[caww]

The reality is; the idea combined with matter may make a change 'in your head' but it's the same old thing you started with...The matter doesn't change...The substance doesn't change no matter how vivid the idea is...

This reminds me of those who have out of the body experiences via meditation and any other venue they "believe" they are experiencing. It is very much a spiritual experience to them as well..... Further...It is so important, I think, to grasp that these things are truly 'believed' by those who practice, not simply that they are taught...be it Catholics or any within a religious group or whereever the setting might be.

[Mad Dawg]

It is wearying to go over the same ground again and again.

We openly, frankly, straightforwardly claim that the change in the Eucharist is imperceptible. It's not an 'experience', any more than the identity of someone who is too far away to distinguish is an experience. It could look like Joe but really be Bill.

I already quoted the hymn, Pange Lingua:

Praestet fides supplementum
Sensuum defectui.

Let faith make up for the deficiency of the senses.

And earlier

Et si sensus deficit
Ad firmandum cor sincerum
Sola fides sufficit.

And since sense is lacking, faith alone suffices to strengthen the sincere heart.

There's little to nothing there about experience, vivid or not.

I want to stress that understanding Aquinas is not necessary to salvation (or heaven would be a kind of lonely place ...)

Almost anyone can say, "I believe Jesus gives Himself to be here in this 'pretend' meal. He is here." That, I think, is the faith Aquinas is singing about.