Understanding the Eucharist

[crimson_dragon]

kellie:

Hi Crimson,
I, too,feel like you. We seem to have many words in our Faith today that have become antiquated and may be putting people off joining our Faith.
I think what you are trying to explain is that you dont feel “charismatic” when it comes to the Eucharist. I am in Australia, and I am not sure if you have that term over there, but here at my Parish we have a Charismatic Prayer Group. I am not a member, as it is not for me, but I know some people in it, and they seem to portray all those attributes that we may think only “Pentecostals” possess.
They close their eyes and hold their hands to their hearts as they sing, and they exclaim “Amen” a lot.
I believe prayer isnt just reciting word for word the Rosary of the Our Father, although I do think it is important to pray these.
I believe prayer is a conversation with God, Jesus, Mary, and all the Saints.
It is a conversation telling them our needs, weaknesses, and asking for their help.
Yes, you believe and understand the Eucharist is Jesus. So do I.
You just dont openly share your emotions about it with the rest of the congregation, or realise the love you have for the Eucharist in your heart, but it is there.
Love Kellie

Kellie, you hit it right on the bullseye! thank you for explaining how I felt better than I could actually describe it! This is most helpful, thank you.

Oh and Ted, the paintings on the outside of the Orvieto Cathedral are beautiful! It’s a shame though much of it was covered in scafolding…

 

[Defensor_Fidei]

Crimson,

Eventhough the scaffolds are up in places all over Italy, It’s nice to know that they are preserving all of these place for future generations.

-Ted

 

[_Christopher]

Defensor Fidei:

I
You can read about my trip to Italy and specifically Orvieto at signumcrucis.net/pilgrimage.htm

-Ted

Great site Ted.

What was it like to see that Blood?

 

[Defensor_Fidei]

_Christopher_:

Great site Ted.

What was it like to see that Blood?

Well, it’s pretty old blood and the gates to the side chapel were locked. It was very overwhelming to be there. I just knelt at the gates and and tried to take in what was infront of me.

-Ted

 

[ShelB]

crimson dragon:

I’m not a recent convert, I’m a cradle life-long catholic. I simply wanted to point out that many forms of worship seem too “out of touch” for me, I’m really the type of guy who thinks and prays things over as he’s walking along rather than spend time using the rosary or eucharistic adoration.

I think what the others are more or less trying to point is, there is a link between having a deeper devotion to receiving the Eucharist and not have it feel like a routine and praying the rosary and especially spending time in adoration.

You can grow more “charismatic” through contemplative prayer but it does take commitment and time, it doesn’t happen over night.

 

[kellie]

crimson dragon:

Kellie, you hit it right on the bullseye! thank you for explaining how I felt better than I could actually describe it! This is most helpful, thank you.

QUOTE]

My pleasure crimson, wow , God bless the internet, that we can converse like this miles apart

 

[MichaelTDoyle]

ShelB:

I think what the others are more or less trying to point is, there is a link between having a deeper devotion to receiving the Eucharist and not have it feel like a routine and praying the rosary and especially spending time in adoration.

You can grow more “charismatic” through contemplative prayer but it does take commitment and time, it doesn’t happen over night.

I don’t know if I want to grow more charismatic. I pray the Rosary and receive the Eucharist for my salvation and a hope to grow more holy.

Praying the Rosary does lead to deeper devotion; Mary points to Jesus. Blessed adoration I am hoping to try more often.

The Eucharist is almost like a trial of faith. The more I strive to fully accept the Truth of the Eucharist, the more I think I am doing well as a person. I had an intellectual knowlege of it, but that’s different than a realization of what the Eucharist is. I don’t think anyone other than the Blessed Trinity can fully realize the meaning of the Eucharist, because the Eucharist IS Jesus. I think we are given the grace to have a deeper understanding if we strive for that grace. The striving is the freewill God gives us so that we can love.

So my advice would be to strive for a deeper realization of the Eucharist. It seems like you’re doing that so I’ll say a prayer for you to help you.

