April 5, 2025

The month of April is dedicated to the Holy Eucharist. I was born and raised in a Baptist family. Baptists have a different understanding of the Eucharist. As I remember, the Eucharist was a symbol of Christ’s death and resurrection.

I was over 30 before I started on my journey to the Catholic Church. One of the hardest things for me to grasp was that the Eucharist is the actual body and blood of Christ. Transubstantiation, is the belief that during the celebration of the Eucharist, bread and wine become the actual body and blood of Christ while retaining their outward appearances. For a long time I saw only their outward appearance.

Christ surely has the power to change things. He changed water into wine, calmed storms, healed sick and drove out demons. Why could I not see his body and blood?

References to “Body and Blood” go back to the time of the Israelites while they were still in the land of Egypt. They were to eat an unblemished lamb and spread the blood over their doorframe. The lamb blood to save them from a plague of first born child death. Later, during the forty years between the time the Israelites left Egypt and entered the Promised Land, they faced harsh conditions, including a scarcity of food. To alleviate this problem, God miraculously provided the Israelites with “bread from heaven,” called “manna.” The manna appeared each morning, and the Israelites were given specific instructions on gathering it.

Manna is a foreshadowing, of Jesus. After Jesus miraculously fed the 5,000, they wanted Him to “give us this bread always”.

Jesus tried to get their attention off of physical bread and onto the true “bread of life.” “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. . . . I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst” (John 6:32-35).

Even after studying the Eucharist, and references to it going all the way back to Abraham, I still only saw the wafer. Then one day as I was walking down the isle, my mind went back to our wedding Mass and the last phrase from the Priest “I pronounce you husband and wife, one in the image of God.”

God created us in his image, that puts us in him. By knowing him and following his will for us, we can put God in us.

Look at the image of Father Michael McGivney. What do you see? Probably not much, because you don’t know him.

When I first met my wife Lolita, I saw a beautiful young woman. After the first few dates, an image started to form in my mind, I saw in her a career woman, and someone who wanted to investigate the world.

Later that image began to change as I saw someone who cared, shared and loved God to the point that I could see Him in her.

Before we can truly see the Body and Blood of Christ in the Eucharist, we must first know Christ. That takes meditating on the scriptures and prayer. Our Blessed Mother helps us with meditation and prayer through the Rosary.