After my divorce (without an annulment in the Church), I remember feeling like a kid looking through the candy store window, unable to partake in the sacrament. I felt I was missing out on something very dear and important in my life. Subsequently, I received an annulment and married my current husband in the Catholic Church. Now, able to again receive, I feel that I am a child of God. I feel loved. I love to hear the priest retell us the story of the Last Supper at each Mass. When he invites us all to the table, I feel the presence of Jesus. This makes me remember every day how God wants us to treat others — the great commandment. He truly is the bread that sustains me. 

Now that I am able to receive the Eucharist again, there are times when I can feel a light spread throughout my body, starting in my heart and passing out my fingertips. I know that the Lord is helping heal and cleanse my heart. 

I love the closeness to Jesus and God that I feel at Mass. I know the Real Presence. I try to go to daily Mass at least three times a week because I love to hear the Gospel. I love to pray with other Catholics and feel the power of the words as we say them together. I feel sorrow that my sins held Jesus on the cross as surely as the nails did. I feel joy that my sins can be forgiven and I can be washed clean in the Lord. 

When I’m before the Blessed Sacrament, I love the brotherhood and sisterhood of praying with others and the relationship we have with Jesus, as God our Father wants us to have. Just being...and being with Jesus. I feel thankful...and loved.