Where Do We Go From Here? The Eucharistic Congress is over; the Year of Mission has just begun

By Deacon Paul Ruff

I honestly don’t know how to describe the 10th National Eucharistic Congress, which both sadly and joyously came to conclusion in Indianapolis on July 21. Thus far, my efforts to find words all tend toward the inadequate, and the best I can do for the moment include “transformative,” “paradigm-shifting,” “unifying,” “unceasingly joyful,” “community-focused,” “celebratory,” “repentant,” “reconciliatory,” “full of unconditional love, presence, and mission.”  And with those, I’m just getting warmed up.  I left Indianapolis sad that it was over, but at the same time absolutely overjoyed at the wonderful experience Jesus allowed us all to share, and to carry forward. My heart has been dramatically changed by our Lord, yet again.

In a beautiful way, the congress was not the end of this Eucharistic Revival movement, but rather, a new beginning! As we’re reminded in the Book of Revelation, eternally, Jesus makes all things new. It was said at the congress that the New Evangelization in the Church, proposed and spoken of so articulately by St. Pope John Paul II, has now fully arrived! And now, thanks to the unity of our Church, we start to know how to manifest that, how to actively participate in that, and how to bring the undying love of our Lord Jesus to the world in ways we may never have considered before. Now that’s the most exciting part.

Year two of the Eucharistic Revival, the “Parish Year,” ended on the Feast of Corpus Christi, June 2, 2024. Year three, the “Year of Mission” started on that same date. Therefore, the congress was truly a kicking off point, not a finale. Remember, the Catholic Church is first a missionary Church. But what does it mean to each of us, looking into the depths of our hearts as disciples of Christ, to be “missionaries?” We all constantly ask: What could I possibly do to “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to the whole creation” (Mk.16:15)? After all, who am I but a lowly servant?

To attempt an answer to that question, throughout the week I took note of certain things that were particularly insightful and moving to me, striving to learn how to better devote my life to the service of my Lord, and how to describe ways that we can all properly order our minds to the New Evangelization. While this article cannot possibly contain even a fraction of the valuable content, to best share some of these thoughts with you I will attempt to either quote or paraphrase certain messages and connect the thoughts of several speakers. So, while begging forgiveness of those speakers for any errors in my recollection, here we go.

To make God’s love ever more accessible, Father Josh Johnson of the Diocese of Baton Rouge, who was one of the emcees for the congress, reminded us that not only does Jesus love us as his creatures, but as Isaiah and the Psalmist point out, Jesus truly delights in each and every one of us just the way we are right now. I do not have to do something or be someone else, some kind of “ideal Christian,” to earn his delight. That was a meaningful perspective for me. 

Catholic Social Teaching emphasizes that we were created to actively participate in the world. Dr. Matthew Petrusek said that means we not only observe culture, but by our very existence we help to shape it. That is a responsibility. The Word, the Truth and the Light can be shed on all the dark places and spaces in our culture, into which we must enter so as to shape them, just like Jesus did. Avoiding those dark places, averting our eyes, is therefore accommodating culture and facilitating evil, which thrives on indifference, and cannot possibly help to change things. When we see lies in our culture, that means there is also an underlying truth. We must seek out that truth hidden within the lies. Indeed, it is the Eucharist that offers the power to open people’s eyes to the Truth, and to turn every lie on its head.

Taking it one step further, Father Mike Schmitz stated that the point of the Mass is not the presence of Jesus; it’s the presence of Jesus that makes the point possible. What the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist does is make the sacrifice possible. 

“We fall into a big trap when we say, ‘oh, no, the point is that you (Jesus) are here. Or ‘the point is that I get to receive you,’” Father Schmitz said. “Those are amazing things, but what saves us is the sacrifice of the body, blood, soul and divinity of Jesus to the Father in humble obedience.” Too often, we are indifferent to that sacrifice, he said.

“We cannot have revival without repentance,” Father Schmitz continued. “If the remedy for ignorance is to get knowledge, and the road to knowledge is truth, the remedy for indifference is love, then the road to love is repentance.” Love is the ultimate goal of the Eucharistic Revival, and the first step is our repentance. Nothing good can begin if we don’t turn back to God first.

Bishop Robert Barron frequently quotes St. Thomas Aquinas on love and did so again during his Saturday evening keynote address, pointing out that love is one of the most misunderstood concepts in modern society.

 “Love is not a feeling. It is willing the good of the other,” Bishop Barron said. Specifically, he put love within the context of self-sacrifice, saying that love is willing the good of the other even if it means sacrificing our own interests to do so. Self-sacrificing love is true love, and is the love our God has for us. Our job is to respond to his love and reflect it to the world, he said. 

Bishop Barron also reminded us that Jesus is the gift: body offered, blood poured out. We receive him in the Eucharist and become configured to him, thus becoming gift: body offered, blood poured out, for others, through love (as defined by Aquinas). 

The final Mass that concluded the congress on Sunday was celebrated by Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, Pope Francis’ special envoy to the congress. Cardinal Tagle began his homily by reading a letter from the Holy Father, who said, “So his mission is accomplished in his being a gift in the flesh. And now he gives his flesh to us as food as a pledge of eternal life.”

“The Holy Father wants the people, not only those who attended, but everyone, especially the United States, to recover that sense of amazement and gratitude for the gift being received,” Cardinal Tagle explained. 

Furthermore, the Holy Father wrote that, having received the gift, “they should impart to others the beauty of that gift — the missionary dimension of our Eucharistic devotion, so that our Eucharistic devotion does not end up being a closed relationship between Jesus and me, and I forget the world and I forget others. No. If you have received the gift, then we should go on mission proclaiming the good news that we have seen, that we have tasted, that we have received.”

Finally, Cardinal Tagle pointed out that, while Jesus is a gift through the Incarnation, the Eucharist is a gift from Jesus to us for all eternity. And we are a gift from God to the world. In fact, everyone you see or meet is a gift from God to the world. Therefore, the only way to be sent forth as a missionary of Jesus is to offer yourself as a gift to others. That’s the secret.

Serving God is all about loving one another. And as Sister of Life Bethany Madonna said so beautifully in her talk on Wednesday evening at Lucas Oil Stadium, “When you love someone, you prove it.”

The Year of Mission
So, there you have it. Jesus is making his Church new again, and with our hearts and minds properly renewed, we now stand for him in a state of missionary service. First, let your dignity as a child of God fully enter your heart. He delights in you. Next, understand that the dark corners of the world are precisely where the truth of Jesus shines through the lies, and we must share his light there. Finally, you are a gift. You are, through the Eucharist, configured to Christ: body offered, blood poured out, for others. Let us live this vocation in this Year of Mission. As Bishop Barron concluded his talk: “Can we imagine what would happen if the 70 million Catholics in the United States embraced this vocation? Ours is a missionary Church. In this third year of the Revival, the Year of Mission, we will change the world.”

(Deacon Paul Ruff serves at Ave Maria Parish in Parker.)