The Catholic Church in the United States has embarked on a multi-year, nationwide Eucharistic Revival, and all of the Marian Family ought to join in! The campaign was launched last year on the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ (or Corpus Christi). The first year invites diocesan staff, bishops, and priests to what Pope Francis has described as “a renewed personal encounter with Jesus Christ” — particularly the transforming power and mercy of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist. The second year, which begins this June, will foster Eucharistic devotion at the parish level, strengthening our liturgical life through Eucharistic Adoration, missions, resources, preaching, and organic movements of the Holy Spirit. Pilgrimages In 2024, one of the largest Eucharistic pilgrimages in history, from the four corners of the U.S., will precede a July Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis, Indiana, The pilgrimages will begin in San Francisco; at the tomb of Knights of Columbus founder Bl. Michael McGivney in New Haven, Connecticut; at the U.S.- Mexico border near Brownsville, Texas; and in the Diocese of Crookston at the headwaters of the Mississippi. Each route will end in Indianapolis. The pilgrimages will include processions in cities and towns along each route. The Vatican has announced that 2025 will be a Jubilee Year with the motto “Pilgrims of Hope.” This year of special grace providentially coincides with the Eucharistic Revival’s national year of mission. Pope Francis believes the 2025 Jubilee will “contribute greatly to restoring a climate of hope and trust.” Marian preacher Father Andy Davy, MIC (above), pastor of St. Mary’s Parish in Plano, Illinois, has been appointed one of the official preachers for the Eucharistic Revival. He was selected on the suggestion of the Most Rev. Ronald A. Hicks, bishop of the Diocese of Joliet, due to his work with young adults in hosting different retreats. “There’s more than 50 of us from different religious communities and different dioceses,” explained Fr. Andy. “The Eucharistic Preachers are called with different styles of preaching, different gifts to help facilitate different conferences, retreats, and convocations.” Following the 2019 Pew Report that said 69 percent of Catholics don’t believe in the Real Presence, the Most Rev. Robert Barron, bishop of the Diocese of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, and chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Evangelization, along with his brother bishops, had a real epiphany, Fr. Andy explained. “We need to focus on helping our people discover Jesus again in the Most Blessed Sacrament, to fall in love with Him in the Eucharist, because if we don’t get that, then all the other things don’t really matter.” In his introductory video for the National Eucharistic Revival, Fr. Andy shared a beautiful moment from his childhood. “One of the earliest memories that I have as a child is connected to the Eucharist. When I was about five years old, I have this memory of being at Mass. I was the bouncy kid that would kind of hop around from one place to another in the pew. “My mom would grab me and say, ‘Andy, Jesus is coming.’ I was like, ‘Where? Where?’ “And she pointed to the priest as he was getting ready to say those words of institution and said, ‘There is where He’s going to come. When you see the priest lift up the Host, I want you to say, “My Lord and my God, I love you.”’ And I just have this real little memory of seeing that Host raised, and then seeing my dad who was sitting next to me, and watching his eyes lock on to the Eucharist and bow his head. I remember in my little heart and my little voice saying, ‘My Lord and my God, I love you.’ “There was something that I can remember as being awe-inspiring, that I met Jesus in that moment.” To awaken As of this writing, Fr. Andy is scheduled to preach youth conferences in Illinois and Missouri, “to awaken,” he said, “a deeper love and longing for Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. To help people discover that when we have renewed eyes, renewed vision, renewed Eucharistic sense, that there is no place that you would rather be on Earth than at Mass, and no place you would rather be in extending the joy and the longing of the experience of Mass as in Adoration.” “If we’re able to help people anchor themselves into that truth, then we’re anchored in that identity of being in the Father’s arms, where we’re hearing, ‘You are My beloved son; I delight in you,’” Fr. Andy explained. “Then we can go forth with that deep sense of being Spirit-filled evangelizers because we’re anchored in the very love of God, in His promise to us. It gives us the courage to go through whatever difficulties, sorrows, and crosses, so that Christ can be proclaimed, Christ can be lived.” To learn more about the National Eucharistic Revival, visit EucharisticRevival.org. Marian Helper • Summer 2023 • Marian.org 25
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