What do you feel when you receive the Eucharist?

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I’m in RCIA and am looking forward to the day I can receive the Eucharist. I actually have before. As a teen/young adult I went w/my Dad (a baptized/confirmed Catholic living as a Mennonite) and we walked up a received mass at a service the one time we went together. I didin’t know you weren’t supposed to if not Catholic. ANyway, I didn’t feel anything differently than I do w/regular communion in Protestant churches. I hear RCs often have this amazing experience and can really feel his presence. Have you?
Maybe it’s a psychological thing since you know? I wonder if anyone’s every tried the placebo effect ? Taking 1 consecrated and 1 not and seeing if there was a differnt effect on the person?
I know this is a weird question.
 
I think some people place entirely too much emphasis on feelings and emotions when speaking of spiritual realities. Feelings are not important. When we receive Communion, the important thing is that we receive Jesus with deep faith and love (even when we feel nothing) and that we desire to unite ourselves completely with Him.

God sometimes gives us consolations (good feelings) to encourage us along the way, if and when He thinks we need them. But we should not seek these consolations in and of themselves; we should seek God.

Saint Francis de Sales (Introduction to the Devout Life, Part 4, Section 13) tells us that spiritual consolations are useful if they lead us to acts of charity, faithfulness in prayer, etc. All the warm feelings in the world are of no avail if we go on living selfish, sinful lives; in this case, we can be fairly certain the consolations are not of God. Saint Francis de Sales writes:
It is not the consolations we seek but the Consoler, not their sweetness but the sweet Savior, not their tenderness but Him who is the delight of heaven and earth. In this spirit we must resolve to stand fast in a holy love of God even though we may never find any consolation throughout our whole life.
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hi i’m a former protestant myself and the difference for me is that i know that it is jesus i have just received not just a symbol

hope your rcia journey goes well 🙂
 
PhilotheaZ said it best. Sometimes I get the warm fuzzies after Communion, but more often than not I don’t. Same with prayer, Mass, or any sort of spiritual thing I’m doing. Sometimes I get nice feelings that are very powerful. The memories of them keep me going in times of doubt. But I don’t expect it to happen all the time.
 
It’s not always about a feeling but sometimes it is. It’s about the truth and is more in my head. It’s about the knowledge that this is the body , blood , soul and divinity of Christ. Sometimes that is a mind blowing experience, sometimes it is joyful , sometimes very calm and peaceful etc.As humans we can’t help form attaching emotions to our intellectual experiences. We need to watch out for depending upon them to feed our faith.
 
I’m so happy this topic came up because I thought there was something terribly wrong in my relationship with the Lord. Praise God He has given me the comfort I desperately needed from reading the posts here. I love to receive holy communion every Sunday at church but always feel so guilty because I don’t feel anything. Now I will go with a light heart and different perspective and it’s so good to feel that there is nothing wrong with me after all. I thought I had to be overwhelmed with the Holy Spirit and and I see now that it’s not going to happen unless God wants it to. I will now receive with joy.

I will tell of a little incident I did have several months ago. I am going to go for training on January 17th to become a Eucharistic Minister. A while back during one of our masses, Father asked me if I would fill in as a Eucharistic Minister because they were so short of help and I was terrified because I had no idea what to do. But he said it would be okay and not to worry they would show me. So I did it but asked if I could only serve the Cup of the Blood of our Lord because I was too nervous to handle the Host.

When I stood up there in the front of the church I had a religious experience so powerful that it nearly knocked me over. It was absolutely amazing and unexpected. While I held the Cup in my hands and said This is the blood of the Lord, all at once as I looked into the cup something in my spirit made me actually feel the blood in that cup. It was enough to take my breath away. I like to call it a holy moment or a religious experience.

Another strange thing was that every single person at that mass came and drank of the Cup of the Blood of Our Lord. Not one passed me by. Now that is odd because many people do not drink from the cup for fear of catching some infection as a cold or worse, so I thought it very strange that not one person passed me by. I took all this as a sign from God and I honestly felt a special call from Him to become a Eucharistic Minister.

