“Material food first changes into the one who eats it, and then, as a consequence, restores to him lost strength and increases his vitality. Spiritual food, on the other hand, changes the person who eats it into itself. Thus the effect proper to this Sacrament is the conversion of a man into Christ, so that he may no longer live, but Christ lives in him; consequently, it has the double effect of restoring the spiritual strength he had lost by his sins and defects, and of increasing the strength of his virtues.” (St. Thomas, Commentary on Book IV of the Sentences, d.12, q.2, a.11)
Do we, as Catholics, really know what we are doing each and every Sunday? Do we know who we are taking in to our body, which we are becoming one with? Can we really grasp the idea that the little bread is Jesus, truly Jesus, not a symbol, but HIM!
What a concept, what a mind blower, to think that we, as Catholics, have the privilege to partake in the Last Supper each week, and we get to take Jesus in to ourselves.
The sad part is that most Catholics do not believe this; most Catholics think it is all symbolize. That is cannot be really Jesus, how can bread and wine turn in to body and blood, I mean get real! That truly is a sad statement, to think that we as humans are placing on God our own limitations! If most Catholics truly believed that we received the true body and blood of Christ on Sundays, they would be lined up out the door. But sadly in most parishes there are plenty of empty seats.
Why is this, for what reason do we not accept the power of God? Many Catholics will attribute the power of God for winning a football game, or doing well at a bingo session, but they find it hard to believe that God can turn bread and wine in to the body and blood of his beloved son, Jesus the Christ. How sad, how far we have drifted from what the early Church believed.
We see God as limited as we are, we see him as in human terms and not in God terms. We place on God our own limitations, and our own faults. Could it be we are willing to except Gods miracles only when they are convenient to us?
Do we except that God can win a football game because it truly asks nothing of us, we can accept a cure from God because it requires nothing in return? Maybe Catholics don’t believe in the true presence of Christ in the host because it requires us to accept that Jesus is truly in us. Accepting this fact then leads us in to the problem of our actions, if Jesus is truly in us, than we must react to this. We must be as Christ.
Maybe Catholics find this idea inconvenient to the modern thought:
· Can I really live with someone outside of marriage, if Christ is in me?
· Can I believe in abortion if Christ is within me?
· Can I go to Mass on Sunday and leave Jesus and God out of my life the rest of the week?
The questions go on and on, and the logic is always the same, Can I do as I please and still be Catholic? Can we choose what to believe and what not to believe and still be Catholic. I think that is the true question. Because if we truly believed in the presence of Jesus in Eucharist we would have no problem believing in the whole Church, this alone, this one facet of our faith is the foundation of the Catholic Church. We, as Catholics, receive the true Jesus in the bread and wine, not a symbol but HIM!
Paul
The STATIC Shop
View Point: Paul 
Excellent blog!