Tim Speer's Blog - Posts Tagged "eucharist"

I woke up this morning, not really any differently than a lot of mornings. My alarm was set early, so that I could get up and go swimming before work. Let me just say here that I swim to keep in shape, not because I really enjoy it. I look at swimming as somewhat of a drudgery, and this morning I was not particularly enthusiastic with either the prospect of getting up early, or swimming. Just the same, my wife and I said our morning prayers, and then I forced myself out of bed. I dressed, grabbed my duffel bag, and headed off to the pool.

Once I hit the water, I tend to feel relaxed and at peace. I wear a waterproof MP3 player, loaded with my Chistian music play list, clipped to my goggles. The music helps to break the monotony of swimming laps.

In the water, I am closed off from the outside world, hearing only my music, and seeing only the bottom of the pool. My thoughts turn inward. Sometimes I start out thinking about what I have planned for the day, or perhaps something I did the day before. Lately these thoughts have been short lived, and I soon start to think about my writing. Sometimes I'll get an inspiration for a blog post. But lately, it's been more often that I'll receive inspiration for my second book. One that I have only been thinking about writing, but now one that it appears more and more likely that I will in fact write. That was the case this morning.

So what was the subject matter of my inspirations this morning? They dealt primarily with the Eucharist, the intercession of Mary, and forgiveness (a major theme of the story). I swim not alone.

I often see pictures and posts on Facebook that show glowing pictures of the Eucharist, or a priest holding the Eucharist up for consecration in a glowing light. Yet my experience at mass is that the priest, and the Eucharist, often look very plain, and nowhere near as dazzling as the pictures I've seen. Oh, to be sure, the priest is dressed in his fancy vestments, but his overall appearance is quite ordinary. And the appearance of the Eucharist itself is fairly ordinary.

Now before those of you who post these jump on my case, let me just say that I do believe in the Eucharist. And I have a great reverence for it. And I know that while the Eucharist may appear ordinary, it is in fact very extraordinary. And although the priest may appear ordinary, he is performing a very extraordinary task.

But we have a tendancy to make the physical appearance more spectacular than it really is. And it's not just with the Eucharist. Take most any picture you see of Jesus. He's basically made out to be the biblical age equivalent of tall, dark and handsome. Is this the way he really was?

The Reality
For our reality check, let's go back to when Jesus first came to earth. That angelic manger scene with Mary and Joseph looking so heavenly, looking down adoringly at the baby Jesus. The only problem is, it wasn't anything like that. The "manger" was most likely a small cave. And as for Mary and Joseph, they had been traveling on a dusty road all day. Joseph on foot, and Mary on a donkey. And they hadn't even had a bath! Later in his life, when Jesus was traveling and teaching, there were probably many times when he would have appeared a little dirty and grubby. A far cry from the beautiful pictures we see.

Underneath the Cover
Yet, with the manger scene, we know that despite outward appearances something very wonderful was happening. In that manger was a baby who would save the world. And beside him was the woman who would be crowned Queen of Heaven. And the sometimes dirty and grubby man going around teaching, was no less than the direct presence of God here on earth.

So if you go to mass and the Priest appears a little less than glowing, and you find the Eucharist to be somewhat plain looking, you shouldn't be deceived. Rest assured, it is far from ordinary, it is the very presence of our Lord Jesus Christ. And when you leave Church and go out into the world, it might not hurt to keep in mind that if Jesus comes to you, he probably won't be suave and well dressed.

I've often had discussions with non-Catholics about the various aspects of the Catholic faith that they either misunderstand, or think are wrong, regardless of whether they fully understand them or not. Ironically, they very rarely mention the Eucharist, which is the single most important distinction between Catholics and Protestants. In fact, I would argue, that it is the single most important thing that makes Catholics, Catholic. And it is extremely unfortunate that many Catholics do not believe in the real presence of Christ - Body, Soul, and Divinity, in the Eucharist.

Before going further, I must admit that, as a Catholic convert, the Eucharist was the last thing I came to fully accept about the Catholic faith. Originally I thought that, since I accepted pretty much everything else about the Catholic faith, I could be Catholic without accepting the Eucharist. Now that I not only fully accept the Eucharis, but have experienced the Eucharist, I know that I was wrong. Again, it is now my belief that if you do not accept the Eucharist, you are not truly Catholic.

My theory on why non-Catholics who wish to criticize the Catholic Church rarely bring up the Eucharist, is that they can't go pulling out bible quotes to defend themselves. Sure, those who say they are "Bible only" (few truly are, they only think they are) are apt to ignore the fact that all of the early Christian writings show that the Church, from it's very beginning, accepted the real presence in the Eucharist. And these same writings, show that the Apostles not only accepted it, but that they absolutely understood that at the Last Supper when Jesus said, "This is my Body," and "This is my blood," he meant it very literally. Even though these writings are very credible, since they aren't actually in the Bible, the "Bible only" people will chose to ignore them. However, it is very hard to ignore the Bible itself on this. And Jesus repeatedly states that unless you eat the flesh of his body and drink his blood, you will not have eternal life. And nowhere, I repeat nowhere in the Bible, is there any indication that he is speaking figuratively. In fact, in John, Chapter 6, he makes it very clear that he is not. He starts out by emphasizing it "Amen, Amen, I say unto you...", and then when questioned about it, rather than explaining it away, he doubles down on it. To the degree that many of his followers left. Why did they leave, because they clearly understood that he was speaking very literally, and they could not accept it. In the end he turns to the Apostles and asks if they too are going to leave him. When Jesus asks this, he is not only asking the twelve Apostles who are there with him, he is asking all of us in the future, are we too going to leave him. Or, will we accept his true presence in the Eucharist.

The are several reasons why I believe the Eucharist is so important. First, it is the primary focus of the Mass. Many non-Catholics, and even may Catholics (and yes, I used to be one of them), say that they find the Mass to be repetitive and boring. However, if you realize that when you go to Mass, not only is the real presence of Jesus there, but you are preparing yourself to receive that real presence, then there is no way that the Mass can be boring, no matter how bad the priests Homily is, or how dull you find the music to be. You are there in the presence of Christ, as part of the Trinity, the creator of the Universe. And, in the end, you get to receive his entire Body, Soul, and Divinity, within you. To say that this is boring would be like going to a Yankees game, getting to sit in the dugout with the players, getting signed baseballs and bats from each of the players, and then saying that the game was boring. In fact, it would be worse. By receiving Christ in the Eucharist, we receive his full redemption. More than that, we receive spiritual nourishment directly from Christ. Jesus said he is the bread of life, his flesh is true food, his blood is true drink There is nothing that can help us more in our spiritual life than receiving the Eucharist.

Outside of receiving the Eucharist at Mass, there is Holy Adoration. While not directly receiving Christ, here you are in the direct presence of Christ. And, in a way that cannot be experienced any place else. If you truly love Christ, if you truly want to get to know Christ better, the best way to do that is spend time with him. And Holy Adoration is the best place to do that.

How do I know all of this. As I eluded to earlier, I've experienced it. For those who haven't, all I can say is there is no experience here on earth like it. I, like many of you, both Catholic and non-Catholic, have been to Christian gatherings, retreats, and even Christian concerts where I felt the Holy Spirit come down and enter within me. And, it is truly an amazing experience. However, it still does not compare with going into Holy Adoration and experiencing the direct presence of Jesus Christ. Could I live a good Christian without it? Probably. But, I probably would not be as good of a Christ follower, and I certainly wouldn't be as much of a Christ lover.