What Changed My Heart Can Change The World…

I am afraid that I cannot and will not do justice to my Lord with this article… My knees are weak, my hands are trembling while thinking about what I want to say. My palms are sweaty and my eyes are watering as I begin to type this out…

I pray: “My Lord and My God… Please be here with me… Holy Mother comfort me! I cannot begin to think of the words I wish to use right now. Or rather, I know that my words alone cannot adequately convey your message… You know where my heart is oh Lord… Please guide my hands across this keyboard so that I may, as unworthy as I am to speak your name, bring glory to you… Holy Mother pray for me. Let me glorify your son… May Your Will Be Done oh Lord My God… In all things… That is my only desire. In the name of The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit. Amen.”

It wasn’t until a couple of hours prior to writing this entry that I knew what I wanted to write about. I was asked a question by a follower of my blog a couple of days ago… She asked me: “What was it in your heart that changed you between the time that you left The Catholic Church in college and when you realized that you needed to return to The Church?”.

I have two words… Two little words that the salvation of all of humanity is centered around… Two little words that seem so inadequate for what they point to, but which convey such meaning, such depth of grace and truth that my skin tingles and my breathing gets fast when I speak on this subject with others. These words ignite my passion for my faith to the very core of my being and make me want to get up in front of crowds of people and share with them what I know to be true and what THE Church knows to be true… What are these words? They are…

THE EUCHARIST…

The Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ Our Lord…

“Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever.” – John 6:54-58

When I first went through RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults) years ago, I understood the doctrine, I respected it and I knew that Jesus was in The Eucharist. However, when I left The Church in 2011, I honestly didn’t think that it was such a big deal if I just took part in the Protestant version of “The Lord’s Supper”. I knew there was a difference but I didn’t think it mattered to the point that I now believe that it does. In other words…

I knew that Jesus was in the Eucharist, but I didn’t know Jesus in The Eucharist.

I will not make this my full on apologetics blog about the very real presence of Christ in The Eucharist (that one will take a lot of forethought and planning). My goal here is only to tell you what it was that changed in my heart. Or rather, I’ll do the best that I can.

“If it’s just a symbol, then to hell with it.” – Flannery O’Connor’s comment on The Real Presence of Christ in The Eucharist

I’d have to say that The Holy Spirit started working on my heart when I started studying sacred scripture at the start of my journey. Since it was “The Lord’s Supper” at my former Baptist church that was the catalyst for starting my journey,  the doctrine of The Real Presence was one of the first things that I went after in my search. I knew that all of Catholicism hinged on this one point and IF I could disprove this point, nothing else in Catholicism mattered. Little did I know that Christ HIMSELF had chosen to hinge His ENTIRE MINISTRY on this one doctrine as well…

In John chapter 6, starting at verse 22, we see the beginning of what we know as “The Bread of Life Discourse”. In these 50 verses Jesus tells us (rather plainly) that He will be the new manna, the bread from heaven. He also tells us that the bread that He will give us is more powerful than the old manna which the Israelites ate in the desert during their journey from Egypt to the promised land. He tells us that we, His followers, must eat His flesh and drink His blood in order to have life within us.

What really struck me though, was something in sacred scripture that I had never seen or heard about before… I encourage you, dear reader, to look in your Bible(s) at John 6:66… It says: “As a result of this, many of his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him”.

WOW! The first time I read that I about fell out of my chair… Did you know that this is THE ONLY place where Jesus’ disciples walked away from Him over doctrine that He was teaching? So how does Jesus respond to this?? Because, let’s face it… IF He only meant all of his exclamations about His flesh being true food, Him being the bread from heaven, the fact that we have to drink His blood, as a symbol… Don’t YOU think this would be His opportunity to clarify?!?! I mean, His disciples are leaving! If He’s going to say something like “Hey! Wait up guys! I was only speaking metaphorically! There’s no need to get upset!”. NOW IS HIS TIME TO SPEAK UP!

So what does He do?? Let’s take a look… In verse 67 Jesus states: “Jesus then said to the Twelve, ‘Do you also want to leave?'”. WHOA! Did Jesus just say what I think He said?! Hmmm… Let’s see… His disciples are walking away from Him… He’s losing His followers… And what does He do?? He looks at The Apostles and says “Do you also want to leave?”! In other words, He risks losing EVERYONE on this one teaching… Why?! BECAUSE IT’S THAT IMPORTANT! If it’s important enough for Him to let everything He’s worked for ride on this one doctrine, then I daresay He’s trying to tell us all something about this point that He’s trying to make!

What is it He’s trying to tell us here??

That THE EUCHARIST is His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity! It’s NOT just a symbol… It’s REALLY HIM!! I mean… Praise God!!! Doesn’t that just astound you?! It sure as heck did (and still does) me!

So we know how Jesus responds to this situation… How do The Apostles respond? Let’s examine verses 68 and 69… “Simon Peter answered him, ‘Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.”

So Peter doesn’t respond to Jesus saying “yes master, we understand transubstantiation, that even though the ‘accidents’ of bread and wine remain, we know you’ll truly be there during communion”… Nope… He simply tells Jesus that they (The Twelve) know, that He is Lord and they have faith that what He says is truth.

Okay, so after more research in The Scriptures and reading the works of several church fathers going all the way back to the 1st and 2nd century, which only served to convince me of the truth of the Real Presence of Christ in The Eucharist, I knew that everything else would fall into place. Let’s face it my brothers and sisters… IF this is true… IF Jesus is truly present in The Eucharist just as He SAYS that He is… This changes everything! This should affect how we live, interact with others, worship our Lord and Savior and on and on! It should affect everything about us and the choices we make everyday.

“If people knew the value of The Mass, there would be policemen at the doors to regulate access to the church every time that a Mass is celebrated.” – St. Padre Pio

This truth spoken by Jesus in Sacred Scripture, dear reader, is what changed my heart. Learning and studying this truth lead me back to The Mass and it was at my first Mass, after having received the Sacrament of Reconciliation beforehand, that upon consuming The Eucharist for the first time in several years it confirmed what I had already discovered… I was home!

My brothers and sisters… Spread the word of this truth far and wide! Shout it from the rooftops! Make Him known to all! Spread the good news that Jesus is NOT ONLY present in the hearts of those who truly believe and live according to His teachings, but He is HERE! Truly and physically present at EVERY Mass in The Blessed Sacrament of The Eucharist… May Jesus, through this Sacrament, change hearts all over  the world!

We do not really want a religion that is right where we are right. We want a religion that is right where we are wrong. We do not want, as the newspapers say, a church that will move with the world. We want a church that will move the world. – G.K. Chesterton

Until next time my dear reader…

Your Servant in Christ,

William