Welcome back to Mass

     Two years ago, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops launched the National Eucharistic Revival. Recognizing the effects of secular culture on the sovereignty of God and a general lack of faith in the centrality of the Eucharist in our lives as Catholics, the Eucharistic revival has placed greater focus on the Church’s teaching on this great sacrament. 
     All this has led up to the National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis, from where I am writing this column. Tens of thousands of Catholics from all across this great nation have come together to celebrate the gift of the Eucharist and honor our Lord present to us in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. I am pleased that a cohort of people from our own diocese has been able to share in this historic gathering. 
     From the National Eucharistic Revival, we learn that there are four primary objectives of this revival. First, to provide a more profound encounter with Jesus Christ in the Sunday liturgy as a point of unity among all Catholics. Second, to spark personal conversions through the joyful discovery of a relationship with Christ by encountering the love of God present in Jesus in the Eucharist. Third, to elevate the truth and practices of our Catholic faith through the rediscovery of the real presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist. Lastly, to form, inspire, and launch missionary disciples, filled with love of God and neighbor that comes from an encounter with Jesus in the Eucharist, to the margins of the Church and the world. 
     As bishop, it is my hope that this Eucharistic Revival will encourage pastors and parishes to re-examine their Sunday celebration of the Eucharist. In that regard, to examine with particular attention various elements like hospitality, environment, music, style of presiding, preaching, reverence and Eucharistic devotion outside of Mass.  
     Likewise, it is my hope that this Eucharistic Revival will spark personal conversions as people open their hearts to encounter the love of God for them in the Eucharist. I pray that the revival will help us all be more intentional about this encounter so that we might dispose our minds and hearts to draw near to the Lord and allow him to reveal his love to us through our regular Eucharistic celebration. 


          This, I pray, will cause us to better understand the truth and beauty of our Catholic faith in the rediscovery of the real presence of Jesus Christ in every Mass in which we participate.  Simply put, I hope we can recover a greater reverence for the great mystery we celebrate in every Mass, thereby experiencing wonder and awe at God’s love offered to us in Holy Communion. 
     Then, it remains for us to become missionary disciples as we go forth filled with the love of God and neighbor, true fruit born of our encounter with Jesus in the Eucharist. It is this term, “Eucharistic missionary disciple” that I believe is so necessary.  Let me explain. 
     Eucharist, translated from the Greek, means “Thanksgiving.” In every Mass, we celebrate the saving love of God for us in Christ Jesus who was crucified, died and was raised up for our salvation.  Every Mass is participation in the Last Supper when Jesus gave us his precious body and blood. Every Mass is an encounter with God’s saving love for us that first Easter morning as we accept and receive our Lord in Holy Communion. To receive our Lord in the Eucharist is to humbly accept the salving love of God for us personally. Receiving Holy Communion proclaims our need to be saved. It is a witness of our faith that our salvation comes to us in the gift of the Eucharist. 
     Jesus said in the Gospel of John (6:52), “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood you do not have life within you. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has life eternal and I will raise him up on the last day.” Therefore, to miss Mass and no longer receive Holy Communion is to live as though one does not need to be saved. It is a statement of self-sufficiency. It also isolates us from a community of believers, who find unity and support in one another at the table of the Lord. 
     This is why we all need to be Eucharistic missionary disciples, because people need to be invited back to the love God has for them. Jesus is calling them to discover his love and encounter the mystery of his saving mercy in the Eucharist. As Eucharistic missionaries, we invite back to Mass our loved ones, neighbors and friends out of true care for their salvation. The more deeply we are converted to the truth and beauty of the Eucharist, the more we will be willing to risk some resistance by inviting them. At the same time, the more profoundly we will also share in their gratitude that someone has reached out to them. 
     The Eucharistic Revival must be an ongoing effort to bring inactive Catholics, non-Catholics and those of no faith into the community of the Church as we humble ourselves before the Lord and encounter his love and mercy in the Eucharist. May this revival begin in our own hearts so that more deeply converted, we may be instruments of the Lord to welcome others to a life of faith, hope and charity in the Church.