Never once in my life had I even considered this, but it started nagging at me a few months prior to this experience and I kept shrugging it off. On that day I knew that I was being called to do this. I could actually feel it within. It was an amazing experience, one I will never forget, and has strenthened me in my faith. I really think God allowed me a peek into one of the greatest mysteries, something we can’t even conceive of, but after that I made my decision and now I’m going to be a Eucharistic Minister. I’m so thrilled that God has asked me to serve for Him. Praise His Holy Name. Thank you Jesus.

Blessings and Honor to God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit

:highprayer: :amen: ❤️
 
I agree with Seatuck that emotion inevitably does at times come into this experience which, after all, is the most intimate encounter possible with the Lord Whom we love - albeit that our love is primarily an effort of will.

For myself, I have found that mostly - not always, there are times of desolation and dryness - but mostly, even when I am at my most distracted, I know deep inside, almost subconsciously, as I kneel down again in my pew after receiving the Host, that a very real, very loving touch has worked in me.

And perhaps I could just share this story: I was working in a Catholic old age home many years ago, and in the wing where I was working, a very sick woman, Sheila, was dying. She had pneumonia, and had lapsed into unconsciousness, a very deep state of unconsciousness. We did not intubate her because it was her wish that this should not be done. We called a priest to give her the Last Sacraments. By the time he came she was clearly in great physical distress. He anointed her and then said it might not be possible to give her Holy Communion as she could not swallow. But Mother Agnes, a forceful character, insisted that he should give Sheila a small little fraction of the Host and it would dissolve quickly enough on her tongue. And Father, God bless him, bowed to her demand. Now, here’s the point - the moment that minute little crumb of the Sacred Species touched Sheila’s tongue, her whole body relaxed, the lines of pain in her face vanished, and she lay quiet. Yes, still struggling for every breath, but seemingly at peace with the whole awful process of physical death. She died just over four hours later, still with that peace in her face.

One more thing - sorry about the length of this, I ought never to be let loose on a keyboard - one more thing which is perfectly obvious to all of you, I’m sure, but was not obvious to me for far too much of my life: the fundamental principle of loving Jesus is much the same as that of loving anyone who is significant in our lives. The relationship must be fostered and nourished every single day, insofar as we are able. The Church offers us wonderful helps to this - daily Mass, the Divine Office, various methods of prayer, lectio divina &c - truly something for everyone.

I wish you great joy of your RCIA journey.
 
LodT said:
And perhaps I could just share this story: I was working in a Catholic old age home many years ago, and in the wing where I was working, a very sick woman, Sheila, was dying. She had pneumonia, and had lapsed into unconsciousness, a very deep state of unconsciousness. We did not intubate her because it was her wish that this should not be done. We called a priest to give her the Last Sacraments. By the time he came she was clearly in great physical distress. He anointed her and then said it might not be possible to give her Holy Communion as she could not swallow. But Mother Agnes, a forceful character, insisted that he should give Sheila a small little fraction of the Host and it would dissolve quickly enough on her tongue. And Father, God bless him, bowed to her demand. Now, here’s the point - the moment that minute little crumb of the Sacred Species touched Sheila’s tongue, her whole body relaxed, the lines of pain in her face vanished, and she lay quiet. Yes, still struggling for every breath, but seemingly at peace with the whole awful process of physical death. She died just over four hours later, still with that peace in her face.
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That is so beautiful. Hearing things like that really inspires me and helps my faith. It also helps me remember the importance of those last rites. God bless you for sharing such a lovely experience!
 
The Eucharist is spiritual food and drink, not merely there to produce a feeling.

To compare it to physical food, sometimes I eat and drink and feel very full, very sleepy, hyped up on sugar, or somewhat intoxicated. Other times I could eat the same exact meal and drink the exact same beverage and feel not a bit different from normal. 🤷

Doesn’t mean the food and drink aren’t doing their job of nourishing me anyway.
 
