus’ passage (Luke 24:13-35) and I asked Jesus to open my eyes at the breaking of the bread to recognise that it was really Him.

I then discovered that the grace came slowly when you prayed after receiving the Eucharist as you return to the pew. I experienced gentle waves of peace that started to flow through my body. It’s a very deep interior experience and you have to become very aware of your feelings.

Often, I would find that the prayer after Communion would come too quick, just as I started to ‘get into it’. So I experimented with staying back after Mass after the crowds had disappeared and continued to just pray, and give thanks. These gentle waves of peace would continue to build, and that is how I really understood the Real Presence and the ‘peace that the world cannot give’.

In contrast, when I hurry to leave Mass when it’s over because of the times when you are distracted with the things that you need to do, the spiritual consolation is minimal. It’s like you are too distracted to focus on Jesus. I find weekday Mass (when I find the time) better than weekend Mass for the reason of these distractions.

And I wholly recommend the practice of ‘Thanksgiving after Communion’. You can Google that to find out the practice.

I hope it helps:thumbsup:…
 
I second the poster who said to pray the prayers before communion before receiving. One way not to take communion for granted is to meditate on some of these prayers. I love the prayers of St Augustine.
**
PRAYERS OF ST AUGUSTINE**
O most holy, O most benign, O noble and glorious Virgin Mary, who was worthy to bear in your sacred womb the Creator of all and at your virginal breast to nourish Him whose true, real, and most holy body and blood I, an unworthy sinner, have just now dared to receive: I humbly ask you to intercede with Him for me, a sinner; that whatsoever, by ignorance or neglect, accident or irreverence, I have left undone or have done amiss, in this unspeakably holy sacrifice, may be pardoned through your prayers to the same our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who with the Father and the Holy Ghost lives and reigns world without end. Amen.

Before Thy eyes, O Lord, we bring our offences, and we compare them with the stripes we have received.
If we consider the evil we have wrought, what we suffer is little, what we deserve is great.
What we have committed is very grave, what we have suffered is very slight.
We feel the punishment of sin, yet withdraw not from the obstinacy of sinning.
Under Thy lash our inconstancy is visited, but our sinfulness is not changed.
Our suffering soul is tormented, but our neck is not bent.
Our life groans under sorrow, yet mends not in deed.
If Thou spare us we correct not our ways: if Thou punishest we cannot endure it.
In time of correction, we confess our wrong-doing: after Thy visitation, we forget that we have wept.
If Thou stretchest forth Thy hand, we promise amendment;
If Thou withhold the sword, we keep not our promise.
If Thou strike, we cry out for mercy: if Thou spare, we again provoke Thee to strike.
Here we are before Thee, O Lord, shameless criminals: we know that unless Thou pardonest, we shall deservedly perish.
Grant then, almighty Father, without our deserving it, the pardon we ask for; Thou who made out of nothing those who ask Thee. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
V. Deal not with us, O Lord, according to our sins.
R. Neither requite us according to our iniquities.
Let us pray. O God, Thou art offended by sin and pacified by penance; mercifully regard the prayers of Thy suppliant people, and turn away the scourges of Thy wrath, which we deserve for our sins. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

**
PETITIONS OF ST AUGUSTINE **
O Lord Jesus, let me know myself, let me know Thee,
And desire nothing else but only Thee.
Let me hate myself and love Thee,
And do all things for the sake of Thee.
Let me humble myself, and exalt Thee,
And think of nothing else but Thee.
Let me die to myself, and live in Thee,
And take whatever happens as coming from Thee.
Let me forsake myself and walk after Thee,
And ever desire to follow Thee.
Let me flee from myself, and turn to Thee,
That so I may merit to be defended by Thee.
Let me fear for myself, let me fear Thee,
And be amongst those who are chosen by Thee.
Let me distrust myself, and trust in Thee,
And ever obey for the love of Thee.
Let me cleave to nothing but Thee,
And ever be poor for the sake of Thee.
Look upon me, that I may love Thee,
Call me, that I may see Thee,
And forever possess Thee. Amen.
 
