JenB:
That is precisely the problem, the We are the Church is a stupid hym and has no place in Catholic worship.
As for prayers, the entire Liturgy is a prayer and contains beautiful prayers, Kyrie, Gloria, Creed, Agnus Dei along with the entire Canon of the Mass, the Lords Prayer. If the Homily is 15 minutes of nothing, then that is the problem with the Priest and I am sorry that is what you had to deal with.
And yes, I do believe the partaking of the Eucharist is communion with the Body and Blood of the Lord and it is a sacrament of his Body and Blodd that is, it is a visible sign of an invisible reality, i.e. Grace.
Just saying, there’s more reasons to not be spiritually filled in a Catholic mass than just that there aren’t enough pyrotechnics.
And not to get too specific about doctrines because that’s not on this thread but as a Reformed Christian I believe in partaking the body and blood through communion as well; I have a disagreement with your theology about the mechanics involved as well as the sacrifice aspects but don’t think that you’re the only ones who consider communion a sacrament.