Good Reads: National Eucharistic Congress Ushers In a New Era Of Eucharistic ‘Missionary Conversion’
More than 50,000 of the faithful gathered in Indianapolis for the first Eucharistic Congress in 83 years. Our Sunday Visitor reports on the Congress.
INDIANAPOLIS (OSV News) — The five days of the 10th National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis could not have ended in a more fitting way — with the celebration of the Eucharist with more than 50,000 people gathered at Lucas Oil Stadium.
Usually the home field of the Indianapolis Colts, for one last day, the stadium was filled with people adoring and praising Jesus Christ, hearts overflowing with love and gratitude for what they had experienced over the past week.
The Mass was celebrated by papal envoy Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, who was present in Indianapolis for the entire congress, and who greeted participants in many different languages. In a homily delivered with energy, joy and humor, Cardinal Tagle thanked “the God who is Love … for gathering us a family of faith at this closing Mass of the National Eucharistic Congress.”
Cardinal Tagle, who serves the Holy See as the pro-prefect of the Section for the First Evangelization and New Particular Churches of the Dicastery for Evangelization, said he brought with him the “fatherly, paternal blessings” of Pope Francis, who “prays, as we all do, that the congress may bear much fruit for the renewal of the church and of society in the United States of America.”
The message of Pope Francis to congress-goers, he said, was “conversion to the Eucharist.”
As attendees prepared to leave the five transformative days of the national congress, and were commissioned to go forth to spread the Gospel anew, Cardinal Tagle reflected on the connection between “Eucharistic conversion” and “missionary conversion.”
Those who go out on mission are a “gift” to the church and to the world.
“Mission is not just about work but also about the gift of oneself,” he said. “Jesus fulfills his mission by giving himself, his flesh, his presence to others as the Father wills it. The presence of Jesus in the Eucharist is a gift and the fulfillment of his mission.”
Where there is “a lack or a weakening of missionary zeal,” it could be that it is “partly due to a weakening in the appreciation of gifts and giftedness,” he said.
“When pessimism takes over, we see only darkness, failures, problems, things to complain about,” he continued. “We do not see gifts in persons and events. And those who do not see gifts in themselves and in others, they will not give gifts; they will not go on a mission.”
The cardinal asked those present to examine their own consciences in considering why some people choose to walk away from the Eucharistic Lord, preferring “his absence rather than his presence in their lives.”
Read the full story from Our Sunday Visitor.