July 17-20 the National Eucharistic Congress occurred in Indianapolis.  An estimated 55,000 attended!  These thousands of people gathered for Liturgical prayer together: Mass, Adoration, Eucharistic Processions.  An estimated 40,000 people (including 200 bishops), processed through the streets of Indianapolis in a Eucharistic Procession.  Talk about a major witness to our Catholic Faith!

There were a number of major speakers as well, some well-known speakers like Fr. Mike Schmitz (who did the Bible-in-a-Year podcast), Bishop Robert Barron (Word on Fire), and the actor Jonathan Roumie, who has become famous for playing Jesus on the TV Show, “The Chosen.”  Jonathan Roumie talked about how he had just been filming for the final season of “The Chosen” the scenes of Holy Week, including the Last Supper just before flying out the National Eucharistic Congress, and how filming these has been so meaningful yet stressful because as a Catholic he understands how important these moments of Jesus’ life are, and he wants to portray them with the excellence and respect they deserve.

There were a number of other speakers as well, including a number of nuns, pro-life activist Lila Rose, and a NASA Astronaut Colonel Mike Hopkins.  You can find all these full speeches online, and some of them I shared on our parish Facebook pages.

Amid the many problems we often see in people leaving the faith, of scandals within the church, of secularization of society, of vicious political divisiveness, Bishop Cozzens, one of the main bishops who helped organize the National Eucharistic Congress, called this event “A moment of unity…. What’s beautiful is we are united here with our bishops. It was the bishops who called us together. We are here because we are Catholic and we share the same faith,”

More than 50,000 Catholics from all 50 states who speak more than 40 languages are present at the congress, which features keynote speeches and Eucharistic adoration in the Indianapolis Colts’ Lucas Oil Stadium.

One reporter pointed out that while many events in our national happen to protest against something, this was a gathering that was a gathering for something.  For Jesus Christ, and the way He gifts Himself to us in the Eucharist, a Mystery that is at the heart of our worship, our Faith.

I encourage you to look up some of the video footage of the event and listen to the speakers.  I do believe this is a very historical and important event in the life of the Church in the United States, an event that has still yet more fruit to bear.  It gets me excited and inspired just knowing this event was happening, especially as I watched some of the footage, seeing 50,000 worshiping the Lord in Eucharistic Adoration.

And to pray for the ongoing fruit of this Eucharistic Revival to bring new life to our Church, to our nation, to our world!  Praised be Jesus Christ in the most Holy Sacrament of the Altar!  Now and forever!  Amen!

Peace,

-Fr. Kevin