This Sunday Catholics throughout the United States will celebrate the annual Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ, commonly known as Corpus Christi. We are reminded that Jesus is the bread of life, and that he is the spiritual nourishment for our journey to heaven. The Eucharist is, as the Second Vatican Council stated, “the source and summit of the Christian life” (Lumen Gentium, 11) and which was reiterated in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (#1324).
However, the concerning reality is that nearly 70% of Catholics, according to a 2019 Pew Research Center survey, do not believe that the Eucharist — the bread and wine consecrated into the Body and Blood of Christ — is the Real Presence of Jesus Christ. Since the Eucharist is “the source and summit of the Christian life,” this truth of our faith urgently needs reviving.
Revival is often associated with other religious denominations, particularly those whose leaders view Scripture literally. Revivals are often teeming with emotion and energy as participants embrace what they hear and commit to living it.
Given that polling indicates less than a third of our members believe in the Real Presence of the Eucharist, our Church needs that emotion, energy and, most importantly, renewed catechesis about the Eucharist. We need a revival.
I will process with the Blessed Sacrament at the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart following the 11 a.m. Mass this Sunday. Other parishes will continue their tradition of holding eucharistic processions on their grounds, too.
Clearly, we want to highlight and not be ashamed of lauding and demonstrating our eucharistic devotion. But remember, the sole purpose of these processions is to renew our focus on and love for the Eucharist. They are not to be used as occasions for making political or some kind of ideological statements that might cause scandal or division.
In our encounter with the Real Presence, we are praying about and reflecting upon the salvation he offers us and answering the call to holiness that flows from that. We are offering honor, praise and thanksgiving to our Lord for the gift he has given us in the sacrifice of his body and blood.
Our processions this Sunday alone do not constitute a revival. We need more if we are to recognize the reality of the Eucharist and to open our hearts to the grace it provides. To that end, the U.S. bishops have made a three-year commitment to a National Eucharistic Revival. It begins, fittingly, with our observance of Corpus Christi.
Bishop Andrew H. Cozzens, head of the bishops’ Committee for Evangelization and Catechesis who is overseeing the revival, has said, “We want to start a fire, not a program.” Very simply, the Eucharist, along with our devotion to and our love for it, cannot and should not be packaged into a program. The Eucharist is living, it is how we develop and deepen our relationship with Christ and how we are nourished to be missionary witnesses to his Gospel.
During the coming months, you will be receiving information about how the National Eucharistic Revival will evolve in our diocese, parishes and nationally. You can learn more about it by visiting https://eucharisticrevival.org.
In the meantime, let us begin the revival within ourselves today by calling upon the Holy Spirit as we reflect on Jesus’ words: “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst” (Jn 6:35).