INDIANAPOLIS–Patrick Madrid, host of The Patrick Madrid Show on Relevant Radio and parishioner at Columbus St. Patrick Church, spoke during a breakout session at the 10th National Eucharistic Congress.
The radio host answered questions live as part of the session titled “Relevant Radio Presents….” The session, held in the Indianapolis Convention Center on Friday, July 19, was attended by approximately 5,000 individuals.
Madrid, an acclaimed public speaker and author or editor of 26 books, answered questions ranging from prayers for adult children who have left the faith to prefiguration of the Eucharist in the Old Testament.
An individual from Pittsburgh asked Madrid how “regular, normal Catholics show or explain their love for the Eucharist as the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus to help inspire others?”
Madrid, who has a degree in philosophy and master’s in theology from the Pontifical College Josephinum, answered that attending the National Eucharistic Congress is a way to bear witness.
“What we’re doing right now,” he said, “by gathering together in the National Eucharistic Congress to show Jesus our love and to show each other, ‘Hey, it’s not just you.’ There’s a lot of us here, and we think about all the other people who are back at home.”
More than 60,000 individuals total attended the five-day congress in Indianapolis from July 17 to July 21. The congress is part of a three-year Eucharistic revival taking place in the Catholic Church.
Madrid suggested other ways to demonstrate love for the Eucharist: wear a lapel pin of a monstrance with a white host in the center; personally invite an individual to Mass who has never attended or fallen away; or display a picture of the Holy Eucharist in a work office or cubicle.
An individual from Green Bay, Wisconsin asked Madrid for examples of prefiguration of the Eucharist in the Old Testament.
Madrid offered the tree of knowledge of good and evil mentioned in the Book of Genesis as an example. He said the fruit on the tree was the poison that destroyed the human race through sin.
“Now, let’s compare that tree and that fruit and the tree of Calvary, the cross, and on the tree of Calvary, the cross, hung the fruit of our redemption – Jesus Christ – and He comes to us in the Holy Eucharist in the form of bread and wine,” he said.
“When we eat the fruit of the cross, it heals the wound that was caused by the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil in the Garden of Eden.”
An attendee from Louisiana asked Madrid for suggestions of prayers to pray for adult children who are not practicing the Catholic faith.
He recommended praying the Divine Mercy Chaplet for them. Parents can also suggest the chaplet to their children as an option to pray during a difficult time, which, in turn, he said, could lead to their conversion or reversion.