Savoring the summit: Weekly Message for 07-05-2022

Dear Friends in Christ,

A National Eucharistic Revival is under way here in the U.S.—and not a moment too soon.

A concerted effort by bishops to educate about, and awaken love for, the Eucharist, the three-year revival started on the solemnity of Corpus Christi to launch a Year of Diocesan Revival.

The Eucharist, the “source and summit of the Christian life” (CCC 1324), is the body, blood, soul and divinity of Jesus, truly and substantially present.

You wouldn’t know that by what many Catholics profess.

A 2019 Pew Research Center study found that less than a third of self-described Catholics believe what the Church teaches about the Eucharist.

That sad finding is the telling tip of an iceberg beneath the surface of Church life: Too many Catholics have too little appreciation for one of Our Lord’s greatest gifts to us.

A true revival in love for the Eucharist is precisely what the wider culture also needs. If Catholics can regain (or discover) a deep devotion for the Blessed Sacrament, they will find the wherewithal to be true leaven in the wider society.

For in the Eucharist is Christ himself, who nourishes us and helps us overcome sinfulness, and who gives us courage to push back against the foul tide that is engulfing our land.

This Eucharistic revival is a golden moment for us to lay aside some of our faith in politics and technology and shift it to where it will bear fruit. The Blessed Sacrament can be the source of endless graces—and certainly the starting point for any long-term recovery for a broken world.

To get in sync with the Eucharistic revival, you might want to pray along with our Retreat Guide on the great sacrament, “Food for the Journey: A Retreat Guide on the Sacrament of the Eucharist.”

And let’s always cherish the source and summit of our Catholic life.

In Christ,

Father Edward McIlmail, LC
Ask a Priest contributor