AMDG
;
Note: After the Eucharistic Congress was over
on July 21, EWTN On Demand is offering videos
of the entire event. Click on National Eucharistic Congress (ewtn.com). I also accumulated some of the youtube.com entries for different aspects of this momentous event. In this way the reader can still access the Eucharistic Congress after the event via youtube.com. Click on the link below that corresponds to the talk of interest.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81RlX-NQzm4 - National Eucharistic Congress Opening Night July 17, 2024
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93Q2kgvA31k - Full Speach of Msgr. James Shea, President of the University of Mary, at the National Eucharistic Congress July 18
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWlgLLmHgkc - Sister Josephine Garrett's Full Speech at the National Eucharistic Congress
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWAxXDYNr38&t=70s - Gloria Purvis' Full Speech at the National Eucharistic Congress
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DyQJCZh5A8Y - Sister Bethany Madonna's Full Speech at the Eucharistic Congress
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQwx6Ph3cQs - Paula Umaña's Full Speech at the 2024 National Eucharistic Congress
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2WbArhnI34 - Tim Glemkowski's Full Speech at the National Eucharistic Congress
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejuMYWQ9b8A - National Eucharistic Congress Exhibit Hall
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CoHsQ6_yYU - This Priest Was Brought to Tears Hearing Confessions at the National Eucharistic Congress
Drew Mariani's Full Speech at the National Eucharistic Congress - YouTube
www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZ1EmAdrhg0 - Astronaut Mike Hopkins' Full Speech at the 2024 Eucharistic Congress
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7iZEOxAWoE - Actor Jonathan Roumie's Full Speech at the National Eucharistic Congress
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2QtWaEFq3E - Dynamic Fr. Mike Schmitz's full speech at the Eucharistic Congress
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wwO9JxiMCM - Bishop Robert Barron's Full Speech at Eucharistic Congress
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LccklgQU8SA - Chris Stefanick's Full Speech at the 2024 Eucharistic Congress
You can’t make it to
Indianapolis, Indiana? No problem! You can participate and watch on EWTN cable, satellite,
or internet at www.ewtn.com as four walking Eucharistic pilgrimages with the
Blessed Sacrament in view with many stops to meet the faithful on the way, originating
in Minneapolis (the Marian Group), Brownsville-Texas (the St. Juan Diego Group), New Haven-CT (the St. Elizabeth Seton Group) with a few miles on our own Ohio
River near Steubenville, and the fourth walking pilgrimage from San Francisco (the St. Junipero Serra Grou) that moved through the Rocky Mountains……all converging
on the National Eucharistic Congress in Indianopolis.
Alarming polls
conclude that most Catholics do not believe in the true presence of Jesus
Christ in the Eucharist, the core belief of the Catholic Church. This is the main reason that so many
Catholics are drifting away from the Church.
To confront this crisis of unbelief the Bishops of the United States have
organized a three year Eucharistic Revival at the diocesan, parish, and
national level. The revival culminates
with the 10th National Eucharistic Congress. PRAY FOR ITS SUCCESS!
The National Eucharistic Congress features the best Catholic speakers in the
country, lay and religious. The National
Eucharistic Congress will help you to become effective Eucharistic missionaries.
Tell your relatives and friends about the awesomeness of the Eucharist…the body
and blood, soul and divinity of Jesus Christ himself, the Son of God! DON’T JUST KEEP THE FAITH; SPREAD IT!
10th
National Eucharistic Congress Program on EWTN cable, satellite, and internet at www.ewtn.com.
Wednesday July 17 at 6 pm – Opening Ceremony
with a welcome for the pilgrims that have walked with the Eucharist over a thousand
miles from the North, South, East & West.
Thursday
July 18 at 8 am –
Mass; 10:30 am – Impact Session: “Empower”; 1:30 pm – Breakout
Session: “Cultivate the Family Experience”; 6:30 pm – Revival Session: “The
Greatest Love Story (II)”, Adoration, & Eucharistic Procession..
Saturday
July 20 at 8 am
- Mass in the Syro-Malabar Rite; 10:30 am – Impact Session: “The Youth
Experience”; 1:30 pm – Breakout Session: “Beautiful Revelation” and “Breaking
Free From Post Christian Influence”; 6:30 pm – Revival Session: Keynote
Speaker Bishop Robert Barron on “This is My Body” and Adoration.
Sunday
July 21 at 8 am
- Revival: “To the Ends of the Earth”
and Adoration; 10 am – Closing Mass presided by Papal Delegate Cardinal
Luis Tagle with music by the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra.
Supreme Knight Patrick Kelly Urges All Knights of Columbus
to
Become Knights of the Eucharist
Many people all over the United States
have drifted away from the Church. People
have become very lax in full-filling their very serious Sunday obligation, thus
putting their salvation in danger. Mass
attendance is much lower than 25 years ago when it often was standing room
only.
