At RCIA this week, "Mitch" told the group that 60% of Catholics who receive the Eucharist do not really believe that it is truly the body and blood of Jesus.
(Note: Through a process called transubstantiation in the Catholic church, the bread and wine IS actually transformed into Christ's body and blood, but it is stays looking like bread and wine so it doesn't creep us out. Other Christian churches just think of it as a symbol, but Catholics think it is the real thing. At least, they are supposed to.)
The thing is, this belief is what makes me love the Catholic church so much, and is the reason I don't feel drawn to other Christian churches. I want to eat me some Jesus!
(Note: There have been cases of Eucharistic Miracles, the Miracle of Lanciano for one in the 700's, in which the Eucharist has actually turned into Christ's flesh, literally. Scientists did studies on it in the 1970's and it was determined to be real flesh and real blood, and you can still look at it today.)
Shouldn't Catholics (or anyone, really) everywhere be amazed by this? These Churches are serving the Body of God! Shouldn't we all be a little more excited and in awe of it?
I know I should be. But, somehow, it becomes routine. And, thanks to my inherently flawed and selfish nature, I like getting the Eucharist most for the gifts it can bring to me (grace, forgiveness, love), instead of being in awe and amazed at the whole thing. It's kind of like when my mom comes to visit... I don't really care about connecting and being present with her. Instead, I'm thinking, "Free babysitter!" (Yes, I know, like I said, I am an inherently flawed and selfish human being. But this is the truth.)
So, when I hear that 60% of Catholics don't even believe in this great gift of the Eucharist that sets it, as a Church, apart from all the others, I'm
thinking, "Well, what are they even doing here?" Just stay home. Or go to any other Church that
has the other just-symbolic stuff that you do believe in.
But as for me, where else can I go to eat Jesus? Nowhere. This is it.
Thus, I am stuck with the Catholic Church. And, even though I might not agree with other facets of its teachings (specifically, the ideas behind sin and salvation), I have nowhere else to go. I need to eat Jesus.
I. just. do.
But how do I reconcile myself with not agreeing with the other parts of it, because the Catholic Church isn't a take-what-you-like-and-leave-the-rest kind of religion.
It. is. just. not.
So, I don't really know what to do about that.
Good day!
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4 comments:
I've struggled at times with this idea of "take what you like and leave the rest". I have 3 thoughts. 1- My first thought is that I think very few people can accept every single tenet of any religion, partly because religions change over time, people change over time, and very few people understand the whole thing anyway. We are human and our understanding is limited. It's ok to accept that and grow and leave some details to God. The aspect of faith that's most important to you now might not be what's most important to you at 50, or 80. Religions change over the centuries, maybe not in their core doctrines but in their points of emphasis. So I wouldn't fret too much about not buying into everything (which may not even be possible). You don't need to be "all in". 2- Sin and salvation is a big one to disagree with, I grant you that. But there are many, many ways of looking at sin and salvation so it depends on the details and you might appreciate other ways of looking at it. Catholics disagree among themselves on what is most important. And as a previous commenter said, Catholics don't need to be all that exclusive despite the reputation. You've been writing lately about everyone getting along and all beliefs being compatible, and I think it's part of your journey to want things to fit together and to not want conflict. However, there's no getting around the fact that some beliefs just don't fit together in our understanding. I can respect another's belief until they try to harm me (as per my previous comment). Maybe it's not all that important that everyone gets along. And it would be a shame to discard your own faith just because you don't see how it agrees with everything else. Everything else won't be changing for you, so you'd be giving up something and probably gaining nothing. 3- From personal experience, I can tell you it's possible to maintain your faith, respect another's faith, and live in love without going the route of "everything is cosmically harmonious". I'm Catholic, my wife is Jewish, and we know we don't agree on everything but we learn a lot from each other, respect each other, love each other, pray together, celebrate holidays together, go to services together, etc. We know we can't be too rigid. We also tried a temple/church once that said "everything is the same" and neither of us liked it. It took a while, but we found a balance between being too rigid and too mushy. Anyway, lots of babbling and it might not be helpful but those are my thoughts. These times in a faith journey can be disorienting and can last a while, so I wish you the best of luck!
I know I already mentioned this, but have you looked into the Episcopal church? They eat Jesus, too!
Episcopalians eat Jesus too? What the what? I had no idea. I thought Catholics were the only ones...
Yep. They used to be the same church, but then split off. The service is very similar to that of a Catholic service. They believe in women's rights and gay rights. http://www.ehow.com/how_4424720_identify-between-catholic-episcopal-services.html. There is a ton of info out there on similarities and differences. :)
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