At this very moment, from across the four corners of the United States, Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament is being carried in procession, traversing the country on its way to the 10th National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis this July. Currently serving in the Archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis, I was privileged to join a part of the Marian Route of the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage on Memorial Day. Over 7,000 people gathered to process with Our Lord along the 4.5-mile path from the seminary to the cathedral in this “Source and Summit Procession.” It was an unforgettable experience!
It was beautiful to process with so many others who know and love our Lord and want to live for Him and to make Him known! As a consecrated woman, I was originally directly behind the priests, bishops, and seminarians and was able to hear and join in singing the hymns, to smell the incense, and to look up at our Eucharistic Lord as I walked. But the longer we processed, the more other people got between where I was and the canopy where the Blessed Sacrament was. Everyone wanted to be close to Him and to be able to hear the prayers and songs to join in worshipping Him. How wonderful to see so many hearts longing for the Eucharist!
As we walked following Our Lord for these three hours, another thing that struck me was the number of children there, many of whom I recognized from the pre-K-12 grade school where I teach. At one point, I thought of how often we teachers now think about what the ages of our students were when the COVID pandemic hit and how that must have affected their ability to learn and their social-emotional development. During the procession, it occurred to me that this was also a life-altering event of a more positive variety. I suspect in a few years, we will be asking ourselves, “How are these kids so amazing?” and then realize that they were young children during the Eucharistic Revival pilgrimages.
Jesus is at work here. As we carry Him across the country, He is continuing to transform hearts. I read that in one of the procession pilgrimages, a man who “happened” to encounter the procession decided to convert to Catholicism. Another man decided to join one of the processions when he saw it, although he himself was not Catholic. In our Source and Summit Procession in St. Paul, many bystanders, providentially at home for the Memorial Day holiday and not at work or school, stopped to watch us as we passed. We even attracted the attention of a group of young children playing in a bouncy house and their parents. Jesus is drawing hearts to Himself.
He wants to draw your heart, too. He wants to enflame your heart with a desire that only His Eucharistic Heart can fulfill. He wants to transform your heart so that His Presence in the Eucharist is everything to you and is the source of all joy. Come to Him to be renewed and refreshed. Come to Him to find the meaning and purpose of your life. Come to Him to know how infinitely you are loved. Come to Him, so that His Eucharistic Revival might take place in your soul. Come to Him that you “might have life and have it more abundantly” (John 10:10)! He waits for you in the Eucharist.
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