I am a convert to Catholicism. I was raised Southern Baptist. I converted four years ago, along with my husband. I always had a sense of something missing that should be there when I would receive Communion at Protestant churches. Like my soul was searching for a promise that was never fulfilled. And I would read Christ’s own words about Him offering His Body and His Blood to be our spiritual food and drink, and I would wonder where was the disconnect? Was the absence in the churches, or in my heart? But whatever was responsible for the absence, I could perceive that the absence was real. Something truly was missing.
Before I received my First Holy Communion, I was terrified. I really believed in the Real Presence, and I understood that the Eucharist is not the same as Protestant Communion. I prayed often for Jesus to protect me from experiencing the reality of partaking until my mind and heart was healed enough to comprehend. Especially since my priest told me to start receiving without any more delay (my RCIA process was different), I was incredibly apprehensive for quite a while. I cried quite often after receiving for several months, and I still do cry sometimes now.
Over time, I have been able to perceive God’s hidden actions within me, healing me of old emotional and spiritual wounds, from which I had never been able to find relief in years of efforts prior to my conversion. In the moments of receiving Holy Communion, mostly I feel an awareness of Jesus’s great love and mercy. It is not a sensory awareness, but is more intellectual and spiritual.
I have been so thankful for what I have found in the Catholic Church and Her Sacraments, that I more fully desire the reunification of all Christians with the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. My mother and niece have since converted to Catholicism as well. My niece made her First Holy Communion last year and my mother receives the sacraments for the first time early next week. I am so joyful for them. I know my mother is hungering for Christ in the Eucharist and I pray for her healing, too.
I encourage all Protestants who begin to have a curiosity about the Eucharist to go to Mass and pray during Holy Communion, and read what the saints have said about the Eucharist. The Eucharist is your birthright as a baptized Christian, and Jesus longs to unite Himself with you. The Catholic Church can bring you into that communion and give you what your soul longs for.
), so whenever I’m there I don’t sing as fervently as I otherwise would because I don’t want to turn anyone’s stomach.