INDIANAPOLIS – “From the Four Corners” was the theme of the first evening of the National Eucharistic Congress on July 17, featuring the dramatic arrival of the four teams of national pilgrims bathed in spotlights and carrying their patron’s portrait onto the floor of a darkened Lucas Oil Stadium, where they each processed to the altar to the cheers of 40,000 attendees from throughout the United States and as far away as the island of Guam.
Bishop Andrew Cozzens of the Diocese of Crookston (Minn.) carried a Mexican-made, four-foot monstrance designed in homage to Our Lady of Guadalupe, patroness of the National Eucharistic Revival, to the altar for Eucharistic Adoration as “Jesus is here!” was proclaimed by the congregation.
The evening continued with a welcome from Bishop Cozzens, whose scripture reading included Jesus’ proclamation, “I am the Bread of Life.” (John 6:35)
Keynote addresses were presented by Cardinal Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the U.S., and Sister Bethany Madonna from the Sisters of Life.
“Why did Jesus have to die?” she pondered. “As God announced, when you love someone, you prove it!”
Cardinal Pierre focused on Eucharistic Adoration. “Adoration is essential to our relationship with Christ,” he said. “To adore Christ is to relate to him and not just adore him from the outside. Upon relating to Christ in adoration we can also relate to others.
“Eucharistic Adoration spills over into our daily lives and we see others through the eyes of Eucharistic Adoration,” Cardinal Pierre added. “It is only God’s power that can heal divisions and that process comes through the Holy Spirit. We must let ourselves be possessed by God and go where the Spirit leads us.”
Margaret Saliga of St. John the Baptist in Whiting attended the entire NEC and was overwhelmed by the experience. “Jesus was front and center from the start, and the entire congress provided a deep encounter with the risen Lord Jesus Christ,” she exclaimed. “People kneeling on concrete, so many families with young children, and thousands of people walking the streets for the Eucharistic Procession. It was all so moving and brought total enrichment into all of our lives. I am so glad I went.”
Mike and Melissa Hickey, energized by the opening Eucharistic Revival session despite a long bus ride to reach Indianapolis from the Diocese of Grand Rapids, were ready for four more days of inspiring experiences.
“It’s nice to be able to focus on Jesus with no distractions, listen to great speakers and get rid of our other troubles for this time,” said Mike Hickey, a parishioner at Our Lady of the Lake in Holland, Mich. “I came here not knowing what to expect, and the Eucharistic Adoration with 40,000 people really set the tone.”
The first full day of the National Eucharistic Congress, July 18, featured a morning Mass at Lucas Oil Stadium, “impact” sessions for different categories of attendees, afternoon breakout programs on a variety of Eucharistic topics, and an Evening Revival Service headlined by one of the most revered evangelists in the Catholic Church.
Father Mike Schmitz, director of Youth and Young Adult Ministry for the Diocese of Duluth and chaplain of the Newman Center at the University of Minnesota-Duluth, is better known for his weekly homilies on iTunes and BulldogCatholic.org, his video messages on Ascension Presents and his podcasts “Bible in a Year” and “Catechism in a Year.”
His keynote touched on the Road to Emmaus story, (Lk 24: 13-35) as part of the day’s theme, “The Greatest Love Story,” and other Bible stories that are connected to Jesus’ role as sacrificial lamb for the salvation of humanity. “You know this already,” he repeatedly told his prime-time audience of 50,000 at Lucas Oil Stadium as he told the story of Cleopas and Mary on the Road to Emmaus, the willingness of Abraham to sacrifice his son to God on the altar at Mount Moriah and the crucifixion of Christ on Mount Calvary.
Repentance was the message of Father Schmitz. “The presence of Jesus is not the point of the Mass, it makes the sacrifice possible,” he said. “What saves us is the sacrifice of Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity at Mass and that moment is when Jesus says, ‘Father, I commit myself to you.’
“Every time it happens, the Father is glorified and the world is sanctified. Knowledge can make someone great, but only love can make a saint. A lack of knowledge can’t disqualify you. The road to love is repentance.”
Also impactful was Mother Olga of the Sacred Heart, founder and servant mother of the Daughters of Mary of Nazareth in the Archdiocese of Boston. Many in the crowd were brought to tears by her real-life stories of Eucharistic miracles involving children and adults whose lives she has touched.
Her humble manner belied her strength as the survivor of four Middle East wars, and the power of her message that Eucharistic miracles do exist.
The applause was thunderous when she told the story of Quinn, a five-year-old cancer patient who had a strong faith. Mother Olga arranged for him to receive his First Communion at his young age and continue receiving Jesus every Sunday during his radiation treatments and recovery. “The doctors said he is a miracle,” Mother Olga said of the boy, now cancer-free three years later.
“We can have the Eucharist every day at Mass,” she told the cheering crowd. “We have Him, and no one can take Him from us.”
Caption: Forty thousand National Eucharistic Congress attendees welcome pilgrims "From the Four Corners" of the U.S. into Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis for the opening of the NEC on July 17, and after they had all surrounded the altar, Bishop Andrew Cozzens carried the monstrance in for Eucharistic Adoration. (Marlene A. Zloza photo)