Please let me know if this sounds offbeat. I am trying to express my feelings on this important matter. Thanks for listening.

peace

 

[grampasmuggy]

The words of Our Lord cannot be watered down: the
bread which I shall give is my flesh for the life of the world. This is the mystery of Faith, we proclaim immediately after the Consecration at Mass. It has been and is the touchstone of the Catholic faith. By transubstantiation, the species of bread and wine are no longer common bread and common drink, but rather the sign of something sacred and the sign of spiritual food. But they take on a new expressiveness and a new purpose for the very reason that they contain a new ‘reality’, For beneath these appearances there is no longer what was there before but something quite different… since on the conversion of the bread and wine’s substance, or nature, into the Body and Blood of Christ, nothing is left of the bread and wine but the appearances alone. Beneath these appearances Christ is present whole and entire, bodily present too, in his physical ‘reality’, although not in the manner in which bodies are present in a place We look at Jesus present in the Tabernacle, perhaps just a few yards away, and we tell him that we know, that he is present. We believe firmly in the promise which he made at Capharnaum and fulfilled shortly afterwards in the Cenacle. When we receive him in this sacrament, his Divinity acts on our soul by means of his glorious Humanity, with a far greater intensity than when he was here on earth.

 

[ShanMcCatholic]

crimson dragon:

I’m not a recent convert, I’m a cradle life-long catholic. I simply wanted to point out that many forms of worship seem too “out of touch” for me, I’m really the type of guy who thinks and prays things over as he’s walking along rather than spend time using the rosary or eucharistic adoration.

My faith for a very long time is one rather devoid of emotion, only very recently has the Lord blessed me with some sensible emotional response to His Presence in the Eucharist. To understand the significance of this- you need to know that for the past 4 years I’ve attended daily Mass (except when I’ve been early on in pregnancy or just had a baby)- and been to weekly confession, and weekly Adoration… and it is only now that there is a bit of emotion attatched to it…

Faith is NOT an emotional attatchment- it is an assent of the will. The Lord often witholds sentiment from the equation so that we are able to give our full assent without being clouded by our emotions. If you only believe in the Real Presence because of your emotions- that is a very shallow faith- for though it is exhilirating now— it will disappear as soon as the emotion is no longer there. Also important to know is that I am, by nature a really emotional, romantic person-- God knows exactly what we need to have true faith. He knew that I needed to be led into the desert and learn how to say “Lord I do not perceive you here in anyway, But I believe that you are truly present in the Eucharist and I thank you for being here.”

It worries me that you shun Adoration- because that seems to indicate a lack of desire to draw closer to Jesus truly present in the Eucharist. Adoration is where you will, over time, be given a deeper understanding of this incredible gift of Jesus HImself coming to dwell within you. I read recently somewhere- that after we receive Communion worthily that the view from heaven, while the Blessed Sacrament is substantially present within us, is not that we are us- but that we are Jesus. I had a recent vision that Jesus was there handing out Communion and as each person cam to receive He would reach into the flames of His Sacred Heart and give His Sacred Heart burning with Love to each person-- and as they received, His Sacred Heart burned in their chests as well-- and so we were all of One Heart, totally united… (not at all to mean that we receive only His Heart–as we recieve all of Jesus- but this really helped me to envision what happens to us individually and as the Mystical Body when we recieve the Eucharist). When we receive Jesus in the Eucharist- are hearts are set aflame- we are fully united with Him-- even if we do not have an emotional respone to that unity- it is essential that we have an intellectual response! The God of the Universe, who created the mountains and the stars- has just come to dwell within us— that requires more than just going back to our pew and looking around at whateverybody else is doing. We need to be saying thank you Lord, for coming to me, for coming to all those who are here-- thank you for the priest who has brought you to me!!!

Often those spiritual exercises which appeal least to us- are those which will bring us the most spiritual benefit, because inherent in the practicing of such things- we must give up our selfish pleasures for prayer that makes us feel good- and makes us feel like we’re doing something worthwhile. Prayer for the sake of prayer itself, rather than for making us “feel” closer to God-- is the absolute best prayer- because we do it for it’s own sake- and not to feed our wills. One of the reasons I feel the rosary is such an awesome prayer, is because it removes our ego from the prayer. We contemplate the life of Christ- all the while saying the two greatest prayers (after the Mass) of our Catholic faith.

Our culture is one all about hip songs and doing things hustle bustle-- have you contemplated that both of these things you mentioned are things that require stillness and quietness?? Our souls need that stillness! To quote a contemporary Christian song “In the secret, in the quiet place… In the stillness You are there…I want to know you, I want to see your face! I want to know you more!! I want to touch you ! Iwant to hear your voice! I want to know you more!” We can not get to know someone without spending time with Him-- seek Him in Adoration, in the quiet stillness- tell Him you want to know Him intimately- perservere and you will be enflamed with Love !!!

 

[ShelB]

MichaelTDoyle:

I don’t know if I want to grow more charismatic. I pray the Rosary and receive the Eucharist for my salvation and a hope to grow more holy.