Jesus said, My Body is real food and My Blood is real drink. compare it to ordinary food and drink. you may feel satisfaction at the taste of good food, or stuffed if you eat too much, or intrigued by the smells of spices, or have indigestion, or really eat mindlessly and feel nothing at all. But if you test your blood sugar a few hours later, you may detect a rise, or if you took a blood sample after a rich meal, you would likely detect a lot of fat, and you will see the results of digestion after a few hours. But most of these are bodily senses at work.

The feeling with regard to spiritual things is more about knowing, believing that what Jesus promises is true, This is My Body, This is My Blood, given up for you, than it is about mere emotion or sentiment.

In any case, feelings are a very poor guide to the reality or intensity of spiritual experiences.
 
I wouldn’t say I “feel” something. It is often an effort to force concentration in Mass. Sometimes I do feel a momentous thing is happening at the Offertory. Sometimes, a certain song or saying or part of the homily is piercing. The ritual has great value however, on a human level we are forced to try to connect with eathother and God. I think that’s why God required the ancient Jews to keep the Sabbath and why we must attend Mass together. Remember Mother Theresa, for 50 years, “felt” tormented that she did not “feel” Christ’s presence at Mass or otherwise. Yet, she knew he was there and lived a very holy life, always attending Mass and taking communion. She had heard God or Christ “speak” to her as a young nun, calling her to begin a new ministry for the poor and dying in Calcutta and start a new order. I think it is the Sisters of Mercy. After that, she did not feel God’s presence again. That’s faith.
 
puzzleannie said:
Jesus said, My Body is real food and My Blood is real drink. compare it to ordinary food and drink. … The feeling with regard to spiritual things is more about knowing, believing that what Jesus promises is true, This is My Body, This is My Blood, given up for you, than it is about mere emotion or sentiment.
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Real food and drink, but not ordinary food and drink, nor truly comparable with ordinary food and drink, I would say: Holy Communion nourishes one unto one’s soul.
puzzleannie said:
In any case, feelings are a very poor guide to the reality or intensity of spiritual experiences.
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Again, I’d have to disagree, and quite a number of saints would, too. I don’t think we can or should exclude anything when we are considering the ways God may choose to work within a soul; nor does it seem right to label any way as less reliable or real than another. Modern Western society tends to be suspicious of displays/experiences of intense emotion, but happily the Lord Who created our emotions has the eternal viewpoint, and feelings never go out of fashion with Him.

I hope it’s not out of order to give my take on the whole question. If it is, stop reading here!

Each of us is a unique individual; and our Creator’s way with each of us is unique as well. Words are such blunt tools that we can really only give one another a very rough and incomplete idea of our own spiritual experiences. It’s kind of like when a friend shows you her holiday photos, and you find yourself bored to tears whereas she is bubbling over with enthusiasm and delight. You are seeing a series of images with very little content or context, whereas she sees the greatest couple of weeks she ever spent.

So the bottom line is probably this: we can never really know how anyone else experiences the Eucharist. But we can be sure that His Body and His Blood are real food and drink and nourish and sustain us at levels we may not be aware of. And we can also be sure that in receiving Him we have had a most intimate encounter with our Saviour, during which He has definitely worked within us. He may have chosen to make the encounter perceptible to us, or He may not, depending on what He knows we need. But the point we can take away with us is - we are in Him, and He is in us. And nothing and no one can ever change that. Thank God.
 
PhilotheaZ said:
I think some people place entirely too much emphasis on feelings and emotions when speaking of spiritual realities. Feelings are not important.
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Is it possible that some people place entirely too little emphasis on feelings and emotions? I’m not singling you (PhilotheaZ) out, but yours was the first reply of many which seems to essentially relegate feelings to the spiritual wastebasket.

Don’t get me wrong… feelings are not always an accurate means of measuring reality (spiritual or physical). Just look at how Jacob deceived his father (Gen. 27).

