Finding My Way Home: The Eucharist drew me back [Johnnie Bernhard]

Finding My Way Home

The Eucharist drew me back.

By: Johnnie Bernhard

I was baptized in the Catholic Church as an infant. My family later left the Church, and it took me fifty years to find my way home. Through all those years, I never forgot the peace I found in the Eucharist.

Even as a practicing Protestant most of my adult life, I continued to search out Catholic churches wherever I lived, hiding in a pew in the back of the church, always a spectator, always longing to recapture the peace I found in the Eucharist.

I could never really put into words why I continued to seek the Eucharist. I was too afraid, unsure of my reasons for being there. It took me almost a lifetime to understand those reasons, with the only true explanation being that the Holy Spirit worked through many people to lead me home.

My Protestant family initially thought that my return to the Catholic Church was due to a mid-life crisis. But for me, it was part of a spiritual journey, a tremendous shedding of my ego and my fear of living as God’s child. At one point, I clearly remember thinking, It doesn’t matter what people say. This is between God and me.

My husband of thirty years, a Methodist since birth, never once questioned me, but simply walked hand and hand with me to Mass. Quiet and unassuming was his love for me. That support and love served as a daily reminder of Christ’s commandment for us, “Love one another, as I love you (John 15:12).”

My brother, a man of deep faith, did question my return to the Catholic Church. He and I were raised in a Bible-centered home. Our mother was a humble woman of tremendous faith who served the Baptist Church in our community until the day she died.

And so, my brother wondered. Was I was returning to the Catholic Church because people were nice to me there? Was it because it was so close to my house? I uttered one word to him—peace. That ended his confusion, because as a Christian, he understood the peace found in Christ. “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid (John 14:27).”

My brother attended my Confirmation. He gave me a rosary as a gift. He was happy for me, as were my husband and adult children. This journey led me to live Christ’s love with new friendships, restored relationships, and countless blessings.

Perhaps the greatest blessing was the marriage of my daughter, also a recent convert.
On a beautiful September morning in an ancient Catholic Church in Ireland, my daughter was married to a kind, faith-filled man. To participate in the nuptial Mass by carrying the Eucharistic gifts, the body and blood of Christ, was a tremendous honor for me.

God’s grace continues to abound in my life through the extraordinary friendships I have made in RCIA and Cursillo. I can’t remember how these friendships were initiated, but it doesn’t matter. I recall, though, how the parish priest began coming to our home unannounced for tea. After several months I realized that he asked for nothing; he had no hidden agenda. He was offering me his friendship through the love of Christ. It is very natural for me to call him Father, as it is for my family who welcomes him once a week in our home. He continues to support our daily lives with prayers, Scripture, and friendship.

I am not a perfect Christian. I falter many days, and I struggle with the tremendous burden of being all too human in an imperfect world, but I know that each week, I am called to receive God’s gifts in the Eucharist. The gift of the Eucharist, as well as his gifts of forgiveness and peace, is for all of us. They are a balm to my soul. I have found my way home.

The Eucharist is the center and substance of all that Christ taught and his apostles followed. Deny the real Presence of the Christ in the Eucharist, and all faith in anything and everything else is theater. This goes for the followers of Jeremiah Wright or any other.

The bread and wine are symbolic of His flesh and blood. There isn't any biblical support for any other interpretation.

23For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread,

24and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.”

25In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.”

26For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

27So then, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord.

This is crazy fundamentalism. Not only is there Biblical support for this belief, then was the tradition of the early Church. Reaffirmed by the early Church fathers, and the saints and martyrs.

Again and Again Jesus confirmed this view.

Jesus first repeated what he said, then summarized: “‘I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if any one eats of this bread, he will live for ever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh.’ The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, ‘How can this man give us his flesh to eat?’” (John 6:51–52).

His listeners were stupefied because now they understood Jesus literally—and correctly. He again repeated his words, but with even greater emphasis, and introduced the statement about drinking his blood: “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you; he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him” (John 6:53–56).

Christ made No effort to correct any misunderstanding or doubt about this,

Notice that Jesus made no attempt to soften what he said, no attempt to correct “misunderstandings,” for there were none. Our Lord’s listeners understood him perfectly well. They no longer thought he was speaking metaphorically. If they had, if they mistook what he said, why no correction?

On other occasions when there was confusion, Christ explained just what he meant (cf. Matt. 16:5–12). Here, where any misunderstanding would be fatal, there was no effort by Jesus to correct. Instead, he repeated himself for greater emphasis.

In John 6:60 we read: “Many of his disciples, when they heard it, said, ‘This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?’” These were his disciples, people used to his remarkable ways. He warned them not to think carnally, but spiritually: “It is the Spirit that gives life, the flesh is of no avail; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life” (John 6:63; cf. 1 Cor. 2:12–14).

But he knew some did not believe. (It is here, in the rejection of the Eucharist, that Judas fell away; look at John 6:64.) “After this, many of his disciples drew back and no longer went about with him” (John 6:66).

This is the only record we have of any of Christ’s followers forsaking him for purely doctrinal reasons. If it had all been a misunderstanding, if they erred in taking a metaphor in a literal sense, why didn’t he call them back and straighten things out? Both the Jews, who were suspicious of him, and his disciples, who had accepted everything up to this point, would have remained with him had he said he was speaking only symbolically.

But he did not correct these protesters. Twelve times he said he was the bread that came down from heaven; four times he said they would have “to eat my flesh and drink my blood.” John 6 was an extended promise of what would be instituted at the Last Supper—and it was a promise that could not be more explicit. This is why there is Catholicism and 35,000 errant brands of Christianity from Jim Jones to David Koresh and Billy Graham to Rev. Wright. Of course with varying degrees of error.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.