Dear Friend,
With Protestant communion the eucharist becomes a subjective experience. The bread and the wine only symbolize the body and blood of Christ. This will affect the person to the degree that he or she is devoted to the Person of Jesus. If one is devoted to Jesus, the experience becomes an act of devotion and can even be an act of the person’s love. For those not devoted to Him, the experience will mean little.
For those who receive the Eucharist in the Catholic and Orthodox Churches, the experience is more than merely subjective. The Eucharistic elements (over and above their symbolic value ) have an objective reality regardless of the recipient’s religiosity.
These recipients have the inexpressible experience of the intimate visitation of Jesus within their very bodies. There is nothing on the face of the earth that can equal this—nothing!
Fr. Vincent Serpa, O.P.