There is Much Hope: My Experience at the National Eucharistic Congress
A couple of weeks ago in Indianapolis, IN, 60,000 Catholics gathered together for a five-day National Eucharistic Congress. I was blessed to be one of them. If I were to describe my experience in three words it would be this: foretaste of Heaven. Being amongst such a vast number of people with the common goal of worshiping and growing in love for Our Lord was truly a taste of the eternity that awaits us.
At the Congress, I witnessed the Church in America address the widespread lack of devotion in the Real Presence, Christ’s Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity. The thousands of bishops, priests, brothers, deacons, seminarians, and sisters on fire with love for Our Lord reignited my own flame of devotion. Over the past couple of months, Eucharistic processions have been ongoing from the four corners of the United States. On the evening of July 17th, 2024, these four processions found their final destination in Lucas Oil Stadium. Bishop Andrew Cozzins, chairman of the Eucharistic Congress, processed into the vast, nearly-silent NFL stadium with Our Lord in the monstrance that was blessed by our Holy Father. I was filled with awe for the sheer gift of the Eucharist. Though I was kneeling amidst tens of thousands, I felt that it was only Christ and me in the room. It was surreal. I write this to bring you hope from a firsthand witness. There is hope for our Church, there is a resurgence of reverence and an ever-growing appreciation for the beauty that our Church’s traditions are full of. As someone in my early twenties, I look to the future with excitement and assurance that Mother Church is experiencing a true revival.
On July 20th, the Eucharist was processed through downtown Indianapolis, often coined as “the crossroads of America,” leading a crowd of about 70,000. The procession ended at the war memorial located in the center of the city. There was Jesus, in the center of the memorial surrounded by cardinals, archbishops, and bishops overlooking the massive crowd. I was brought to tears looking at the monstrance, thinking “This is what it is all about.” Our fleeting life finds its purpose in worshiping God in all we do, in realizing that we are always called to walk one step behind Jesus, eagerly following His promptings, and trusting in His love for us. The Eucharistic Congress was a profound reminder of this. Whether you were able to attend or not, I ask you, what can you give God today to make yourself more available to Him and to the beautiful life He is calling you into? A life that He desires to enter into with you by entering into you in the Most Blessed Sacrament.
In the words of Mother Olga of the Sacred Heart, “We have Jesus and no one can take Him away from us.” This was a theme that was echoed throughout the Congress. Walk into a Protestant worship center and what do you not find? A tabernacle. It is Catholics who have the unique gift of hosting Our Lord in the Holy Eucharist in all of our churches across the world. It is Catholics who have the greatest gift in the world, and it is our responsibility to share this gift with others. Having been given the privilege of hosting the “source and summit of our faith” (cf., Sacrosanctum Concilium, 10), it is our mission to walk with those that do not yet know of such a gift. The Holy Eucharist is both a sign and a cause of unity (cf., CCC, 1398). It is our duty to bring others into communion with the Church, precisely through intimacy with Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, the highest level of closeness we can achieve with Him on this earthly pilgrimage.
Remembering Father Alphonse de Valk
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Divine Mercy Sunday – An Echo of Every Mass
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Saint Stanislaus of Szczepanów
We celebrate Saint Stanislaus today (+ April 11, 1079), in light of this Easter Octave, a bishop and martyr who accepted the episcopacy only at the direct order of Pope Alexander II. He proved a wise and courageous leader of his flock, put to death by his own king, Boleslaus, for rebuking the monarch’s ‘immoral[…]Continue reading→
First Holy Communion: Sermon from May 16, 1943
Here is a sermon from the good old days by +Rev. Msgr. Vincent Nicholas Foy (August 14, 1915 – March 13, 2017), from 1943. Readers may recall that Pope Saint Pius X, by the decree Quam Singulari in 1910, lowered the customary age of reception of Holy Communion – after the rigours of the plague[…]Continue reading→
In the Glorious Light of Easter, Alleluia!
Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory (Col. 3:3-4). The Resurrection of Our Lord and Saviour[…]Continue reading→
An Ancient Homily for Holy Saturday
The time between Good Friday and Easter Sunday is one of waiting, in silence, as the world wonders – anticipates – what will happen, after the death of Christ. We re-live this time each year in the anamnesis of our liturgy, and in turn look forward to the glorious re-creation of all things at the[…]Continue reading→
Europe’s Long Descent
(As we meditate on this day on Christ’s burial, and His descent into hell, it is fitting to ponder here with contributor Peter Marcus how the world seems to be heading there as well. The difference is that, although God cannot ‘redeem’ hell, nor those therein, He can and did redeem the world. There is[…]Continue reading→
Pope Saint John Paul II’s First Good Friday Homily
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A Meditation for Good Friday: How To Undo the Effects of Sin?
Cardinal Newman, now Saint John Henry Newman, was a towering figure of nineteenth-century Catholicism who is almost universally admired. I say “almost” because not everyone likes him. I knew a priest once, Arthur Caulkins, who has become disenchanted with Newman. As an undergraduate Arthur had been enamoured of Newman, and this interest continued when he[…]Continue reading→
Pope Benedict’s Last Holy Thursday Homily
MASS OF THE LORD’S SUPPER HOMILY OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI Basilica of St John Lateran Holy Thursday, 5 April 2012 Photo Gallery (Video) Dear Brothers and Sisters! Holy Thursday is not only the day of the institution of the Most Holy Eucharist, whose splendour bathes all else and in some ways draws it to[…]Continue reading→