The Reason

If someone were to ask me to tell them, in the briefest way possible, why it is that I wish to convert to the Catholic Church, this is what I would tell them:

The Eucharist.

Could there be a greater reason?

When I was a young girl attending a Protestant church, my mother would often tell me to say a prayer of repentance before taking communion. I remember finding that kind of strange, especially because I don't recall the pastor asking the same of his congregation. As I grew older, I began to question the idea of communion. I wondered why, considering Jesus' words, were we only taking communion once a month. And if it is such a big deal, then why does it seem like everyone is allowed participate in such a grave and holy event without question? The little cups of grape juice and the tiny crackers would be passed around the entire congregation and I never saw anyone refuse to take theirs.

So why does St. Paul say in 1 Corinthians 11:27-29 that "....whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily will have to answer for the body and blood of the Lord. A person should examine himself, and so eat the bread and drink the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks judgement on himself."

It just didn't make sense to me. Besides, it was all symbolic, was it not? We were simply remembering an event, right?

But sometimes, in my own private reading of Scripture, when I would come across John 6, where Jesus explains that unless one eats of his flesh and drinks of his blood, he has no life in him, a feeling of shock would run through my body. It was a scandalous thing to read, because even as a fully Protestant young woman, I knew that Jesus was speaking in a literal sense. Yet, I always brushed the thought aside, knowing that such a thing was not possible. Besides, I would reason, no church I've ever been to believes something as crazy as that. So, I decided to spiritualize it away as something purely symbolic because that is what every pastor I knew did. Yet, every time I came across that passage in John as well as other similar passages, the almost physical sensation of a shock running through my body would always return.

I did not realize there were others out there - an entire Church - that believed as I did. In fact, I don't remember ever learning about Catholicism's nearly 2,000 year old belief in the Eucharist as the very body, blood, soul and divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ.

It takes great faith to believe something as amazing and mind blowing as a simple wafer becoming Christ's very own flesh and blood. But once you come to believe, nothing else seems to matter. For me, any objections or misunderstandings I may have still had about the Catholic Church melted away.

Because, you see, if Jesus truly meant what he said when he instituted Holy Communion, then that means he is truly present, and has been truly present every single day in every Catholic Church for the past 2,000 years.

"And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age." -Matthew 28:20

Suddenly, this verse made more sense to me than it ever has!

When I think about starting RCIA, I often find myself listing all sorts of reasons for why I need to delay starting. Most of these reasons are valid, such as not having enough free time in this season of life, or not having my own vehicle to attend meetings. Some are less valid, such as fear of offending friends and family.

But then, just as suddenly as these thoughts come, they are immediately halted by these two words:

The Eucharist.

And I know. I know that with those words, nothing can stop me from coming home to the Church.

"The Eucharist is the supreme proof of the love of Jesus. After this, there is nothing more but Heaven itself." 

-St. Peter Julian Eymard