Most, even those
who do assist at Mass regularly on Sundays do not take seriously the Eucharist,
God’s greatest gift on this side of eternity, His very self……Body and Blood,
soul and divinity.
Even though
Church law stipulates Confession at least once a year, most have not taken
advantage of the graces of the sacrament since childhood as though mortal sin
has gone out of style, as if people don’t sin anymore. Monthly confession is recommended to grow in
virtue and holiness. Thus the Eucharist
becomes routine, some even going to Communion and then quickly exiting the
church without spending a few precious moments with the Lord in thanksgiving,
in intimate prayer, and communion with the infinite awesome God. Shocking, are surveys indicating that most
Catholics do not believe in the true presence.
Being aware of this alarming situation, the Bishops of the United States have initiated a
three year program of national Eucharistic revival. It is a movement to restore understanding and
devotion to this great mystery….. by helping us renew our worship of Jesus Christ
in the Eucharist” (see www.eucharisticrevival.org).
The Supreme
Knight sees it as “a
call to renew – or perhaps even spark for the first time – each Catholic’s understanding
of and devotion to the Eucharist. As knights,
we should be at the forefront of responding to this call.” The first year focuses on the
parish level, the second year at the diocesan level, and the third year will be
climaxed by a national Eucharistic revival in Indianapolis IN July 17-21 2024. Every Catholic has an important role in the
revival.
At the national, state, and council level, the Knights of Columbus are actively
engaged in the Eucharistic Revival. According
to Supreme Knight Patrick Kelly, “As Catholics and as Knights, the Eucharist is
the ‘source and summit of the Christian life (Vatican II)’– in all that we do,
the root of our strength. When we receive our Lord in Holy Communion, we are
fed, then sent forth to be Christ’s emissaries to those we encounter — in our
homes and neighborhoods, at work and in our greater communities.”
In fact Supreme
Knight Patrick E. Kelly is urging each member to become a “KNIGHT OF THE
EUCHARIST”. That implies a willingness
to promote an awesome respect for the Eucharist and to defend it from
desecration even with his life.
“The more we
devote ourselves to the Eucharist, the more we will understand what it means to
be a Knight. I personally challenge you
to find ways to participate in this revival individually, as well as in
community with your local council or state council.
I ask that you prayerfully consider what you
can undertake. For those of you with families, how can you lead them on this
journey as well? We must “nurture a
deeper love of Our Lord in the Eucharist among every member of the Church,
beginning in our own hearts.”
The Greatest Love Story of All Time And True. God is love personified and His first act of love was to create us, his most magnificent creation, to share Heaven with us for eternity. Adam and Eve yielded to temptation they knew was wrong, but didn't care. Aren't we the same? As a consequence of committing the original sin, God the Father closed the gates of heaven to humanity, but in His Divine Mercy promised a Redeemer.
Four thousand years later He kept that promise and sent his only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, the second person of the Holy Trinity, humbling Himself to become one of us with many of the same difficulties of living, first as a helpless infant and later to teach us how to live and save us from our sins.
In anticipation of His Ascension into Heaven Christ instituted the sacrament, the Holy Eucharist on Holy Thursday......"This is my Body" and "This is my Blood", the transubstantiation of ordinary bread and wine into His body and blood, soul and divinity....the Lamb of God which the apostles consumed. He then ordained the apostles and their successors to do the same today with the words: “Do this in memory of me”.
The very next day, Good Friday He gave us His own Mother from the Cross of Calvary; and offered Himself and His immense suffering as a sacrifice in reparation for all the sins of the world…..past, present, and future….thus opening the gates of Heaven and unimaginable happiness for us if we follow Him and His teaching through the Church.
Our Lord continues to sacrifice Himself for us in an unbloody way through the priest at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass 24/7 all over the world as Calvary is brought to us in a mysterious way that transcends time (time collapses). And we have the opportunity to participate in that awesome sacrifice every time we assist at Mass.
The moment of sacrifice begins when the priests raises the Eucharist under both species and says the prayer, "Through Him, with Him, and in Him is to Thee Almighty Father all honor and glory.....". The sacrifice is complete when we consume the Lamb of God as the Jews of the Old Testament did with their sacrifice of an unblemished lamb. The Romans also consumed their pagan sacrifices. Thus the early Christians preferred death than to eat of the pagan sacrifice which would mean active participation in a pagan ritual.
When we receive
the Eucharist, we are for a few precious moments in intimate communion with the
almighty God, the creator of the Universe, Christ the King of the Universe. How awesome is that? Our Lord loves us so much that he desires an
intimate relationship with each one of us.
He manifests His infinite love for us in the gift of Himself in the
Eucharist. He departed from us when He
ascended into Heaven, but yet remains with us in a real way in the Eucharist.
