The National Eucharistic Congress: A taste of heaven

When I am asked about my experience of the 10th National Eucharistic Congress, I think of the comments I received from many people who attended and told me they did not want it to end. Both young and old, laity and religious, and priests and bishops commented that the days of this gathering of the church were so blessed and such an experience of joy-filled unity that they felt like it was a foretaste of heaven. One religious said to me, "We had to be told three times (twice by Cardinal Tagle and once by Bishop Cozzens) to go! Or we would have never left." Then she added, "But we need to go to share what we have received."

The two most powerful moments for me personally were when I got to carry Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament and lead people in prayer before him. Both the opening Holy Hour and Saturday's Eucharistic procession were moments of experiencing the Lord's profound love and delight for his people.

To see 60,000 people -- the largest procession in this country in almost 50 years -- gathered to show their love and honor for Jesus Christ was powerful. It was as if the whole church was in procession toward heaven: The various orders of Knights and Ladies, the first Communion children, over 900 women religious (most of them young!), hundreds of seminarians and deacons, over 1,200 priests (also mostly young!), and 200 bishops.

As we processed through the streets to see the people singing and praying, many of them with tears, it was overwhelming. And as we continued, the people joined the procession until all 60,000 of us ended up at the memorial where we had Benediction. What a gift to show our love for Jesus Christ in this way and to experience that he does in fact walk with us on our own pilgrimage to heaven.

I believe that one of the reasons the event was so special was that it was a congress and not a conference. A congress is a gathering of the church for worship, centered on the experience of the liturgy and prayer before the Eucharist. The purpose of the congress is to express our love and gratitude to the Lord for the gift of the Eucharist and to grow in that love. This is why we had the beautiful focus on repentance and conversion of heart, so we can all grow deeper in union with the Lord.

I was so grateful for the way the speakers kept the kerygma, the proclamation of the good news of salvation, at the center, inviting all to repentance and also showing how the Eucharist is central to this proclamation of the redeeming love of Christ. I believe it helped us see how the Eucharist, the source and summit of our Christian life, is also the source and summit of evangelization.

The congress was an expression of the two themes that have marked the National Eucharistic Revival, which came from Pope Francis' exhortation "Evangelii Gaudium": encounter and mission. We said from the beginning of the Eucharistic Revival that we wanted to inspire a movement of Catholics across the United States who are healed, converted, formed and unified by an encounter with Jesus in the Eucharist -- and who are then sent out on mission "for the life of the world."

We experienced these things at the National Eucharistic Congress. We saw both physical and spiritual healings, we saw hearts being more deeply converted to him, we had incredible opportunities for formation, and all who came or participated virtually experienced a spirit of deep unity in the gift of the church.

What made the National Eucharistic Congress so powerful? When the church is centered on Jesus, and proclaiming his salvation, when the church prays and honors the incredible gift of Jesus Christ truly present in the Eucharist, God reveals his power. For me, it was a new and deeper experience of God's desire to bless his church. I found myself repenting for my lack of faith that God can work so deeply in my heart and in the hearts of others. It made me wonder just how beautiful eternity will be.

I am keenly aware that many people shouldered incredible sacrifices for this event to be so spiritually fruitful. Most of those sacrifices were made by a dedicated, mission-driven team of lay people, led by National Eucharistic Congress CEO Timothy Glemkowski. Without the hard work, spiritual depth and incredible gifting of these people, the event would have been very different.

Tim has decided to leave the NEC and go back to his first love, parish renewal. He will now lead the Amazing Parish apostolate. The NEC will be led by Jason Shanks, formerly of Our Sunday Visitor, going forward. We are grateful to Tim for his incredible leadership which shaped this event so profoundly.

As we made clear at the end of the congress, the mission is just beginning. The mission happens when those of us who have been touched by this National Eucharistic Revival decide to take up Jesus' call to share it. In this third year of the revival, we must take this message and experience of love outside the walls of the church, to those who need it most. I hope that many will join the call to help evangelize through our "Walk with One" initiative. Learn more and find resources at www.eucharisticrevival.org/walk-with-one.

If you missed the congress or would like to see more of the talks and videos, they are all available here: www.eucharisticcongress.org/streaming.