Journeys Home by Marcus Grodi

sacraments are but empty symbols and do not
communicate power. Yet I kept finding Scripture passages that
indicated they were intended to contain power. For example, in
1 Corinthians 11:27 and John chapter 6, it is very clear we are
talking about the reality of Jesus' Body and Blood in the Eucharist
and not just symbolic ideas.
    I eventually found passages for each of the seven sacraments that
indicated the same reality. From my Protestant prospective, these
verses weren't supposed to be there.
    Another associated issue (particularly difficult for a Protestant
to deal with) is Eucharistic adoration. As I was getting closer
to becoming Catholic, our spiritual director, who was also our
referee in marriage, strongly encouraged me to spend some time
in Eucharistic adoration. Having never done this, let alone considered
doing it, I asked him what one did in Eucharistic adoration. He
said, "Just talk to Jesus."
    Most cradle Catholics may not understand how difficult it is for
Protestant converts to practice Eucharistic adoration. In many
Protestants' eyes, this is out-and-out idolatry. But having received
this instruction from a man of my spiritual director's stature,
I couldn't escape.
    So I went into the chapel with my Bible, really irritated but
obedient. I decided that if this devotional practice had any validity
whatsoever, there must be something about it in Scripture. Turning
to the explicit Eucharistic passages, I started reading John chapter
6 and was shocked.
    Just before the section where Jesus talks explicitly about eating
His flesh and drinking His blood, I found a passage that is suggestive
of Eucharistic adoration. John 6:40 reads: "For this is the will
of My Father, that every one who sees the Son and believes in
Him should have eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last
day." Now, when do you and I see Jesus?
    I have to testify to you that since that day, I have found my
times of Eucharistic adoration to be incredibly fruitful, insightful
times of grace. The entire aspect of the sacraments and the power
of the Eucharist in Catholic tradition have been personally overwhelming.
MY WIFE'S ROLE
    Maybe one of the most important issues very central to my own
heart that led to my conversion was marriage and sexuality. We
worked hard in my Protestant congregation to build strong Christian
marriages. From the pulpit and the classroom we offered lots of
Christian formation, Bible study, marriage formation, and marriage
enrichment. I became increasingly uneasy, however, as I realized
that the resources and foundational concepts I was promoting,
though they were scriptural, tended to be Catholic.
    For example, St. Thomas Aquinas taught that the family is an incomplete
society needing the state for its support in temporal matters
and the Church for its support in spiritual matters. One of the
implications of this teaching is that a husband and wife should
not expect to carry all the emotional and spiritual weight of
a marriage. There is simply too much going on between a husband
and wife -- and there was too much going on between Pat and me.
    Pat has a strong personality although she looks very gentle. You
just don't want to get her angry. One evening, we were having
one of our serious disagreements. I had been preaching this stuff
on marriage, saying that every couple needs to have a spiritual
director or someone they can have as an impartial, informed third
party for difficult times.
    That night, she looked at me and said, "Why don't you do what
you preach?" Recognizing that she had me, I said okay, and that's
how our Jesuit spiritual adviser entered our life.
    I found myself casting about looking for wherever I could find
truth. Of course, Scripture was most generally present, but when
you're living with a Catholic, you look at every other option
first. And though Pat was gracious and patient, she also had a
good strategy.
    About once every six months, when I was having a difficult pastoral
or maybe counseling