Hello everyone. I have recently come to the conclusion that the bread and wine has to be the literal flesh and blood of our savior. However I need help with one thing to clear my conscience…
Last Sunday I went to my very first mass, and I rather enjoyed it. But when it was time for the Eucharist everyone lined up, took the bread and walked back down the aisle. What bothered me is some people took it like it’s no big deal. It seemed like some teenagers were chewing it like it was gum. I thought that being physically with our savior would be more intimate. Does anyone have any way to explain this to help me? I suppose I just didn’t like the way everything happened.
What you describe is very sad but unfortunately all too common. Catholics today tend to get so acclimated to this great Sacrament that they may not actually even prepare themselves to receive it, nor do they do so with any degree of reverence. I see the same things you do. I am 62. I don’t want to sound like so many people in my age group who seem to think that everything was perfect when I grew up and that today everything has gone to hell-in-a-hand basket. The fact remains however, that for some reason, many Catholics today haven’t been taught any respect at all for communion OR Mass!!!.
People wear shorts and flip flops to Mass. Mothers and Fathers don’t train their children and then expect and insist that they behave and not raise “cain” at Mass. People act nonchalant when they receive Communion. People play on i-phones during the sermon and text throughout the entire service. To me, this is all VERY disrespectful and while I don’t pretend to know God’s mind, I suspect that each of us will one day answer for how we acted at Mass when Jesus Himself comes to visit each of us.
My Mom, now dead, once told me a story. I don’t know if it actually happened or if it’s an old wives tale, but either way it has a message. Mama was the daughter of a Baptist preacher. She converted when she married my Dad. She once told me a story about a man who looked into the Catholic church and decided to take instructions to convert. He had no problem accepting Catholic teachings–until it came to the part about the transformation of the hosts into the true body and blood of Jesus at Consecration. He struggled with this belief for several weeks and ultimately dropped out of the classes. When he left, he told the priest who was teaching him the following observation. He said," I just can’t believe that a piece of bread and cup of wine could actually become Our Lord. AND, I don’t think many Catholics do either. If I could really believe this teaching were true, I’d crawl up to the altar on my hands and knees every day to receive Jesus, not just casually waltz up front once a week and be laughing and carrying on when I walked back to my pew. I’d wear my best clothes and I’d get to church early and stay late. If I believed that such a miracle could really occur, I’d be in such awe that I don’t know if I could even breathe!"
And we Catholics, who supposedly do believe this occurs, accept Jesus with a grain of salt–on Sundays IF we make it to Mass—and take the entire thing for granted. Go figure…:banghead:
