ANNUAL EUCHARISTIC DEVOTION
As you know, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) initiated a three-year Eucharistic Revival in June 2022 to provide us all with a renewed encounter with Jesus Christ in the Eucharist. This, the last year of our revival, is called the Year of Mission and we are all called to engage in the universal mission of the Church by sharing our faith with someone. We are strengthened in our faith every time we receive the Eucharist or spend time before the Blessed Sacrament in adoration. Fr. Jeremy Hiers, OSA, has graciously accepted my invitation to lead us in our 40 Hours this year. The title for his reflections is “Finding rest while restless.” In this very contentious and divisive time in our world, his reflections will surely help us all. Our 40 Hours will begin next Sunday, 13 October, when the Blessed Sacrament is exposed at the end of the 11:30am Mass and remain exposed until Evening Prayer and Benediction at 7:00pm. The Blessed Sacrament will be exposed again on Monday and Tuesday after the 8:00am Mass and remain exposed all day. On Monday evening, we will celebrate with Evening Prayer and Benediction at 7:00pm. On Tuesday evening, our Annual Forty Hours Eucharistic Devotion will conclude with the celebration of the Eucharist beginning at 7:00pm. I encourage everyone to join us!
As you know, we believe that, when we celebrate Mass, we participate in the Paschal Mystery: the once-and-for-all offering of our Lord to us for our spiritual nourishment at the Last Supper and our Lord’s offering of himself on the cross to his heavenly Father for the forgiveness of our sins. And, as we read in Sacramentum Caritatis (§ 66):
Eucharistic adoration is simply the natural consequence of the Eucharistic celebration, which is itself the Church’s supreme act of adoration. …The act of adoration outside Mass prolongs and intensifies all that takes place during the liturgical celebration itself.
In the opening paragraph of his encyclical, Ecclesia de Eucharistia, Saint Pope John Paul II provided a powerful reminder of the centrality of the Eucharist in the life of all followers of Christ.
The Second Vatican Council rightly proclaimed that the Eucharistic sacrifice is “the source and summit of the Christian life. …For the most holy Eucharist contains the Church’s entire spiritual wealth: Christ himself, our Passover and our living bread. Through his own flesh, now made living and life-giving by the Holy Spirit, he offers life to all.” Consequently, the gaze of the Church is constantly turned to her Lord, present in the Sacrament of the Altar, in which she discovers the full manifestation of his boundless love.
We need our Lord in our lives and are blessed that he has given himself to us in this clear sign. We truly receive him, body and blood, soul and divinity, whenever we receive Holy Communion. We are truly in his presence when we come before him in the Blessed Sacrament, whether reserved in the tabernacle or exposed on the altar.
Fr. Hiers and I invite you to come and join in to spend some time to rest before Our Lord who is truly present to us, exposed for our adoration and worship, inspiration and direction! You will find a sign-up board on the table next to the piano and you are encouraged to commit to one-half hour or more for private adoration. And, if you need some inspiration to help you, bring a Bible along and reflect on the Eucharistic passages found in all the Gospels as well as Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians (cf. Matthew 14:13-21; 15:32-39; 26:17-30; Mark 6:34-44; 8:1-21; 14:12-26; Luke 22:7-30; John 6:1-15, 25-69; 13:1-17:26, 1 Cor 11:23-29).
WORLD MISSION SUNDAY
This weekend, we join with the Church Universal in celebrating World Mission Sunday with its theme: “Go and invite everyone to the banquet” (Matt 22:9). This day is set aside by the universal Catholic Church to remember and support the mission work being done around the world. Until 1908, the Church in the United States was missionary territory, unable to support its parishes and other institutions without outside assistance. The primary source of such assistance came from the Society for the Propagation of the Faith. This mission outreach society was founded in France in 1822 by a most remarkable woman, Pauline Jaricot. That year, 2/3 of the funds raised were sent to the vast diocese of Louisiana, which then extended from the Florida Keys to Canada. By 1922, the Society for the Propagation of the Faith – and three other societies established to help the missions – became Pontifical, with their headquarters moved to Rome under the direction of the Pope. In the first 100 years of its existence, the Society for the Propagation of the Faith sent some $7 million in help to the Church in the United States. The young Church here at home started contributing to the Propagation of the Faith in 1833, with a humble gift of $6.00. Today, Catholics here in the U.S.A. generously respond with support for the 1,150 mission dioceses worldwide, mostly in Africa and Asia.
Earlier this year, we had been assigned to have Father Richard Yevchak, IVE, to speak to us at all the Sunday Masses about the missions. Unfortunately, we learned earlier this week that Father Yevchak would not be able to come. I contacted the Pontifical Mission Office and, as I suspected, there were no other missionaries available. Since I had been the director of that office, the office staff was confident that I could speak about the missionary work of our Church.
We can all support the missions for, as Pauline once wrote, “some give to the missions by going; some go to the missions by giving.” Please be generous in your support of the missionary Church.