The Eucharistic Revival - Enlivening Our Faith

As Catholics, we possess an incredible source of life-giving strength and restoration in the Eucharist, where Christ invites us to receive Him, Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity. Knowing the profound role of the Eucharist in the life of our souls and the Church, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) announced a National Eucharistic Revival to revitalize and foster love for the Eucharist. What does this mean, and how can it help us?

"The Church has received the Eucharist from Christ her Lord not as one gift – however precious – among so many others, but as the gift par excellence, for it is the gift of himself, of his person in his sacred humanity, as well as the gift of his saving work." - Pope St. John Paul II

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What is the National Eucharistic Revival?

As Catholics across the country fill the pews for Mass, listening to God's Word and receiving Christ in the Eucharist, many are not aware of what they are really doing, and Who they are receiving. 

The National Eucharistic Revival consists of a three-year timeline, during which the USCCB has been inviting the faithful to deepen their reverence and devotion to the Eucharist. It has included education, inspiration, and opportunities for uniting to Christ and to one another through the sacrament we call the "source and summit of the Christian life."

The goal is to revitalize our collective faith through this mystical offering. This time of renewal will result in an outpouring of graces in parishes, communities, and the world. It will also remind us of the profound gift of the Body of Christ in the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. 

"If angels could be jealous of men, they would be so for one reason: Holy Communion." - St. Maximilian Kolbe

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Three Years of Renewal

The Revival began in 2022 on the feast of Corpus Christi. On that day, many participating dioceses held Eucharistic processions. Since then, the USCCB has encouraged widespread instruction on the Eucharist and Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, in a spirit of diocesan renewal. 

The year 2023 was the Year of the Parish. During this time, the Renewal promoted a deeper understanding of the Real Presence in the Eucharist through widespread instruction. Another goal was to provide encouraging encounters with the Lord in the Blessed Sacrament - to build a culture of reverence through awareness and experiences. 

Many dioceses will hold their own Eucharistic Congresses to gather Catholics under the protection and love of the Most Blessed Sacrament, celebrating and rejoicing in Its healing and grace.

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The Importance of Teaching

The year of catechesis was strategic and important. Part of the impetus for the Revival is a Pew survey conducted in late 2019, which revealed that only 31% of Catholics believe in the Real Presence.

69% of Catholics believe the bread and wine symbolize the Body and Blood of Christ, but they do not believe they become the Body and Blood of Christ through transubstantiation. 

Likewise, 43% believe the Church teaches the Eucharistic elements are merely symbolic, not transubstantiated during the Consecration. As a body of believers, we neither understand Church teaching on the Eucharist, nor  embrace that teaching on this profoundly important aspect of the Catholic spiritual life.

Is it disbelief, or merely a lack of catechesis? The Revival is an attempt to remedy both.

The USCCB, individual dioceses, and many other Catholic organizations prepared a wealth of materials for instruction and use during this time. Start on the website for the USCCB, or search "National Eucharistic Revival' online to find explanations, inspiration, teaching videos and guides, and materials for Adoration.

“Since Christ Himself has said, ‘This is My Body,’ who shall dare to doubt that it is His Body?” - St. Cyril of Jerusalem

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Renewing Eucharistic Love

This year of 2024 is the Year of Renewal. This year will prepare the faithful to go out and share the Eucharistic culture of love and mercy within their families and communities.

Helping Catholics share the sacrificial, healing, and unifying love of the Eucharistic Jesus will be the focus. Expect to see increased opportunities in your parish and community. 

Then from July 17th-21st, 2024, Catholics across the country will be asked to participate in a National Eucharistic Pilgrimage. From the four corners of the USA, beginning in California, Minnesota, Connecticut, and Texas, teams of pilgrims will make a 6,500 mile journey carrying the Eucharistic Jesus through the countryside. 

They will walk in procession with Jesus in the monstrance, bringing Christ and His Eucharistic love to our small towns and big cities, bearing Him out into our streets, inviting all to revere and honor Him as He passes by. This "Emmaus Moment," when Jesus will walk with us under the humble species of the host, will end in Indianapolis, Indiana, where all four groups of pilgrims will converge. 

"If we really understood the Mass, we would die of joy." - St. John Marie Vianney

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Uniting as a Nation

The city of Indianapolis will host a National Eucharistic Congress in July of 2024, where over 80,000 faithful Catholics are expected to come together for a nationwide five-day event of prayer, speakers, liturgical celebrations, and of course, Adoration of the Lord in the Eucharist. 

The USCCB's goal for the Revival is to bring about a time of renewal for the world, the Church, communities, and families, by renewing understanding and love for the Eucharist in Catholics across this great nation, which is in so much need of restoration.

By inspiring, teaching, and uniting the faithful through the Blessed Sacrament, our bishops hope to change hearts, minds, and lives, heal wounds, and bring about a spiritual awakening while rededicating the nation to our Eucharistic Lord. 

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Our world is in dire need of renewal. The Revival is the invitation of Christ, carried by the Church into the hearts of the faithful. Jesus awaits us there, in the Sacrament of Love. 

Through this incredible movement, we collectively recognize Christ's real, true, and substantial Presence in the Holy Eucharist. We acknowledge Him there, and we make a tremendous act of thanksgiving to God. 

As we make present the one Sacrifice of our beloved Savior, we give Him glory and praise for our inheritance and we perpetuate the sacrifice of the Cross throughout the ages. We entrust the Church and the world to the love He showed and the victory he won in His death and Resurrection. 

It is through acknowledging this power together that we can confront not only the everyday trials and hardships of our time, but the lack of belief and declining faith and hope that tempt many to despair in our age. 

“A thousand years of enjoying human glory is not worth even an hour spent sweetly communing with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.” - St. Padre Pio

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Adoring Him Together

The Revival is a way to rise up and to lift others up. It is a monumental communal effort to give thanks for the memorial of His death and Resurrection. Through the Revival, we together make reparation and unite ourselves to God.

Our shepherds have prayerfully recognized Jesus calling us to go deeper into the mystery of His love. We can appeal to Him there as His wayward children, bringing healing to our nation and our own souls. There we will be strengthened, protected, forgiven, and conformed to Him. These gifts are necessary for life in the world today.

The Eucharist heals and changes us from within. The National Eucharistic Revival is an effort to reawaken U.S. Catholics to God's love in the Most Holy Sacrament. It is an invitation to know that love more intimately, and to experience it more deeply - in our hearts, our homes, our communities, and our country. 

"He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day." -  John 6:54

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