Didn’t make it to Indy? Take heart. You didn’t miss anything truly important.
Don’t get me wrong, the event was worth attending. There were huge crowds, stacks of speakers and choreographed moments to remember. Honestly, nobody throws a better party than Catholics do.
Those unable to be there might feel a bit like Cinderella without a ticket to the ball. But the most substantial and life changing things at the National Eucharistic Congress are available to almost every Catholic right where they are.
And that’s the point of the Eucharistic Revival anyway, isn’t it? The God who is being itself, the supreme mystery in whom “we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28), remains with us – sacramentally – until the end of time.
We may be lost, but God is not. The Eucharist shows us where he abides.
In this great gift of self, God makes it possible for us to receive him, not just figuratively or symbolically, but with all that we are. In Holy Communion, we receive him bodily and spiritually.
For the past two months, the four pilgrimage processions that converged in Indianapolis enjoyed a steady stream of media coverage. Sincere and devout Catholics along the routes were not shy in expressing their excitement.
But these pilgrimages – as deeply inspiring as they have been – did not bring Jesus anywhere he couldn’t already be found. Rather, they highlighted the truth that Jesus Christ dwells in the Most Blessed Sacrament. They reminded us that Jesus Christ can be found in all the tabernacles of the world.
God is with us, wherever we are. The sanctuary lamp is lit in every parish to show us where we can experience Emmanuel.
If revival is to take root in our Church, we must embrace that reality with everything we’ve got. We must learn how to live our whole lives in the light of Eucharistic truth. And we must do so consistently, that is, daily.
Whether we traveled to Indianapolis, what we all do after July 21 will be far more important than what we did during the five days that preceded it.
We do that when we commit ourselves to just a little more than what we’ve managed before: by attending Mass one more day of the week; by making holy the 10 minutes we have instead of waiting for the hour we can’t find; by bringing Communion to those who cannot receive it otherwise; by reading the Eucharistic Prayers.
Experience teaches us that the mountaintop moments we long for and dream of cannot sustain our faith for long. But they can return us to the essentials – the staples of Christian discipleship – that do.
Large-scale gatherings encourage us. It’s uplifting to see that following Christ is not a lonely pursuit. Ultimately, however, it is a personal one. The Church of Jesus Christ is built one soul at a time and one day at a time.
This revival is for all of us. It becomes ours when we decide to make it our own.
Jaymie Stuart Wolfe is a sinner, Catholic convert, freelance writer and editor, musician, speaker, pet-aholic, wife and mom of eight grown children, loving life in New Orleans.