Beginning last year, on the Solemnity of Corpus Christi, the Body and Blood of Christ, the Catholic Bishops of the United States have undertaken a multi-year program aimed at reviving and deepening our Catholic belief in and love for the gift of the Holy Eucharist.

 

Since Holy Thursday night and the Last Supper, when Jesus said “This is my body” and “This is my blood,” the Church has taken Jesus at His Word. The spectacular gift that is given at each Mass is that through the priest, acting in the person of Jesus Himself, the bread becomes the Body of Christ, and the wine becomes His Blood. This is true even as the external manifestation of the bread and wine remain unchanged.

 

Like all elements of belief, the faithful through the ages need to make their own effort to hold to the truth. And that happens in the midst of many challenges from society and the world. 

 

For that reason, it is worrisome that a recent study showed that only 31% of Catholics said that they accept and believe in the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. Nearly 70% of Catholics responding to the survey said they believe the presence of Christ in the Eucharist is not real but merely symbolic. Over 40% of those respondents also said that they thought that is what the Catholic Church officially teaches.

 

On Sunday, June 11, the Solemnity of Corpus Christi for this year, the Eucharistic Revival will be entering the parish phase. That is an extremely important moment because exposure to our Catholic Eucharistic faith, especially through Mass, adoration, study, homilies and acts of charity are most often carried out through one’s parish. So what should we be hoping to accomplish in the coming year with regard to faith in the Eucharist?

 

First, parishes will need, on all possible levels, to remind us of the teaching and faith of the Church. We should be attentive to homilies reminding us of Christ’s True Presence in the Eucharist. Adult education, grade school and religious education classes should focus on this need for catechesis. How can we believe unless we have heard and know this truth?

 

It will be necessary to seek the conversion of heart and faith of those who, perhaps even over a long period of time, have come to internalize belief in a presence of Jesus in the Eucharist that is merely symbolic. Similarly, catechesis must reach out to those who reject or do not know about the reality of the Eucharist.

 

Further, we need to recapture throughout the Church the understanding that the Eucharist is linked intimately to the body and blood of Jesus on the cross. The Eucharist joins us to the one sacrifice of Christ for the sins of the world.

 

Second, our relationship to the True Presence is meant to be heartfelt and personal. The person of Jesus is present in the Eucharist. God is drawing close to us. In love, we are to respond with our love, our adoration, our deepest personal thoughts and words with Jesus in the Eucharist.

 

Third, the presence of Jesus in the world is linked to charity for all especially the needy and the most vulnerable. Having met and received Jesus in the Eucharist, we too must imitate Him by our own charity as a continuation of union with Christ. How do we care for the poor and those in our lives and society who need Christ’s love and support through us?

 

Finally, this Eucharistic revival must reach out beyond those who already believe. Strengthening existing faith is important. But there are so many who simply do not yet know Christ, nor do they know His presence in this world in the Eucharist. We must find ways to bring others to Christ in the Eucharist.

 

This parish year of the Eucharistic Revival will leave us all with much to do. But the personal and abiding presence of Christ in the Eucharist and in the Church is a great gift. Now is our time to revive our own Eucharistic belief and to bring others to this eternal mystery of God’s love and presence.