by-grace-of-god:

ei-dolon:

    →   “Well, toward morning the conversation turned on the Eucharist, which I, being the Catholic, was obviously supposed to defend. [Mary McCarthy] said when she was a child and received the Host, she thought of it as the Holy Ghost, He being the ‘most portable’ person of the Trinity; now she thought of it as a symbol and implied that it was a pretty good one. I then said, in a very shaky voice, ‘Well, if it’s a symbol, to hell with it.’ That was all the defense I was capable of but I realize now that this is all I will ever be able to say about it, outside of a story, except that it is the center of existence for me; all the rest of life is expendable.”

– Flannery O’Connor 

“If these are just sacred symbols, then Catholics are not only idolaters but they’re the stupidest idolaters in history. They’re bowing down to bread and they’re worshiping wine thinking that it’s Almighty God. How could they be that stupid? And more importantly, how could the Holy Spirit fall asleep for 1500 years and wait until the Protestant Reformers to tell us that that was a mistake. On the other hand, if the Catholics are right, then we Protestants who don’t believe in the real presence are missing out on the most amazing and astounding and intimate union with God that is possible in this life.”

– Peter Kreeft