This sounds like an element of what some have called “the dark night of the soul”.

Mother Theresa went so long without feeling anything, just like you are now, that she once said that she can’t even remember the last time she had an amazing experience with God.

Often when people grow closer to God, they are gifted with amazing experiences of joy, understanding, love, etc. Then at some point, they stop feeling anything really…even if they try, their prayer life, Mass, etc., nothing “does anything for them” anymore. But really, that is God’s way of giving you the chance to love GOD for being GOD, not just because it feels good. It is when you continue to live a holy life, despite feeling like it’s doing nothing for you, that all your works, prayers, sacrifices, etc., are the most precious to our Lord, Jesus Christ.
 
Holy Communion is food for the soul just as meat, fish. potatoes, etc is food for the body. Soon after a meal we do not suddenly grow tall and strong; with time, however, growth is sure to come.
This is the same with Holy Communion. Our Spiritual growth happens slowly but surely provided of course that we are doing our best to love God and live according to His Will.
 
I say the Act of Contrition before every communion. I ask for His forgivings for my sins and after taking communion I feel blessed and thankful to be able to know Him and know that he is there.
 
As a musician I can understand the question. My mind is often concerned with the next piece of music, if the piano on, if the choir ready etc etc etc. I realize that in order to “get much out of Mass” I must stop these concerns before I come forward and pray that I am aware that I am indeed receiving the Body and Blood of Christ.

I love Mass and I get a great deal from Mass. I have become aware that what I am getting is not necessarily what I should be getting. There is a great deal of pleasure and intellectal satisfaction in being part of the Mass with music but that is not the purpose of Mass for me. The purpose for Mass is loving Christ and receiving His gift to us.

I pray that the music helps bring the congregation grow closer to God but I now realize that the purpose of the music is not for the congregation but is for God. I can not be there to entertain. If muscians and the congregation do not understand the difference, both the musicians and the congregation can lose sight of the meaning of Mass.
 
I don’t get that much out of communion. Anyone else experience this?
I want to say I mean NO disrespect for the Eucharist.

The last couple years…I just don’t feel any different after receiving. EVER.
God is smiling at your statement right now! 😃

I am quite sure that you are not aware of what you are getting, but you are getting what keeps you going especially through periods of spiritual dryness. You want a relationship with God and an emotional reward from that relationship, nothing wrong with that. The problem is that every relationship has its hot moments and its cool moments, for example a cool moment is when your loved one calls you to tell you that he will be home soon but he has no time to make conversation. In that case you get notified that the person loves you, that later you will be rejoicing with him, but at the present time you are still frustrated because you do not feel that you are relating.
 
At my confirmation class we were told that at first it like the first ten years of married life. Not being married and bearing 16+ I hardly knew what the priest was talking about. I was in the adult class because the oldest child was 11. (A bit stuck in the middle so was given the choice).

At 43, I am still not married but do have a glimpse of what that priest might have meant. I guess that at first we all go through this novelty of receiving communion whether we are Anglican or Roman Catholic etc. Then it becomes ordinary every day life. Nothing special in it as such. Its just routine stuff. Life in itself is pretty boring when you think about it. We do things to give ourselves something to look forward to. We get up, brush our teeth, shower, have food, go out, come in and go to bed is all very everyday stuff and being apart of a church community is just part of that every day part of life, especially after so long off being members etc.

If you are really concerned, arrange a time to chat with your priest because yes they do understand and are able to help us be comfortable about things. Something my priest said helped see me through for a few week till I really needed and was able to talk though thankfully, he did most of the talking and now back on track. We all have dry periods. Periods where we really do not want to be there not just because something more intereting elsewhere but simply don’t want to be there. God is with us every day every hour every minute. After 10 years or so we get very ordinary about him and forget how special and how wonderful and how unique and how much he really does love us. We get very used to that and don’t hear it anymore until we speak to a priest about what really is on our hearts.

