Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 16, 2022 / 09:02 am (CNA).
When a 2019 Pew survey revealed that 31% of Catholics believe in a basic tenet of their faith — that the Body and Blood of Christ are truly, really, and substantially present in the Eucharist — the U.S. Catholic bishops decided to take action.
At their annual meeting in 2021, the bishops called for a multi-year National Eucharistic Revival to restore and promote an understanding of and devotion to the Eucharist. The initiative will culminate in a National Eucharistic Congress in 2024 which they hope will be attended by over 80,000 Catholics.
A “playbook” for Catholic leaders
As a first step, the team organizing the Revival has released a “playbook” to assist diocesan leaders, priests, and Catholic school administrators in coming up with plans to stoke up fervor for the Eucharist within their communities.
Those leaders, Bishop Andrew Cozzens of Crookston, chairman of the USCCB’s Committee on Evangelization and Catechesis, notes in the preface to “Leader’s Playbook: Year 1,” are called to be “missionary disciples.”
The mission, Cozzens writes, is to “renew the Church by enkindling a living relationship with Jesus Christ in the Eucharist.”
“It’s about a relationship with Jesus”
Having a relationship with Jesus isn’t some new, Father Craig Vasek, a priest of the Diocese of Crookston and a member of the team of priests tasked with helping ignite Eucharistic faith, told CNA.
“It’s something that Jesus asked of us at the beginning. This is what he’s doing with his 12 disciples, and what he wants to show the world,” he said. “He wants to share a living relationship with us, and in no place greater than the Blessed Sacrament.”
For those who are not accustomed to talking about Christ in this way, Vasek says that’s a sign that something has been missing in the way Catholics practice their faith and pass it on to others.
“This has been the cry church for decades, of those who are paying attention, who say, ‘We can’t just do things and promote programs. We have to introduce people to Jesus,” Vasek said. “Pope Benedict was all about how our faith is not a number of ethical principles or something, but it is about a person. It’s about an encounter. It’s about a relationship with Jesus.”
“We all need to get on our knees and say, ‘Lord, I need your grace. I need your forgiveness, and I need your mercy so that I can become more like you, and that I might live more fully in the Holy Spirit.’ I mean, this is what we need.That’s what we’re talking about,” he said.
“So we’re recovering that basic element, we are re-proposing a living relationship with Jesus.”
Practical suggestions for parishes and schools
The playbook includes practical suggestions for fostering personal encounters with Christ in the Eucharist, including Eucharistic processions, retreats on the Eucharist, and “Mercy Nights,” evenings of adoration, music, and fellowship.
One of the suggestions was for parishes to request a visit of the relics of Bl. Carlo Acutis and St. Manuel Gonzalez Garcia, special intercessors for the Revival.
Vacek’s parish in Minnesota recently hosted the relics for an evening of adoration, confession, and veneration.
“A bunch of people afterwards commented that this was such a transformational night, with such a Catholic feel. ” Vacek said. “It’s one thing that we were able to do that was an evening of great grace,” he said.
Suggestions for “reinvigorating devotion” in the playbook included sharing inspiring stories about the Eucharist, including testimonials from people in the diocese, stories of Eucharistic miracles, and the transformative power of the Eucharist in the lives of saints. Promoting the practice of short visits to the Blessed Sacrament, and instructing the faithful on how to make a Holy Hour were also recommended.
Offering programs to teach the faithful about the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist, and how to “open oneself more fully to the grace of receiving Jesus in Holy Communion” were among the suggestions for ways to deepen formation.
The executive team of the National Eucharistic Revival will soon make available additional resources for Catholic leaders and all lay people at their website, www.EucharisticRevival.org. Register for the free “Heart of the Revival” newsletter to stay informed about events related to the Revival and new materials for formation and inspiration.
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It is my great hope that this endeavor will be successful beyond our wildest dreams, but I hold some reservations. What I have read so far does not allay my fears. While a “personal relationship” with Jesus sounds great, you still have to make a big distinction between the Protestant understanding of a personal relationship and the Catholic understanding.
Without delving deeply into the theology behind covenants of salt (and the biological sciences necessary to support that understanding), the effort will likely fall short of persuading non-Catholics. We must be able to show spiritual and physical reasons why we must eat that REAL food and drink that REAL drink. We must show reasons why a nuptial union is not merely a symbolic one-flesh union. The the biblical and scientific information is available to make such a case. But will the Church avail itself of those resources? I certainly hope so.
Your question and urgings are of the best order. When we know the truth, the truth will set us free. Remembering that God is a Spirit and those who worship Him must do so in Spirit and truth.
Brian, here is an example of what I would hope becomes a part of the teachings relative to the Eucharist. Science now knows that the human heart affects the function of every cell of the body. The electromagnetic field generated by the pulsating heart is so powerful, it extends three feet out from the body. There are currently two Eucharistic miracle in which the host in the monstrance changed into the beating heart of Jesus for about 20 to 30 seconds. In the videos, one can actually see the light it generated. In a mystical experience, St. Gertrude was taken by St. John the Evangelist to lay her head on the chest of our Savior. Both explained how the pulsations of His physical heart penetrated and affected their spiritual souls.
There are so many avenues available to teach the necessity and benefits of the Eucharist – body and soul.
What could be better?
Revelation 3:20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.
Romans 5:8 But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
1 John 5:11-12 And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.
Mark 3:14 And he appointed twelve (whom he also named apostles) so that they might be with him and he might send them out to preach
Let us rejoice in the blessed name of Jesus.
All well and good, this playbook…
But, what if bishops (Successors of the Apostles who are more than synodal “facilitators”) and priests (extensions of their bishops, rather than community-based “presiders”)—What if forthright bishops and priests simply preached with conviction the content of the Catechism regarding the Real Presence (n. 1374)?
What if? And, related to which, the profound necessity of an interior and sacramental life (especially in this distracted and scandalized age), including personal conversion and Penance (aka Reconciliation)?
What if? The mystery of the Mass, fully offered as BOTH the Sacrifice of divine self-donation AND, then, as our less perfunctory Thanksgiving?
What if? From local experience it takes about ten minutes, now and repeated more than once, with the evangelizing focus placed on, yes, “Gospel values” but, firstly, on the incarnate (!) Christ as the “Word made flesh,” and only then as proclaimed in the words of the Gospel. What if something more than only synodality, or past decades of dumbing-down?
What if? Then a very secondary dithering with management stuff, letterhead and monitored delegation to chancery office cubicles, and a playbook on what TO DO. All of this, less central than what the Church actually IS BY ITS NATURE—a universal Eucharistic assembly rather than a collage of localized congregations.