True Presence

I am often surprised when many of my Catholic friends question the validity of the True Presence of Christ in the Eucharist.

I mean after all we attend the same church, hear the same readings, gospels and homilies. So why then do some of us believe and some of us don’t?

My personal take on it, is many of us don’t remember what we learned in our religion classes and have taken a sabbatical of sorts. Some have stopped coming to church and some come solely out of obligation, therefore I think, they have a sort of amnesia about what the Church teaches.

These days their Catholic education consists of soundbites on the radio and how the Faith is portrayed on television. It’s sad that so many of us have forgotten what Our Lord has done for us. It’s sad that so many are not teaching their children about what Our Lord has done for us and even sadder that so many don’t want to know.

If we keep ourselves in the dark, does it somehow make it not true?

This is my question; if it is not true, then why are people willing to be beheaded rather than renounce their faith?

I mean, after all this is the 21st century, we are not talking the Middle Ages here. If Jesus is not truly present, body, soul and divinity then why did those men choose to be beheaded rather than pay a tax or renounce their faith?

Or is it the influx of constant information, have we become numb to the violence that goes on around us every day? Perhaps thinking this is status quo in the world we live in, turning a blind eye and sinking further and further into societal expectations on what is right and wrong.

We don’t like to talk about it much, unless it is in the context of a scary movie, about the presence of evil in our world. Why is that? For we all know it’s real, we see it played out in countless ways every second of every day. We even feel the effects in our own soul, you know when you are mad enough to throttle someone, but still, we pretend it isn’t real.

Again, if we pretend that something not real, does that somehow make it not true?

I think it’s a little of both, the numbing of our minds to violence and the refusal to believe in the existence of evil.

It is this very reason, not acknowledging the forces of evil; that is paralyzing not only the church but our souls as well.

If satan can get you to believe his lies, then he has no need to harm you, as you are already his. Perhaps, too many of us are already his! If you are feeling his effects in your life, then you know, he is real and his only job is to keep you from heaven.

What better way than to bombard our senses with violence through mass media and video games……he makes sure he gets them young! Then make the faithful believe that Jesus is not truly present in the Eucharist, making it virtually impossible to resist his pull, to become little gods, who can do as they please.

Have you ever wondered what the heck we are doing spinning around in space year after year, century after century, if the whole purpose of our existence is to kill one another over some perceived or real affront to our pride.

Jesus Christ. The WORD made flesh, conceived by the Holy Spirit and incarnate in the Virgin Mary’s womb.

His birth changed the way time was recorded…BC to AD.

He walked this earth teaching and healing people, all Christians believe that, it’s just this teaching of the true presence that is a stickler, a point of division not only between sects but in the Catholic faith as well.

Well that is nothing new, it happened the very day Jesus explained his teaching, many walked away, the truth being too much for them. {John 6: 48-68}

Is it too much for you too?

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