So, here is one person that could shed light on the why you believe. May I ask why you believe this and how this belief came to be?
Okay, I could tell you.
At first I denied the real presence and thought that the RCC had made it up somewhere at one point in time. I thought it was weird and was dangerously close to cannibalism. One of the things I like is history, and I was surprised to read that so many writings of early Chistians had been preserved. Early Christians had written about what they believe in. So I gathered as much of the ECF books as I possibly could and one day I started reading it, and began with the oldest writing. I began with the Epistles of Ignatius (probably because they were the shortest
) and soon discovered some things that shook my understanding of the faith.
- There have always been Bishops in the Church, which succeeded the Apostles.
- The Eucharist was truely the Flesh and Blood of our Lord (“a medicine of immortaly”)
- The Church was ONE, and not many denominations. The bishops were in communion with eachother.
Especially this one quote really surprised me:
“They abstain from the Eucharist and from prayer, because they confess not the Eucharist to be the flesh of our Saviour Jesus Christ, which suffered for our sins, and which the Father, of His goodness, raised up again. Those, therefore, who speak against this gift of God, incur death in the midst of their disputes. But it were better for them to treat it with respect, that they also might rise again. It is fitting, therefore, that you should keep aloof from such persons, and not to speak of them either in private or in public, but to give heed to the prophets, and above all, to the Gospel, in which the passion [of Christ] has been revealed to us, and the resurrection has been fully proved. (Epistle to the Smyrneans 7)”
I thought that perhaps Ignatius was an exception to the rule, and a few days later I read the Catechetical Lectures of St. Clement of Jerusalem, which said:
“For you have just heard him say distinctly, That our Lord Jesus Christ in the night in which He was betrayed, took bread, and when He had given thanks He broke it, and gave to His disciples, saying, Take, eat, this is My Body: and having taken the cup and given thanks, He said, Take, drink, this is My Blood. Since then He Himself declared and said of the Bread, This is My Body, who shall dare to doubt any longer? And since He has Himself affirmed and said, This is My Blood, who shall ever hesitate, saying, that it is not His blood? (Catechetical Lectures, Lecture 22)”
Especially the testimony of Ignatius, who lived as early as 100 AD, convinced me. Well, after that I could no longer deny it, the Real Presence is very real indeed. I read this somewhere last year, and since then, and especially since I read John 6 in which it is said that unless you partake of the Eucharist you have no life in you, I came to the conclusion that I should join the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. But I have troubles locating the Church. Is it the RCC or the Eastern Orthodox Church. This question has given me a lot of troubles since
This is pretty much how I was convinced of the Real Presence.
. Fortunately, most Protestants have a jump start in Baptism, where one receives the graces needed to perceive Christ within guise of consecrated bread and wine, even if one cannot yet receive!
Lutherans do.