He welcomes us with open arms to receive Him in the Eucharist and spend time with Him in prayer during Adoration.....one on one. Jesus further manifests His infinite love for us in His divine mercy in the sacrament of Reconciliation and when we ask for it with sincere sorrow and repentance. His great love for us is further manifested in His instituting the Church and the sacraments.
In His love He sent us His Holy Spirit to teach us, to guide us, and to sanctify us. He constantly shows His love in answered prayer. He even sends His own earthly mother Mary to perform miraculous cures of ailments and to deliver messages of peace and repentance as a modern day prophet in her apparitions to selected people as the greatest missionary ever over the centuries.
In times of greatest crisis He has raised up the greatest saints and Popes as leaders, as models for living, as messengers (modern day prophets). By all logic should not have survived through 2000 years due to periods of intense persecution, laxity, corruption, secularism, and materialism. Today the Church still stands under the guidance of the Holy Spirit whom He sent. The gates of hell shall never prevail against it.
Completing certain devotions as the First Fridays of the month, tje First Saturdays, reciting the Diving Chaplet in the presence of a dying person are great aids to salvation. The power of His grace has changed many a life headed toward perdition.
Our Lord allows us to participate in His work of on-going redemption. That is through redemptive suffering by prayer and offering up of one's crosses (suffering due to illness, accident, hurts, misfortunes, etc.) as dynamic prayers for the conversion of sinners as Mary requested at Fatima, for world peace, for the Church, for our country, for our loved ones. In that way suffering becomes productive instead of misery.
And don't forget the word of God the Bible through which our Lord continues to teach us. He gave the four evangelists, the mission of recording Christ's teachings in the four Gospels. St. Matthew wrote one specifically for the Jews and their culture; St. Mark wrote one for the Romans; and St. Luke wrote one for the Greeks. St. John's Gospel explains it all theologically in much greater depth. In addition St. Paul and some of the other apostles explained the Gospels in their Epistles to the different peoples they converted.
Awesome, but true. Just look at Chapter 6 of the Gospel of John.
CHRIST explicitly said: “If you do
not eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you”. Only a symbol? If so, Christ would have made a clarification
when most of the people who heard Him walked away. Is it beyond the power of our omnipotent God
to change the bread and wine into his Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity through
the priest, another Christ during the Mass?
Need more
evidence? Look at the numerous miracles
of the Eucharist over the centuries, the most notable being the Eucharistic
Miracle of Lanciano in Italy. There the
bread was transformed into flesh (heart muscle by analysis) and the wine into blood (Type AB),
still preserved after a millennium. The rather rare Type AB blood is common to Eucharistic Miracles and the Shroud of Turin as well. All
of the Eucharistic miracles are similar. Go to www.therealpresence.org and the book, "The Eucharistic Miracles of the World" by the Institute of St. Clement I published by Eternal Life, Bardstown, KY.
The Knights of Columbus published a pamphlet with
recommendations for the knights as individuals, his local council, and at the
state level. Each knight is asked to make sacrifices for
the Revival (including offering daily crosses and setbacks; abstaining from
meat on Fridays as a form of penance; prayer; devotions such as
praying the Rosary at least on the 12th of each month (in honor of Our Lady of
Guadalupe, the patroness of the order, for the success of the Revival and an
increase in devotion to Christ in the Eucharist.
Prepare your heart:
arrive 10-15 minutes early to each Mass to contemplate Jesus’ gift of himself. Give thanks: offer 5 minutes of
prayerful praise after each Mass. Be
with Our Lord: Spend 30 extra minutes every week outside of Mass
sitting or kneeling before the Blessed Sacrament. Attend Daily Mass:
On days you cannot, make an act of Spiritual Communion.
Pray for the gift of the Spirit
during the National Eucharistic Procession.
Starting May 10, 2024, pray the
Novena to the Holy Spirit in preparation for Pentecost and start of National
Eucharistic Procession (May 17th) Learn more about the National
Eucharistic Procession at www.eucharisticpilgrimage.org.
Unite with fellow Catholics:
Register for the National Eucharistic Congress and encourage others to
join you! (July 17 – 21, 2024, Indianapolis, Indiana.) Knights of Columbus members are eligible for a
discounted registration by visiting www.eucharisticcongress.org
and using the discount code: knights.
Local
Councils are asked to pray together: Each month invite members to pray the
Rosary together on the 12th of the month for the success of the Revival
and an increase in devotion to Christ in the Eucharist. Adore and reconcile with Our Lord:
Organize the Holy Hour Program with the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Encourage parish participation: Share
the Knights of Columbus Eucharistic Revival & Eucharistic Procession
materials with your pastor/chaplain and offer to assist him
in promoting Adoration and coordinating a Eucharistic Procession (www.kofc.org/eucharist). Unite
at the Congress:
Find out if your
parish was represented at the National Eucharistic Congress July 17 - 21. in Indianapolis, Indiana. If so, invite him or her to speak at a council meeting. Ask your council lector or another speaker
to speak on topics related to the Eucharist.