I don 't like it when people say, you get as much as you put in. Yes some of it is true but also… What do you expect to get out of Communion? How do you know it aint much? Who have you compared yourself to - to think you are getting less? We Christians are not very good at sharing such stuff. Somehow its not done but I reckon if you really talked then you might find different ideas etc.

It may well be what you might be experiencing is that communion is actually quite an ordinary part of your day and you are worried because people online at least talk about it being of something rather special or other church members may do - thinking that is what should be said? Which all it leaves us to do is panic because it may not be actually happening.
 
KateKimmer - THANK YOU. Sometimes someone puts something JUST right and it causes me to re-examine the best things about our faith and the worst things about my selfish self.

You know, I’ve heard this same complaint about “Mass” and the Church in general - and I know the feeling - but WHEN I actually hear it or see it written down, my gut reaction is -selfish, selfish, selfish.

I have been selfish, selfish, selfish when I’ve thought that way. Applying the “I don’t get much out of it …” principle to other aspects of life might lead husbands and fathers to leave home without providing for his family (or the female equivalent of this per Kramer vs. Kramer).

The employee who grouses at any new duties or tough ones. The employer who contemplates giving deserving employees raises -but “doesn’t get much out of it”.

UNTIL say, an attitude of generosity, or pride in duty, or giving overrides the whole action.

In the case of the Eucharist - I know - Jesus comes to us in SUCH a small and humble way that its easy to look right past the AWESOME holy union of Almighty God with his dear creature, child and loved one (us) – and be thinking about “something more important” (sic) at the time!

I’m 61 now. The Eucharist has been unofficially demoted, transported, and de-emphasized since I knelt at an altar rail and received my first communion. It was March 8, 1958 - a date our wonderful priest that day said we would never forget (and he was right)!

In those days we studied each day waiting to make our first communion (at my Catholic School). Our teachers (sisters mostly with a priest occasionally guest speaking) took great care in preparing us.

The tabernacle was front and center in the Church. Upon entering we blessed ourselves with holy water and genuflected to the Lord present mystically and sacramentally in the tabernacle. A red sanctuary light (candle in red glass enclosure) indicated the holy and true presence of Our Lord in the church.

Our instructions were many, a little at a time. We anticipated the day. Special clothing emphasized the specialness of the first communion day. On the family side, relatives were notified and came from afar to see their young charges receive their first holy communion.

Many of us received special prayer books or new missals to bring to church (in 1958 these had English on one side, and the Latin prayers on the other side of the two-page open book set). By the time we were 8 we barely needed the cheat sheet to say the Latin prayers - AND we knew what they meant.

We were instructed to come back to our seats, kneel, close our eyes and speak to Jesus - and listen to Him (communion of mind to go with communion of the body).

At 7 I BELIEVED! AND - got a lot out of it! Over the years I grew dull, got sloppy about it, and considered even going to MASS a joyless duty that put a crimp into my football watching (or whatever). And when I sinned and couldn’t (or didn’t) get to confession, I felt dirty not going to communion (for that would be a sacrilege) while the ‘good people’ went.

I actually got my faith fire back via attacks from gung-ho Christian anti-Catholics, who loved Jesus but were convinced that the Catholic Church “wasn’t really Christian” or WORSE. I knew this wasn’t true. For while they “witnessed to me” with great fervor - they weren’t really telling me much that I hadn’t known before.

AND they had false charges (or at least misunderstandings) about Catholic teachings that caused me to defend the Church within myself - for IT (and its people) had taught me about Jesus, and to know, love and serve Him, in the first place!

The Eucharist was attacked in several (even contradictory) ways - which would be disingenuous but for the fact that the arguments were largely emotional and circular.

The Church “made up” the Eucharist (was one). It was sacrificing Jesus again (so now WAS the Eucharist real - but not to be done??). It was supposed to be just symbolic (but how then were we to fulfill the command of John Chapter 6:47-58 - and not have ‘no life’ - in us? v. 53).

