In November 2021, the U.S. bishops called for a “three-year grassroots revival of devotion and belief in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist.” According to the website, eucharisticrevival.org, “these three years will culminate in the first National Eucharistic Congress in the United States in almost fifty years.”
This gathering will take place July 17-21, 2024, in Indianapolis as a joyous conclusion to the preparation beginning this June 19 on the Feast of Corpus Christi.
The Diocese of Columbus has already begun its emphasis on a return to the splendor and joy of being with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament through its 40 Days of Adoration, begun by Bishop Robert Brennan in 2021, and continued this Lent.
The first year of the preparation, the Diocesan Year of Eucharistic Revival, takes place from June 19 to June 11, 2023. The second year, June 2023-July 17, 2024, is the Parish Year of Eucharistic Revival.
Blessed Carlo Acutis, a recently beatified teenager, is the patron saint of the first year of the revival. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) document, “The Mystery of the Eucharist in the Life of the Church,” called Blessed Carlo “an apostle of the Eucharist through the internet” and quotes his words: “The Eucharist is my highway to heaven.”
More details on the plans for revival can be found on the USCCB website, in the Committee for Evangelization & Catechesis presentation made by Bishop Andrew Cozzens and titled “My Flesh for the Life of the World.”
The Easter season is an ideal time to reflect on how we are coming before the risen Lord in the Holy Eucharist to receive His mercy.
There is a great need to receive the Lord and His mercy in the Eucharist. As Pope St. John Paul II wrote: “The Church and the world have a great need of eucharistic worship.” (Dominicae Cenae, 1980, 3)
John Paul II calls Eucharistic worship the “soul of all Christian life” and the “expression of that love which is the authentic and deepest characteristic of the Christian vocation.” (Dominicae Cenae, 3)
The heart and soul of Christian life is found in the Eucharist, an unending fountain of the love and mercy of Christ. What grace and treasure wait for all!
We should never tire of wondering at the abundant generosity of God, remaining humbly with us in the Eucharist.
John Paul II hoped to see this revival as part of the new evangelization. He wrote: “I would like to rekindle this Eucharistic amazement. … The Church draws her life from Christ in the Eucharist; by him she is fed and by him she is enlightened.” (Ecclesia de Eucharistia, 2003, 6)
The Most Holy Trinity chose a mysterious plan for our salvation that includes Jesus remaining with us on earth through the Holy Eucharist. We are never alone.
John Paul II reminds us that our life with Christ, begun in baptism, takes on a deep sharing with His life in sacramental communion: “We can say not only that each of us receives Christ, but also that Christ receives each of us. … Eucharistic communion brings about in a sublime way the mutual “abiding” of Christ and each of his followers: ‘Abide in me, and I in you.’ (John 15:4).” (Ecclesia de Eucharistia, 22)
As the Easter season recalls the power of Christ’s rising from the dead and breathing the mercy of His Holy Spirit upon us, let us reflect: How are we making time to allow Jesus to love us in the Holy Eucharist? How are we turning to Jesus, to receive His mercy and to renew our friendship with Him?
As we deepen our love and friendship with Jesus, we will be strengthened to bring this peace and consolation to our friends and family. We know how much our loved ones need Jesus. Let us bring Him to them.
Let us remember that we are all on our own pilgrimage to heaven, which occurs in God’s own time. As we journey, we can look forward to joining our brothers and sisters in Christ on a shared pilgrimage to a national revival in 2024.
Sister John Paul Maher, OP, is the principal at Worthington St. Michael School and a member of the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist.