“To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible.” – St. Thomas Aquinas

The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) 1324 states, “The Eucharist is the ‘source and summit of the Christian life. … For in the blessed Eucharist is contained the whole spiritual good of the Church, namely Christ himself, our Pasch.’”

St. Thomas Aquinas in his masterpiece, Summa Theologiae, in the section labeled as the Holy Eucharist, answers 11 questions devoting more than 50 articles with three or more objections with answers to each. More than 150 separate arguments on the Eucharist! On the question of Real Presence, he devotes eight articles, again arguing against three to four objections each.

We have God’s Word, which is and always has been enough.

We have Eucharistic miracles (God’s work).

One might be tempted to ask what more can be said regarding Real Presence. It seems the proper path is to examine what more must be done to reverse the trend of the lack of belief in Real Presence.

“At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, ‘Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?’ And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them, and said, ‘Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child, he is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven.’” (Matthew 18:1-4)

Perhaps we need to (re)visit becoming like children. What does that mean? It means to cultivate an inner humility and faith (trust) in God (cf. CCC 526).

All of us having been children, we know (hindsight being 20/20) for our good we had to trust in our parents, or even older siblings, to begin to grasp and understand what was true and good.

We are, and always will be, God’s children. We need to exhibit that childlike faith (trust) in God.  Unlike our parents, or we as parents, God gets it right all the time.

When we talk about or explain our Catholic faith, we probably should begin with the childlike.  What does that mean?

Just as a math teacher would want their students to master addition and subtraction before moving on to multiplication and division, we wouldn’t want to “hit” people with Real Presence right away. Real Presence takes time and patience to properly lay out. To achieve greater knowledge and understanding requires an initial foundation of knowledge and understanding.

Another aspect of being childlike is that we must take the necessary steps, we must work, knowing there aren’t shortcuts to a fruitful faith life. Everyone’s cross is going to be different, but you must take it up.

What do I mean? You must live a sacramental life. Mass as often as you can make it. Regular confession and reconciliation. You need to establish a holy habit with daily Scripture reading and prayer. If you need confirmation, get it. An annulment? As difficult as it is, great peace accompanies it. I know.

It bears repeating from Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI), in Gospel, Catechesis, Catechism, “Faith is not maintained automatically. It is not a ‘finished business’ that we can simply take for granted. The life of faith has to be constantly renewed.”

I’d like to close this column and my Eucharistic series with a story from Flannery O’Connor, recounted to a friend (edited for brevity). O’Connor was a famous author whose writings often reflected her Catholic faith.

“I was taken by some friends to dinner. One of them departed the Church at the age of 15 and is a Big Intellectual. I hadn’t opened my mouth once, there being nothing for me in such company to say. Having me there was like having a dog present who had been tra ined to say a few words.

“Well, toward morning the conversation turned on the Eucharist, which I, being the Catholic, was obviously supposed to defend. Mrs. Broadwater said when she was a child and received the Host, she (later) thought of it as a symbol and implied that it was a pretty good one. 

“I then said, in a very shaky voice, ‘Well, if it’s a symbol, to hell with it.’ That was all the defense I was capable of, but I realize now that this is all I will ever be able to say about it, outside of a story, except that it is the center of existence for me; all the rest is expendable.”