To me KateKimmer the big moment came when I was on my way to communion again - because I knew it was a good thing - even though I was troubled by the challenges. I said a prayer to the Lord from the bottom of my heart - SINCERELY wanting to know if the Eucharist was what the Church (and Jesus) said it was.

In a sort of mystical daydream, my 7 year old self turned around before me in the line, looked into my eyes with stunned shock and asked me “Don’t you BELIEVE anymore?”

What a holy thing that was. I had lost my innocence to a lot of “intellectual gobbledy gook”, rationalizations, and yep, dull hearted selfishness.

The creator of the universe had become smaller than that baby in Bethlehem - and wanted to be close to ME. His child after all. REALLY close and really REAL.

The Catholic Church had not invented a God who came closer to his children than the REAL one did! That was Jesus’ doing. The apostles themselves struggled with many of the more profound things our Lord did and taught. So occasionally we do too.

I had a WONDERFUL experience that day Kate - but our faith walks are not usually sustained on a diet of spiritual lollipops.

My joyful wish for you is that the NEXT time you receive Communion you realize more deeply that - since it is JESUS - you are “getting” the alpha, the omega, the way, the truth, the life, AND His love for YOU.

And this even when we don’t FEEL different. But we ought not to be dull. Let’s face it,
we should be REEEEEAAAALLLY Happy and fulfilled at that moment for the most part.

Love to you.
 
Thanks to everyone for the replies. 🙂
Will you be able to remember them all when you go up to receive next time? 🙂

Seriously, reflection is the key. It is difficult for me to concentrate fully when standing in line while approaching the priest. I find it a lot easier after I’ve returned to my pew to reflect.

The other thing is to attend a church which has communion rails and fewer distractions in front of you while you’re waiting and reflecting.
 
Hi,

My personal experience is that I once meditated on the ‘Road to Emmaus’ passage (Luke 24:13-35) and I asked Jesus to open my eyes at the breaking of the bread to recognise that it was really Him.

I then discovered that the grace came slowly when you prayed after receiving the Eucharist as you return to the pew. **I experienced gentle waves of peace that started to flow through my body. It’s a very deep interior experience and you have to become very aware of your feelings. **

Often, I would find that the prayer after Communion would come too quick, just as I started to ‘get into it’. So I experimented with staying back after Mass after the crowds had disappeared and continued to just pray, and give thanks. These gentle waves of peace would continue to build, and that is how I really understood the Real Presence and the ‘peace that the world cannot give’.

In contrast, when I hurry to leave Mass when it’s over because of the times when you are distracted with the things that you need to do, the spiritual consolation is minimal. It’s like you are too distracted to focus on Jesus. I find weekday Mass (when I find the time) better than weekend Mass for the reason of these distractions.

And I wholly recommend the practice of ‘Thanksgiving after Communion’. You can Google that to find out the practice.

I hope it helps:thumbsup:…
What a beautiful description. As a newbie, I still get a rush after taking communion except it’s more subtle than that. When I take Jesus in and realize the gravity of the situation I am just overcome. I want that feeling to last and last but it doesn’t. . .but it has created this desire in me to go as often as I can. In fact, I’m keeping track in my journal each time I receive communion. I feel like I’m in a full blown relationship with Christ! Just the thought of committing mortal sins and preventing me from receiving communion until I confess has been keeping me on the straight and narrow for now.
 
Each and every one of us may have a different experience of Eucharist. He’s present to each of us for different reasons. You will discover yours. Christ knows what you need. We all at one time or another reach a spiritual crossroads. It sounds like you are on the right spiritual track if you are examining and dissecting. Stay with it!
 
Whenever I’m feeling dry, I meditate, more than usual, on Christ’s passion. Try to feel what that whip felt like. Then I will think about how my sins made Him do that. That usually helps shake me out of dryness.
 
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