On the other hand, sometimes spiritual experiences are so powerful that we can “feel” them. The woman healed of the hemorrhage “felt in her body that she was healed of her disease” (Mark 5:29). And sometimes our feelings are signs of the Holy Spirit working in us.

The Catholic faith has room for feelings, so long as we know how to interpret those feelings, how to ignore them when they are deceptive, and how to get along without them when they are lacking.
 
japhy said:
Is it possible that some people place entirely too little emphasis on feelings and emotions? I’m not singling you (PhilotheaZ) out, but yours was the first reply of many which seems to essentially relegate feelings to the spiritual wastebasket.

Don’t get me wrong… feelings are not always an accurate means of measuring reality (spiritual or physical). Just look at how Jacob deceived his father (Gen. 27).

On the other hand, sometimes spiritual experiences are so powerful that we can “feel” them. The woman healed of the hemorrhage “felt in her body that she was healed of her disease” (Mark 5:29). And sometimes our feelings are signs of the Holy Spirit working in us.

The Catholic faith has room for feelings, so long as we know how to interpret those feelings, how to ignore them when they are deceptive, and how to get along without them when they are lacking.
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I think the point being made is that your faith has nothing to do with feelings - as feelings can often be deceiving. I think that faith transends any emotions we have.

Don’t get me wrong - it is GREAT when you have the emotions which you desire along with your faith - because it gives you gratification.

However - emotions can sometimes lead you astray.
 
mesl4 said:
I’m in RCIA and am looking forward to the day I can receive the Eucharist. I actually have before. As a teen/young adult I went w/my Dad (a baptized/confirmed Catholic living as a Mennonite) and we walked up a received mass at a service the one time we went together. I didin’t know you weren’t supposed to if not Catholic. ANyway, I didn’t feel anything differently than I do w/regular communion in Protestant churches. I hear RCs often have this amazing experience and can really feel his presence. Have you?
Maybe it’s a psychological thing since you know? I wonder if anyone’s every tried the placebo effect ? Taking 1 consecrated and 1 not and seeing if there was a differnt effect on the person?
I know this is a weird question.
Click to expand...
When I was making my first communion, they gave us un-blessed host. Now, when I recieve the Eucharist and unerstand the Lord’s presence, I really just feel a sense of peace.
 
We may not “feel” anything when we receive the Eucharist, but for myself, if I have to miss Mass (like when I am sick) I definitely “feel” the lack of it!
 
Unlike some of the posters here, I feel an almost magical transformation after I have taken the body and blood. I feel filled with Christ and feel his presence within me.
 
I’m converting to Catholicism and am not yet able to receive the Eucharist… this topic really interests me a lot…

the first time I ever went to Mass, I went up to receive a blessing from the priest and I wasn’t expecting anything. But right after he blessed me, I could literally feel the Lord inside me spiritually as if I had actually received Him. I later learned what happened to me was called Spiritual Communion, and I started saying the Spiritual Communion prayer any time I was around the Eucharist - before Mass, after Mass, at Adoration, etc. Often at first I felt the same way - it was amazing, honestly it was like heaven on earth… then other times I felt nothing and sometimes even great dryness in prayer. God taught me over time that He gives us consolations to encourage us, if we need encouraging, but He really wants us to rely on faith. And those times when we feel nothing, is when we learn to believe for real… this has great worth for God. In fact a person who trusts Him blindly is doing more than the one who has received miracles, proofs, spiritual experiences… it’s best not to seek for them… St Teresa of Avila had many spiritual experiences even religious esctasy, and she said - don’t seek these things, just seek to love God… 🙂

when I’ll be able to receive the Eucharist, I want to focus on how it would be like for HIM. Not for me. How would it be for Jesus to come into my heart? Will He be first place there? Would I have repented of all my sin? Do I distrust Him in any way? (this hurts Him) I want to prepare a place for Jesus… and ask my Mother Mary to help me with this… and when the moment comes and I finally receive Him, I want to just give Him all my love, not through feelings but through the intention. Jesus comes to us in this Sacrament ready to give us so many graces and we just have to open ourselves up to Him…

it’s a gift of love, it’s when He gives Himself to us, and we in turn give ourselves to Him 🙂 we offer our hearts to Him with gratitude and in reparation for sin…

lol I don’t know maybe I am wrong about something because as I said I haven’t even taken Communion yet. But I can’t wait… and I’ve been reading about what the Saints have said regarding it.

