What If It Was True?
Sincere Christians will do anything they can to pursue God and develop that relationship that was meant to be had since the Garden. It is in our nature to desire to walk with God in the cool of that garden where we walked so long ago. Of course that nature has been miss-shaped and damaged by sin, but it is still there. As evangelical Christians we pursued God in his word, in His people, in prayer and in praise.
When my wife was trying to pursue God with all her heart, she went to Mass when evangelical protestantism was no longer "working" for her. When the priest held up the consecrated host and said "this is Jesus, the Lamb of God" she thought: "What if it is true?" What if it was true that the God of the universe who she had been seeking most of her adult life was physically and spiritually present in the Eucharist? Wouldn't it be worth anything to apprehend Him in receiving Holy Communion? This led her to eventually return to the Church. I say eventually because she was married to a certain individual who needed about 5 years for the Holy Spirit to work on him and soften his hardened heart and stiff neck towards all things Catholic.
Well, the Holy Spirit indeed did His holy work on this fallow-grounded heart of mine. I too came to the realization that Jesus is in the Eucharist, and that I must pursue Him in a Church that I never thought I could go back to. I still remember the moment when I was sitting on the edge of my bed reading Steve Ray's description of the Early Church Father's view of the Eucharist. It was the realization that, if this was true, I need to be in this Catholic Church to receive Him entirely. Where else in the world can one get closer to God than in physically consuming Him?
To me, the doctrine of the Eucharist is the drawing power of Catholicism. Once you seriously entertain the possibility, that It Could BE True, there's no going back. As recent convert/revert Dr. Francis Beckwith has said, "Why would you not want this to be true?"
When my wife was trying to pursue God with all her heart, she went to Mass when evangelical protestantism was no longer "working" for her. When the priest held up the consecrated host and said "this is Jesus, the Lamb of God" she thought: "What if it is true?" What if it was true that the God of the universe who she had been seeking most of her adult life was physically and spiritually present in the Eucharist? Wouldn't it be worth anything to apprehend Him in receiving Holy Communion? This led her to eventually return to the Church. I say eventually because she was married to a certain individual who needed about 5 years for the Holy Spirit to work on him and soften his hardened heart and stiff neck towards all things Catholic.
Well, the Holy Spirit indeed did His holy work on this fallow-grounded heart of mine. I too came to the realization that Jesus is in the Eucharist, and that I must pursue Him in a Church that I never thought I could go back to. I still remember the moment when I was sitting on the edge of my bed reading Steve Ray's description of the Early Church Father's view of the Eucharist. It was the realization that, if this was true, I need to be in this Catholic Church to receive Him entirely. Where else in the world can one get closer to God than in physically consuming Him?
To me, the doctrine of the Eucharist is the drawing power of Catholicism. Once you seriously entertain the possibility, that It Could BE True, there's no going back. As recent convert/revert Dr. Francis Beckwith has said, "Why would you not want this to be true?"
posted by Russ Rentler, M.D. | 8:35 AM
3 Comments:
"It is in our nature to desire to walk with God in the cool of that garden where we walked so long ago."
I'm going to use this line in my class; the kids already know the Genesis source.
"Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world."
My kids learn that John said this about Jesus; and in Mass, it reminds us that Jesus is just as present among us as he was among the crowd by the Jordan.
"Why would you not want this to be true?"
Oh, I do, I do! Oh, how I do! I have read the patristic sources. I have our Lord's own words, which, if taken literally, leave no doubt.
Yet I continue to wrestle with myself, not unlike St. Augustine in the garden.
Magister, you are one of the few non-Catholic brethren I have met who has been willing to read the sources with an open mind and wrestle and wrestle. God bless you!
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