The miraculous change by which according to Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox dogma the Eucharistic elements at their consecration become the body and blood of Christ while keeping only the appearances of bread and wine…

Can you tell me the word that was defined above?  That one word separates most of Protestant Christianity from the Catholic Church.  That one word is given to us by Jesus in yesterday’s Gospel taken from the 6th chapter of John’s gospel…

For my flesh is true food,
and my blood is true drink.
Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood
remains in me and I in him. 

As he was saying this, many of the Jews – many of His disciples – were murmuring among themselves…

Then many of his disciples who were listening said, “This saying is hard; who can accept it?”

Since Jesus knew that his disciples were murmuring about this, he said to them, “Does this shock you?

And here is where our faith separates us from many other Protestant faiths.  The Catholic faith truly believes in transubstantiation, that miraculous change by which the consecrated bread and wine become the body and blood of Christ – not a symbolic representation but the real presence of Christ.  Not one time did Jesus lead us to believe that the bread and wine should merely be a symbol.  As a matter of fact, He reiterated the fact more than once in this reading from John.  So hard was this reality that many of the disciples following Him could not accept that belief and left to go back to the their former way of life…

66  As a result of this, many [of] his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him.

So, the question for the day is – do you truly believe in transubstantiation?  Take some time to think about this.  Do you truly believe that that simple host you are eating is the true body and blood, soul and divinity of Christ Himself?  Are you looking for something greater than that simple host?  Something more magnificent?  So were the Jews.  God comes to us in very simple forms.  A baby in a manger; a simple carpenter from Nazareth; a drop of rain or a grain of sand – a simple piece of unleavened bread.  Praise Him whenever you find Him in anything small.

Do something great for our Lord today – BELIEVE.

God’s will, not mine, be done.

Be not afraid; just have faith.

Jesus, I trust in You.

Another song from the past – Wonder-ful World by James Thiem 1966