In Focus
Divine Invitation National Eucharistic Revival: Rekindling a relationship with Jesus BY EMMALEE ITALIA Contributing Editor
T
he National Eucharistic Revival and its opportunities for renewing devotion to the Blessed Sacrament are less about what we Catholics want to do and more about what Jesus wants to do through us. “Jesus wants us to enter into this dynamic and dramatic love story. … Jesus wants to change the world,” wrote David Spesia, executive director of the secretariat of evangelization and catechesis for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, in an article for Our Sunday Visitor on embracing the “Eucharistic dynamic.”
“... go and bring that message that you heard to everyone that you will meet.” “Why now?” asks the National Eucharistic Revival website. “Because the Church needs healing. And the world needs Jesus.” Listing scandal, division, disease and doubt among the challenges of Church history, the website continues, “today we confront all of them, at once. Our response in this moment is pivotal.” With the second of its three-year celebration nearly complete, the revival will launch its third and final year with a focus on evangelization, beginning with a gathering in Indianapolis for a National Eucharistic Congress July 17-21. 24 THE MONITOR MAGAZINE
Leading up to that Congress is a National Eucharistic Pilgrimage, which will join thousands of people in a cross-country journey from May to July – all designed to respond to the dynamic of Jesus’ sacrifice, our acceptance of that love and willingness to carry it forth. “Jesus received every day of his earthly life as a gift from the Father ... then he allowed himself to be broken open and given away for others,” Spesia wrote. “He deeply desires that we offer him our very selves … our broken and yet repaired, limping and yet loving selves.” Father Martin O’Reilly, co-chair of the Eucharistic Revival for the Diocese of Trenton and pastor of Mary, Mother of the Church Parish, Bordentown, likened the July Congress to the gathering of the multitudes in the Gospels. “In a way, that’s what we’re ultimately doing in Indianapolis, the gathering on the mountain with Jesus,” he said, “and we’re coming … to have Christ reassure ... invigorate and ignite us in faith.” In a video Father O’Reilly recorded for the Diocese, he urged people unable to make the trip to Indiana to plan their own pilgrimages at that time – possibly even within the Diocese of Trenton. He suggested a pilgrimage to Our Lady of the Most Blessed Sacrament Shrine in Middletown, the Blessed Carlo Acutis Shrine in St. Dominic Church, Brick, or any adoration chapel at a local parish. “Pilgrimages are an old tradition dating back long before the time of Jesus,” he explained. “Think of the pilgrimage as you going to that mountain where Jesus
April 2024
Video screenshot of Father Martin O’Reilly, diocesan co-chair of the Eucharistic Revival. spoke the beatitudes … hearing what Jesus is saying to your heart … being filled back up again, so whenever you come back down the mountain, then you can go and bring that message that you heard to everyone that you will meet.” Spesia challenged Catholics to “ask Jesus to take that one person or situation that poses the greatest challenge for us right now into his holy hands. Let’s dare to let Jesus bless that person or situation (yes, that one). Let’s invite Jesus to break open our hearts to offer some prayer or some penance, some gesture or some grace, for that person or that situation. And then let’s watch Jesus deliver light and new life where it seems like there is only darkness and even death.”
SHARE THE JOURNEY: For updates on which parishes are traveling as groups to Indianapolis, visit https://dioceseoftrenton.org/eucharistic-revival. We want to hear from you! Share your pilgrimage experiences with The Monitor — email photos and stories to Monitor-News@dioceseoftrenton.org.