A Eucharistic Reflection
When one wades into the Tiber, there are many obstacles they encounter. Authority, the Saints, a different cannon of scripture, Marian dogmas, moral dogmas, papal authority, the Eucharist, etc. As I investigated Catholicism, it became clear that everything hinges on the Eucharist, that is, whether or not the consecrated bread and wine become the actual body, blood, soul, and divinity of Jesus Christ. There is no ambiguity in the teaching of the Eucharist. It is where, as St. John Paul II says, “reason experiences its limits…”1
I was not alone in my investigation. A dear friend of mine, who has yet to convert, was also along for the ride. One night, we were discussing our various objections to the Catholic Church. He expressed his concerns around the Church’s teaching on Mary and the Church’s teaching and titles surrounding her role as the Mother of God. I did not share his concern. The reason being that if Jesus had actually entrusted his precious body and blood to a particular Church, then I would want to be in that Church regardless of what they taught. As we talked, I eventually said, “If whatever they have on the altar is actually Jesus, then its over for me, and I’ll become Catholic. I’ll figure the rest out when I get there.”
If Christ was really there on the altar, beckoning me to unite with him in a way I never believed possible, then Rome had to be the true Church. Similarly, if a Jewish man really did rise from the dead, then he must be who he said he was. Imagine, just for a moment, what the implications are if Jesus’ words in John 6 are meant to be taken literally. What would that mean for you and for me?
54 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. 55 For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. 56 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. 57 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. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever.” 59
— Jn. 6:54-59
The Chinese Martyr
Eventually I did convert, and my confirmation sponsor purchased a little book entitled Pocket Guide to Adoration. It’s an excellent book to prepare converts for the practice of Adoration, a time of prayer and meditation before Christ in the Eucharist (a.k.a, the Blessed Sacrament). In the first few pages, I read a story about a Catholic school that was raided by Communist soldiers.
“The Communist soldiers stormed into the local Catholic school and began to destroy all of the sacred artwork, crucifixes, and statues. They ordered the children to throw away all their religious objects, including their rosaries, medals, and holy cards. All of the children submitted to their demands except one.”
— Fr. Josh Johnson, Pocket Guide to Adoration. 1.
Sitting in the back of the room, the young girl would not comply. The soldiers decided to shame her and her family. After arresting the young girl and her family, the soldiers marched the young Chinese student and her father through their community to the local Catholic parish. In the sanctuary of the parish, the soldiers demanded that they recant. One of the soldiers asked,
…the girl’s father if he really believed that the Eucharist was the true and substantial presence of Jesus Christ. Unashamed of Christ, the man boldly proclaimed his belief in the words of Jesus about the Bread of Life: “He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life.” Almost immediately after he stated his faith, he was taken away from the church by the soldiers. Most likely, the girl’s father was never seen again.
Ibid. 2.
Shortly after this, the soldiers started to take the Blessed Sacrament from the tabernacle and throw it on the ground. They stomped on Christ in front of the young girl and her family — certainly a sight that would make even those ardent protestant cringe, even if for no other reason than what it revealed about the evil within the men.
When St. Peter watched our Lord be crucified, he was intimidated by a little girl and denied Jesus three times. Here, a little girl’s father risks not only his life, but his daughter’s, and boldly declares, “I do know the man, and I will suffer with him!”
Protestants may not believe it is Christ in the Eucharist, but clearly these guards, or something inside them, did. After they had completed their sacrilege, the guards “imprisoned the parish priest inside the church” and placed the parish under armed guard. Despite these dangers, the young chinese girl risked her life in order to adore and protect Christ in the Eucharist.
Night after night, the young girl proceeded to sneak past the guards and into the parish. The priest reportedly saw her sneak in, and when she found the Communion Hosts on the ground, “…[she] knelt down in adoration before the desecrated Eucharistic hosts.” After some time, the child “…leaned toward the Eucharist and received Holy Communion directly from the floor onto her tongue.”2 This continued every day for approximately thirty days. She had been stealthy in her devotion to Christ, but one day she made a mistake.