What I’ve found really helpful doing now is going to Adoration… it really helps to appreciate the Mass, and when the times comes and you’re done RCIA, you’d already have a strong faith in the Real Presence 🙂

also check out this:

miraclerosarymission.org/lanciano.html
therealpresence.org/eucharst/pea/nowonder.htm
home.sprynet.com/~bryaneadm/miracles.htm
therealpresence.org/eucharst/mir/engl_mir.htm
 
i love what St. Therese of Lisieux said about her first Communion…

"My First Communion will always be a perfect memory, and I am sure I could not have been better prepared than I was. Do you remember the wonderful little book you have me three months before the great day? It was set out so beautifully and prepared me surely step by step; even though I had been thinking for so long about my First Communion, I had to renew my ardor and fill my heart with freshly gathered flowers. So every day, I made many sacrifices and acts of love, which were transformed into flowers; some were violets and roses, others cornflowers and daisies and forget-me-nots. I wanted all the flowers on earth to cradle Jesus in my heart…

…How lovely it was, that first kiss of Jesus in my heart - it was truly a kiss of love. I knew that I was loved and said, “I love You, and I give myself to You forever”. Jesus asked for nothing, He claimed no sacrifice. Long before that, He and little Therese had seen and understood one another well, but on that day it was more than a meeting - it was a complete fusion. We were no longer two, for Therese had disappeared like a drop of water lost in the mighty ocean. Jesus alone remained - the Master and the King. Had she not asked Him to take away her liberty, the liberty she feared? She felt so weak and frail that she wanted to unite herself forever to His Divine Strength. And her joy became so vast, so deep, that now it overflowed. Soon she was weeping, to the astonishment of her companions, who said to one another later on: “why did she cry? was there something on her conscience? perhaps it was because her mother was not there, or the Carmelite sister she loves so much”. It was beyond them that all the joy of Heaven had entered one small, exiled heart, and that it was too frail and weak to bear it without tears. As if the absense of my mother could make me unhappy on the day of my First Communion! As all Heaven entered my soul when I received Jesus, my mother came to me as well. Nor could I cry because you were not there, we were closer than ever before. It was joy alone, deep ineffable joy that filled my heart.

…There seemed to be a veil of melancholy over the day that followed. My dresses, lovely as they were, and my presents - these could never fill my heart. Jesus alone could do that, and I longed for the wonderful moment when He would come a second time. This was on Ascension Day, when I had the joy of kneeling at the altar rails between Father and my darling Marie. Again there were tears of indescribable joy upon my cheeks, while I murmured time and time again the words of St. Paul: “I live, now not I, but Christ liveth in me”. (Gal. 2:20)

After this second visit of Our Lord, I longed for nothing but to receive Him. This was allowed on all the major feasts, but how far apart they seemed. Marie used to prepare me on the eve of these great days, just as she had done for my First Communion, and once I remember she spoke of suffering and said she was sure that God would always carry me like a little child and not make me tread that path. These words came back to me after Communion the next day, and I was convinced that there was many a cross in store for me. Then my soul was filled with such a flood of consolation as I have never had in all my life. Suffering began to attract me; I found charms in it which captivated me without yet fully understanding it. I felt another great desire: to love God only and find my joy in Him alone. Often during my thanksgivings, I repeated the passage from the Imitation: “O Jesus! unspeakable sweetness, turn earthly consolations into bitterness for me”. These words came to my lips without any effort. I said them as a child recites what someone it loves has prompted, without fully grasping what it means."

(Story of a Soul)
 
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