Transubstantiation, Pious Catholics

Maybe this can help a little:
1. Bread and Wine taste like bread and wine and even look like bread and wine because who would like to eat human flesh and drink some blood. It's interesting why many people aren't able to believe that Jesus is able to become like bread and wine (taste and outlook) but remain Flesh, Blood, Deity although the same people believe that God is almighty. So either God is not almighty or He can do it. If God could have changed water into wine and bring to life a dead person and if he was dead and resurrected and multiplied 5 loaves of bread so that 5000 people could have enough food etc. so why couldn't He be able to make transubstantiation. One more miracle.
2. Not only Catholics believe it but all churches which hadn't broken with so called apostolic tradition - which believe that not only the Bible but apostolic teaching gives God's word. (Orthodox Churches, Eastern Orthodox without exception ) so this believe has always been for 2000 years. Only various sects rejected it.
3. Think about this because you have to choose - John 6, 52 - 67: '...Whoever eats my Flesh and drinks my Blood has eternal life ... On hearing it, many of his disciples said, “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it? .... From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.'

So, you have to choose. As you see this problem is 2000 years old. Will you be among the many who cannot accept this or will you accept.

In the same passage Jesus gives the medicine to our disbelief - John 6, 64-65: 'Yet there are some of you who do not believe.... He went on to say, “This is why I told you that no one can come to Me unless the Father has enabled them.'

So, the faith, to believe is God's grace. It's impossible to believe ( especially in something that we cannot see, hear, touch, experience, sense etc.) only using human means like decision of our will, by reading theological contents by talking to priests, by using logical thinking etc.
Which doesn't mean that those things don't help - the decision of our will, reading various sources about transubstantiation , asking priests about it, using logical thinking etc. Yes, they help and they are necessary but they can only help because they are external helps. It's like medicine, pills, syrups - they help provided the body has enough inner power, healing capacity. And we know that without enough inner healing capacity no external medicine can help like in case of very old people or having too many injuries, illnesses etc.

How to get God's grace? Mathew 7,7-8: 'Ask, and it will be given to you....For everyone who asks receives...'
So, technically speaking - pray to believe with all your heart that Bread and Wine is Jesus's Flesh, Blood and Deity. Pray each time you hesitate and pray as long as you hesitate.
I do so each time I start having doubts. I start praying so that I can save or strengthen my faith, believe. Sometimes I must pray longer and many times until the hesitation in faith, belief is over but I must admit - so far prayer has always restored my faith or belief in something specific.

 

I have always been a Catholic so I have always felt very comfortable among aware believers, priests etc. I know and feel their way of thinking, their problems with faith and its application in real life, their weaknesses , strengths etc. So this is my world and I feel comfortable with aware Catholics from various nations etc.
Nevertheless I understand you because it had been some time in my life when I had been fascinated by Orthodox Church. But after I entered an orthodox church I felt uncomfortable, it hadn't been like in a Catholic church - the believers weren't silent before the liturgy, they mostly listened to the choir, crossed themselves many times, the priest behaved 'strangely' etc., I felt out of place. the Orthodox theology had been strange too.
I think if you stay a Catholic you'll get used to Catholics and their clergy but it demands time. The same when we change job, join a sport club, start a course with new people , in the past when we had changed schools... etc.

 

Accepting that the body and blood of Christ is the Eucharist is such a fantastic boost. I hope you will discover it soon. Knowing that the body of the Son of God is in the tabernacle, or on display in a monstrance during Blessed Adoration and ultimately available for us to take inside us through the Sacrament of Communion. Wow! What overwhelming feelings of joy, love, admiration and reverence this knowledge gives me! Wow and Wow!

Perhaps because it happened over 2000 years ago, I find it helpful to remind myself that Christ is not a fictional character but rather the Son of God who walked on the earth in human form. If we are willing to believe it, there is plenty of evidence to support that. If we choose not to believe it there are many evil people who will provide the false claims to bolster their position. Thus, faith begins with a choice to believe the evidence, which is abundant or the naysayers of whom there is no lack.

Once we accept that Christ is truly the Son of God and that He walked the earth. We also see that clearly, the most powerful, intelligent and loving being in the Universe can perform any miracle He chooses. If Christ remained on earth in human form, He would have had the limitations that a human body has, among them, He could not have been present in multiple places at the same time as He is today. However, clearly there was a void in man's heart when Christ ascended to heaven. Consequently, Christ sent His Holy Spirit to inspire us and He also gave us the gift of the Eucharist; the gift of Himself, to feed our souls.

I have experienced some of the uncomfortable feelings you mention when around devout Catholics but these have gone away in time as the desire for holiness has built in my heart. Now, I want to be around people who inspire me, guide me and educate me. Christ is in all of us, but it seems He is closer to the surface in some more than others. Almighty God is a truly awesome being. We could not stand His light to look directly at Him. Equally, being near Him, the one being who knows exactly what is in our hearts, can be unsettling.

 

"The Lamb's Supper" by Scott Hahn was helpful for me, it may be helpful for you. Thanks for sharing/inquiring I had forgotten about this title until I read your post I will read it again.

 

If you can believe that Jesus walked on water, cured the blind, and rose from the dead, then why is it so hard to believe that he is miraculously present in the Eucharist?