Praying the Rosary does lead to deeper devotion; Mary points to Jesus. Blessed adoration I am hoping to try more often.

The Eucharist is almost like a trial of faith. The more I strive to fully accept the Truth of the Eucharist, the more I think I am doing well as a person. I had an intellectual knowlege of it, but that’s different than a realization of what the Eucharist is. I don’t think anyone other than the Blessed Trinity can fully realize the meaning of the Eucharist, because the Eucharist IS Jesus. I think we are given the grace to have a deeper understanding if we strive for that grace. The striving is the freewill God gives us so that we can love.

So my advice would be to strive for a deeper realization of the Eucharist. It seems like you’re doing that so I’ll say a prayer for you to help you.

Please let me know if this sounds offbeat. I am trying to express my feelings on this important matter. Thanks for listening.

peace

I agree understanding and realizing what we exactly have it key but this understanding is a gift from God. God looks for acts of faith hope and love and that is what all the Catholic devotions are all about.

Realization is manifested mostly by contemplation and adoration before the Blessed Sacrament, I find. The prayer of the centurion, “I believe, help my unbelief” before the real presence is powerful in our lives and God blesses us with a deeper faith.

 

[renegadearchtct]

I sometimes feel like Crimson Dragon, but pray very hard right before I receive Communion to get in the “right mindset”. I sometimes wish I was still a child of 7 who whole heartedly, without reservation believed in the Real Presence. Now, its a lot harder. If all catholics completely believed, why isn’t the world transformed by all of us who carry God in our beings once we receive Communion? When one considers the matter, it’s a stupendous truth that we REALLY have God in us after Communion- then, why aren’t we moving mountains?

I’d appreciate your help,

Thanks

 

[ShanMcCatholic]

renegadearchtct:

I sometimes feel like Crimson Dragon, but pray very hard right before I receive Communion to get in the “right mindset”. I sometimes wish I was still a child of 7 who whole heartedly, without reservation believed in the Real Presence. Now, its a lot harder. If all catholics completely believed, why isn’t the world transformed by all of us who carry God in our beings once we receive Communion? When one considers the matter, it’s a stupendous truth that we REALLY have God in us after Communion- then, why aren’t we moving mountains?

I’d appreciate your help,

Thanks

Do you spend time in Adoration before the Lord?? Do you attend Mass as much as you can, daily if possible? Do you confess regularly-- at the very least once a month?? I think those are the very first steps in increasing our Eucharistic faith…

And indeed, if we believe this why are we not moving mountains??? How few, few people take a few extra minutes after Mass to just sit and say “Thank you Jesus- for dwelling within me…”-- it’s all about getting out of the parking lot … When we assent with our will and say “Lord I believe, please help my unbelief. I beg that through this Sacrament I may grow less and less, and you may grow more and more”-- our lives will be completely transformed- not right away- as it takes time to heal our past brokeness-- but overtime- we will be a shining new creation, able to move those mountains…

 

[mdmealey]

The beauty of the Catholic faith is that the grace you receive does not depend on how worked up you get over any particular part of worship. If you don’t feel sentimental or overwhelmed when you receive the Eucharist, you still receive the same grace as someone who weeps with gratitude.

On a personal level, however, I have trained my imagination to see the consecrated Host as my Lord. I am blessed to be able to attend a Maronite Catholic church where the consecration is sung in Aramaic. I close my eyes and imagine that I am actually at the Last Supper, and by the time Communion occurs, my heart is closer to my mind and I usually feel very emotional walking up to receive. I am a convert and I’m almost always consumed with profound gratitude from what Christ saved me for as a pro-choice, pro-homosexual rights atheist. It reminds me of the love a parent feels toward the blinking heartbeat on a sonogram screen early in a pregnancy…though the image does not look like a human, we instinctively just know there is a ~person~ there and we respond to him/her on that level.

I think, however, that there is a danger for some people who do tend to get very emotional in the presence of the Eucharist. St. John of the Cross describes such a thing as “spiritual gluttony,” in which we deliberately cultivate those “warm fuzzies” because they make us feel good. In other words, we turn something good into something selfish, and this attitude can result in a serious lapse of faith when God, in His mercy, takes away all the warm feelings so that we grow in holiness for the right reasons.

person

 

[ShelB]

renegadearchtct:

I sometimes feel like Crimson Dragon, but pray very hard right before I receive Communion to get in the “right mindset”. I sometimes wish I was still a child of 7 who whole heartedly, without reservation believed in the Real Presence. Now, its a lot harder. If all catholics completely believed, why isn’t the world transformed by all of us who carry God in our beings once we receive Communion? When one considers the matter, it’s a stupendous truth that we REALLY have God in us after Communion- then, why aren’t we moving mountains?