On that fateful day she attempted to sneak into the parish again, but this time she made a loud noise that alerted the guards.
A soldier rushed into the church, armed with a gun, and fatally wounded her. Though she was dying, she still managed to crawl to the last remaining Eucharistic Communion host that was on the floor and received the Lord into her body as she took her last breath in the sanctuary.
Ibid. 4.
The Cost
Becoming Catholic was a beautiful moment in my relationship with God, but I also knew Rome was nothing like any other Church in the world. As I prepared to enter, I read more stories like the one above, and I knew that if the teachings of the Church were true, then God would expect more from me within the Church than if I remained outside of it.
Pope John Paul II has an excellent little book entitled On The Eucharist. In it he writes,
“In giving his sacrifice to the Church, Christ has also made his own the spiritual sacrifice of the Church, which is called to offer herself in union with the sacrifice of Christ. This is the teaching of the Second Vatican Council concerning all the faithful: ‘Taking part in the Eucharistic Sacrifice, which is the source and summit of the whole Christian life, they offer the divine victim to God, and offer themselves along with it.’”
Pope John Paul II, On the Eucharist. 20.
As we face these dark days, we must understand that Christ has never left us, but we must never leave him. We must know that Christ is truly present with us in the Eucharist. Just as his disciples could only follow in faith, so we can only approach the Blessed Sacrament with the same. When we submit our reason to the faith shared by the disciples, their expressions in Scripture become our own.
“Who is this, that even the wind and the seas obey him?” we ask, not in doubt, but in awe.
As we approach our Lord to receive him in the Mass, we can say with the faith of his Mother, “Let it be done to me according to your will.”
And as the body of our Lord is received, our kneeling posture and reception on the tongue, we understand that this is truly a grace, not a work, lest any of us should boast. It’s then we hear our Savior say, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you…”
And as we unite ourselves to Christ, his words come to us still, “…that the love with which [my Father] loved me may be in them and I in them.”
As we walk back to our seat, we are assured “I will never leave you nor forsake you, even to the end of the age.”
We must not take lightly the claims of the Church, for it is clear that Christ is our salvation. Yes, Jesus’ claims are radical and reveal much about our hearts. We want to worship the way that is comfortable to our modern senses; similarly, the Jewish people wanted him to be the Messiah that fit their “interpretations” of who that Messiah would be. But theology is not about building a system which permits us to worship a Jesus that is more appsealing to our modern and rationalistic sensibilities. It is about approaching Jesus, not in expectation of a sign, but in submission to the sign that he has already revealed and provided for our journey home.
Tantum Ergo
Word made flesh, by word he maketh
very bread his flesh to be;
man in wine Christ’s blood partaketh,
and if senses fail to see,
faith alone the true heart waketh,
to behold the mystery.
Therefore, we before him bending,
this great sacrament revere;
types and shadows have their ending,
for the newer rite is here;
faith, our outward sense befriending,
makes the inward vision clear.
— Latin —
Verbum caro, panem verum
verbo carnem efficit:
fitque sanguis Christi merum,
et si sensus deficit,
ad firmandum cor sincerum
sola fides sufficit.
Therefore, we before him bending,
this great sacrament revere;
types and shadows have their ending,
for the newer rite is here;
faith, our outward sense befriending,
makes the inward vision clear.
St Thomas Aquinas (1225–74); tr.J. M. Neale, (1818–66) E. Caswall
(1814–78), and others.
On The Eucharist., Pope John Paul II.
According to the priest reporting this story, this is an extraordinary way of receiving Christ, i.e., not permitted by the Church. “Under normal circumstances, it is not permissible for lay persons to receive the Eucharist by themselves.”
It is amazing that we can enter boldly into the very throne room of the King of kings and Lord and lords.