We have arrived at the high point of the Eucharistic Congress, the offering of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. All the events of the Congress lead up to this point, because the Mass is the source and summit of the Christian life. The Mass is the source and summit of the Eucharistic Congress.
Why do we have the Eucharistic Congress? The purpose of the Eucharistic Congress is to celebrate our faith in the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist – to affirm our Catholic faith in His Real Presence.
Some years ago (in the mid-1990s) a New York Times/CBS poll surveyed Catholics about their faith, in which they were asked which of the following two statements best represented their faith about the Eucharist: 1. The bread and wine are changed into the Body and Blood of Christ, or 2. The Eucharist is a symbolic reminder of Jesus. A majority of adult Catholics between the ages of 18 and 65 were not able to say that the bread and wine are changed into the Body and Blood of Christ. Jesus, however, says differently.
In this Gospel, we have just heard Jesus say, “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him” (Jn 6:56). In other words, He says, I personally remain in the one who eats My flesh and drinks My blood. Christ Himself lives in us through the Eucharist, and His living in us is possible because Jesus is really and truly present in the Eucharist. It is the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist.
The theme of our Eucharistic Congress this year is Jesus’ promise to His apostles: “I am with you always.” The Holy Eucharist is the entirely unique way that Jesus fulfills His promise to remain with us, because the Eucharist is Jesus.
There are many, many ways that Jesus is with you always.
He is with us in the sacraments. When you are baptized, He is with you. When you go to confession, He is with you as you confess your sins. When you are at Mass, He is with you. He is with you in the sacrament of confirmation. He is with you when you receive the anointing of the sick. He is with the married couple in the sacrament of holy matrimony.
He is with you in your prayer. He is present where two or three are gathered in His name. He is with us in His Word. He is with us in the person of His sacred minister: the bishop, the priest, or the deacon. He is present in the poor, the sick, and the imprisoned.
Jesus says that He is with you always, meaning that it is a forever promise to be with you. You are always the object of His love, at any time of day, through all the hours of the night, through all the days of your life. He has made a covenant of love with you. With compassion He accompanies you on your life’s pilgrimage. He does not forget you or abandon you.
But, of all these ways that Jesus is with us always, He is especially with us in a totally unique way in the Holy Eucharist. In the Eucharist, He is present in the fullest sense of the word “present,” meaning it is a substantial presence of Jesus Christ (Catechism of the Catholic Church 1374) unlike the other presences of Christ. The whole Christ is truly present, His Body and His Blood, together with His Soul and Divinity. And this is the way Jesus wanted it.
At every Mass, we offer Jesus to God the Father for the salvation of the world. Jesus is the sacred offering we lift up to heaven at the consecration as our sacrifice of reconciliation, for the forgiveness of sins. He offered Himself on the cross as the sacrifice of forgiveness for the world’s sins, and the Father was pleased to accept Jesus’ gift of Himself. And Jesus commanded us to continue to offer Him to the Father as our sacrifice of reconciliation, our thanksgiving sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins. And so at every Mass we lift up to heaven our sacred offering to the Father, asking God for His mercy. The Mass is a sacrifice, and Jesus is the sacrifice we offer.
Jesus says, “I am with you always.” Yes, it is really Jesus who is present.
We have celebrated this Eucharistic Congress together as one diocesan family, with brothers and sisters from parishes all across the diocese. Let this Eucharistic Congress be the start of something new for you. Resolve to deepen your relationship with Jesus in the Eucharist.
You are probably very busy, as most people are nowadays. But there is someone waiting for you at church, in the tabernacle. And I do say Some-One, not some-thing. It is the
Lord Jesus who is waiting for you. Don’t you need to visit someone who loves you? – to visit the Lord in the tabernacle when the church is open during the day outside of Mass times? – to visit Him in Eucharistic Adoration? – or to be at Mass at least one time during the week in addition to your Sunday Mass?
Someone is waiting for you to visit Him. It is really Jesus.
Let this Eucharistic Congress be the start of something new for your spiritual life. Go deeper in your relationship with the Lord in the Eucharist.
Bishop Peter Jugis is the fourth Bishop of Charlotte and the founder of the Diocese of Charlotte Eucharistic Congress.
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