Beloved Family:
The revival is still rolling! Specifically, the Eucharistic Revival inaugurated some three years ago and which, in a manner, culminated in the National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis this past July, continues in a missionary phase. To quote a statement from the official website (www.eucharisticrevival.org): “Revival is not something we do. It’s God stirring up the hearts of His people.” One of the main focus points of this phase is Walk With One. Again, to cite:
There is someone in your life right now whom Jesus longs to call to himself. He wants to spark a relationship with them and bless them with his sacraments. In this Year of Mission, Catholics across the U.S. are saying “yes” to a special form of heart-to-heart accompaniment called the Walk With One initiative. This is your opportunity to be God’s instrument in the life of another person.
I do not want to simplify inappropriately this initiative. I do want to point out what I would consider a piece of very low-hanging fruit: Eucharistic Adoration. If you already participate in a holy hour (or some other increment of time) of prayer before the Blessed Sacrament during Exposition some time between Tuesday morning and Wednesday night here at Saint Mary, I challenge you to be extra-intentional about inviting someone to join you. It may be someone who recalls this spiritual exercise from their youth but who has not rediscovered its power for the spirituality of a mature Catholic disciple. Perhaps it is someone who has been curious for a long time to give it a try but who is (unnecessarily but yet understandably) nervous about somehow doing it wrong—for the record, that’s virtually impossible 😊. Alternately, it could be someone who is beginning to explore Catholicism but finds the idea of coming to Mass intimidating at the moment. Invite…invite…invite!
Further on this theme, I highly commend to you a presentation on Eucharistic Adoration by Bishop Robert Barron (YouTube, Stay Close to the Fire: What is Eucharistic Adoration?). In it, he quotes the preeminent theologian Saint Thomas Aquinas, who stated: “At the words of consecration, it is as though a great fire has now been kindled in a new place.” When we hear about wildfires in various regions of the country or of the world, almost always there is a source fire which progressively and rapidly spawns other fires. We know that there is one source of “fire” for souls—the Holy Spirit. Oh, that we would be more intense catalysts of the spreading of the power of the Holy Spirit in our homes, our schools, our churches, our workplaces, our sports arenas. It was also said of Saint Thomas, who reportedly spent hours with his head resting on the tabernacle of a church or chapel: “He gained far more ideas from prayer than he did from thought. THAT surely is food for prayer!!
In closing, you can imagine how embarrassing it was to learn that I had transcribed the wrong zip code in the address for the seminary last weekend, as well as the inadvertent dropping of the “e” at the end of seminarian Chuck Cairnie’s name, in my editing. The corrected information is elsewhere in this bulletin issue.
Let His Peace be with you,
Fr. Stephen