I’d appreciate your help,

Thanks

Because believing in Him does not change the world with out the world being receptive and responding. Remember it is not faith alone that saves.

When we receive it is our letting go of our self-will and opening up to the graces that God gives. We not all do that, I know I don’t. We get out of this what we put into this. That is why the world is not changed because we are not changing and we are not changing not because of Christ but because of our self-will.

Also there are so many faiths now, that reject the Eucharist, I believe this is what Jesus means when he says, “will the son of man find any faith left when He returns?”

I don’t you and CD’s problem is faith so much as it is accepting the graces we have. Faith is not feelings; it is seeing what we can not feel. If you know He is here that is enough for Him but one has to put the faith in action and exercise it or it will lose it’s shape.

We can exercise our faith by adoring the Lord in adoration and praying from the heart. Jesus is as close as our hearts and only a pray away. We must exorcise what we say we believe in and adoration is the best was when it comes to deepening our love and faith in the Eucharist and from that we can be shown how to give more of ourselves when we receive Him. It is a relationship.

 

[renegadearchtct]

Are you saying that it is only in subjugating our will to God’s that the graces flow? Do you attribute the intrusion of our egos to the world’s inability to change? I know many protestants who act as if they are receiving Communion everyday! They wonder why Catholics are not transformed if they truly believe in the Real Presence…

 

[Domini_Canis]

They wonder why Catholics are not transformed if they truly believe in the Real Presence…

Thats because Catholics don’t take advantage of the other Sacrament that goes along with the Eucharist…Confession.

Miguel.

 

[ShelB]

renegadearchtct:

Are you saying that it is only in subjugating our will to God’s that the graces flow? Do you attribute the intrusion of our egos to the world’s inability to change? I know many protestants who act as if they are receiving Communion everyday! They wonder why Catholics are not transformed if they truly believe in the Real Presence…

As far as transforming us in the Eucharist if we do not open up and let Christ in, the graces flow but they are not operative in our lives. We have to cooperate with grace. How many Catholics with no real care in the world receive with out examining their conscious and confessing their sins? You think just because they received, they will change? You have to seek change and realize you even need to change if the Lord is going to transform you. You have to let Him in and then it will no longer be you that lives but Him living in you. He stands at the door knocking. You must decrease and He must increase.

The world is not changed because only a few of us really know what we have in this sacrament, can’t give to the world what we do not have ourselves.

 

[Herrobp]

I’m not too advanced with this sort of thing, I’m only 24. But I’ve had some crises of faith. When I was 20 I was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia. I almost died, but I’m in remission now and almost cured. Anyway I had some faith issues, and in my confession before last rites (when I thought I wasn’t going to make it) my priest told me that feelings are deceptive.

Sometimes they even come from Satan. He told me that I was a good person, in the state of grace, and in a time of need. Even though I didn’t feel the presence of God, He was closest to me at that moment (like the footprints story). Problems arise when we become too attached to feelings. Too often there are times when people are in the state of mortal sin (complete detachment from the grace of God) yet they feel close to Him. That feeling belies the truth.

Communion is the same way. I have troubles “feeling” like it’s a big deal, but I “know” that it is. I pray accordingly. You don’t have too feel worked up over it. You don’t have to feel the presence of God when you receive Him in the sacrament. Just “know” that He is there. It’s a matter of faith. If I based my faith on feelings, I’d be an atheist.

Hope that helps.

 

[Herrobp]

May I suggest one more thing?

Try receiving on the tongue. When our actions are the same as they’d be for any food, it’s hard to accept the idea that something special is going on there. We are talking about the Lord of the universe. I always receive on the tongue like it was done for millenia. I think the action of receiving Jesus in a way distinct from the reception of anything else reinforces our beliefs. It’s easier to believe that communion is the reception of the body, blood, soul, and divinity of Christ when our actions reinforce that idea.

 

[cmom]

renegadearchtct:

Are you saying that it is only in subjugating our will to God’s that the graces flow? Do you attribute the intrusion of our egos to the world’s inability to change? I know many protestants who act as if they are receiving Communion everyday! They wonder why Catholics are not transformed if they truly believe in the Real Presence…

Remember you have no idea what those Catholics would be like if they were* not* recieving the Eucharist. Maybe its the Eucharist that enables them just to tread water where they are…