Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Can you spell transubstantiation?


"Well, if it's a symbol, to hell with it"
Catholic author Flannery O'Connor,
on the Eucharist, to her friend Mary McCarthy



The other day I shared lyrics from the Catholic missionary singer Danielle Rose.

Today I'm posting a YouTube video of Danielle speaking about her journey in understanding the Eucharist during her college years at the University of Notre Dame. In it Danielle talks about what it means to truly believe that Jesus is "really there" in the Eucharist--and about how receiving Jesus means receiving each other when we receive the Eucharist.

Danielle Rose explains what it means to "see you in the Eucharist" [2007]

Perhaps the most provoking insight about the Eucharist that Danielle has shared with me through her music comes from the song "Reason to Believe," where she states:
"Transubstantiation must occur with each person that I meet."
If we truly believe it is Jesus in the Eucharist, Danielle proposes, it changes everything. It MUST change everything about our relationship with others:
"I become His hands,
I walk with His feet.
Transubstantiation must occur
with each person that I meet.
Thy kingdom come and live today in me."


2 comments:

  1. This is why I do not think that I could ever not be Catholic - the Eucharist. To whom or where would we go, Lord?

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  2. I feel exactly that way, too, Fran! That's why I love that quote from Flannery so much.

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