Transubstantiation is an especially nasty filthy concept.. that makes a mockery out of Jesus' metaphor.. Talk about "SPIN"... The RCC is just filled to the brim with nasty concepts.. I won't get into the "Mary thing"..
I have struggled over the years trying to see catholic spin and tolerate Roman Catholic doctines.. because of some Roman Catholics known to me that I prefer to tolerate, that I love.. I really need love for the others.. maybe its just the organization I am offended at.. At least that is my hope..
The more I know of many Roman Catholic doctrines and traditions the more nasty and filthy they seem.. By the way I'm not real happy with so-called protestant churchs either.. almost all of them.. I tolerate a few sometimes..
Transubstantiation
"This is my body" and "he who gnaws on my flesh ... has everlasitng life and I will raise him up" is all you need there.
I hope this is it. The Eucharist is opposite of how you describe it and has been the focus of Christian worship since the beginning. If you read the very earliest fathers you will see it there.
To me, as a sacrament, it would be like calling baptism or marriage 'filthy'. I'm not doubting your statement, but I can't see this conclusion from one who truly receives the sacrament.
I would hate to jump to conclusions here, but is it fair to say you find something objectionable in the doctrine of Transubstantiation? I don't know, I just had a feeling. ;-)
Have you checked out Aquinas on that? I ask because it will be easier to wholeheartedly reject it if you're sure what it is. And there are some misunderstandings.
Oh my, dearest brother in Christ, how carnally-minded you seem in these remarks! [WRT the spirit/donkey metaphor, who is riding whom here?] Of all people, I'd have thought you among the first to appreciate an absolutely rip-roaring divine miracle. As in "Isn't God cool or what?"
Just to remind you that God and His providential plan cannot be reduced to human (carnally-minded) categories of explanation. This is not to say that God is "unreasonable." There would be no reason in the world absent the Logos -- the Son, the Word of the Beginning, the Alpha and the Omega, the sacrificial Lamb of God, who paid the penalty for human sin thus giving each one of us a new start in the Life of the Spirit of God, mediator and comforter, so to be restored to our Father in the Holy Name of His Son: As the proverb of the Prodigal Son details, in the Body of Christ born of Christian Love ("born again" and ever renewed in faith, hope, and charity).
If you think I'm out of line here, then we need to talk! Meanwhile, I love you guy!