Cardinal Pierre calls for true revival at Eucharistic Congress

By Christopher Wells

As the United States’ Tenth National Eucharistic Congress opened Wednesday night in Indianapolis, the Apostolic Nuncio, Cardinal Christophe Pierre, explained to the faithful that his presence was a sign of Pope Francis’ “spiritual closeness, and his unity with you and with this country.”

“What a gift this is!” he said, “that we can be united as a Church through our Holy Father.”

At the same time, the Nuncio recalled that “the Holy Eucharist is also an immense gift for unity,” suggesting that the main prayer for the Congress should be “that we, as a Church, may grow in our unity, so that we may become more fruitful in our mission.”

What is Eucharistic Revival?

In order to realize this unity, Cardinal Pierre said, it is useful to ask the question, “What is Eucharistic revival?” And, perhaps more pointedly, “How will we know when we are experiencing Eucharistic revival?”

He explained that true Eucharistic revival, though “always accompanied by sacramental devotion” such as adoration, benediction, catechesis, and processions, “must extend beyond devotional practices.”

A true revival means seeing Christ in others, not only our own family, friends, and communities. True revival means seeing Christ even in those from whom we feel divided, whether by race or class, or those who challenge our own ways of thinking, or who think differently from us.

“When we encounter such people,” Cardinal Pierre said, “Christ is present to be a bridge,” uniting all peoples, who are children of the same heavenly Father and called to the same eternal destiny.

Impelled to unity

Greater efforts to build bridges of unity are a sign of true Eucharistic renewal, the Nuncio said, explaining that when we celebrate the Eucharist, we experience Jesus, Who built the first bridge by becoming man even when humankind was separated from Him.

For this reason, he said, believing in the real presence is not only the belief that Jesus is present in the Sacrament under the species of bread and wine, “but also in the assembly of His believing people,” and even in those “who struggle to connect with Him because of wounds, fear, or sin.”

Cardinal Pierre said adoration is essential to our relationship with Christ. He also said it is important to understand adoration precisely as a relationship: not seeing the Blessed Sacrament merely as an object, but relating to Jesus present in the Eucharist and thereby learning “to relate to others in a way that reverences the presence of God in them.”

This, he said, “is what it means to live a truly ‘Eucharistic’ life: the adoration spills into our daily life: our life relating to others, our way of seeing others.”

The call to pastoral conversion

The Cardinal warned that the problems of our “mission of evangelization” – including the problems of modernity, of learning to love those who think differently, of overcoming division, of responding to suffering – cannot be solved by our own efforts, but only through the power of God.

The Apostolic Nuncio to the United States concluded his keynote address with the invitation for everyone “to pray for true Eucharistic renewal,” that our eyes might be opened and that we might learn to think differently.

Cardinal Pierre said Eucharistic revival must therefore lead to “pastoral conversion” and called on the faithful to ask the Lord to reveal places of resistance, so that allowing ourselves to be led by God, “we can become true apostles of His Kingdom.”