Witnessing the Eucharist on Pilgrimage
As the Church in the United States anticipates the National Eucharistic Congress, the first of its kind in 83 years, in Indianapolis on July 17–21, many prepare by taking part in a National Eucharistic Pilgrimage along four routes toward the site. The northern route, known as the Marian Route after the shrine of Our Lady of Champion, included two other Marian shrines: Holy Hill Basilica and National Shrine of Mary Help of Christians, and the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in La Crosse. On June 8, the Guadalupe Shrine was privileged to host the pilgrimage for a time of adoration. Watch the procession.
From Bishop Barron to Bishop Battersby
As the monstrance being carried in the pilgrimage traveled to La Crosse from the diocese of Winona-Rochester, MN, Bishop Robert Barron entrusted the Eucharistic Jesus to Bishop Gerard Battersby, newly appointed to the diocese of La Crosse. The pilgrimage proceeded to the Shrine, where Executive Director Fr. Paul Check gave a reflection, reminding attendees of the awe and gratitude that the Blessed Sacrament should inspire.
Divine Love & The Eucharist
“The most wondrous thing the world had ever seen took place in the upper room at the Last Supper two thousand years ago, and it takes place at every Holy Mass,” said Fr. Check. The Eucharist is this great wonder because it is the ultimate approach of divine love to the human heart: “St. Bernard of Clairvaux called the Holy Eucharist the love of all loves, the highest expression of charity. It is the love that pardons sinners. It is the love that unites the Sacred Heart to your heart and mine. It is the love that bestows God Himself into your soul, a love that perfectly fulfills its promise.”
This generous love is all the greater, Father explained, because Our Lord knew that His gift would often be rejected in unbelief, treated with indifference, or even worse. “At the Last Supper our Lord foresaw how, in many cases, He would be received … with a lack of reverence that can reach even to sacrilege.” Yet He accepted all this mistreatment in order to give His Real Presence to everyone. “Love does not calculate,” Fr. Check commented. “It does not weigh advantages and disadvantages. No, it risks all, and it gives all. Our Lord risked everything, if we can say it that way, to draw our hearts to His.” Watch the full video
Eucharistic Revival
In our own time, Jesus draws our hearts to His Sacramental Presence through the National Eucharistic Revival. Those participating in the Pilgrimage, and the many more expected at the Congress, give witness that the Eucharist is “the most wondrous thing the world has ever seen,” supremely worthy of faith and love. These grand-scale events can thus serve as a reminder that the more familiar events—faithfully, devoutly receiving Communion and attending adoration—are, beneath their humble appearances, places to discover “the love of all loves … the love that unites the Sacred Heart to your heart and mine.”
