Father Samuel Mungai distributes Communion at Holy Family Parish in Macon County, Tenn. In the Eucharist we grasp the fullness of Catholic faith.
“I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst.”
From the feast of Corpus Christi 2022 all the way until Pentecost 2025, Catholics across the United States are in a eucharistic revival. Maybe you know that already. The revival invites us, especially in the Eucharist, to an encounter with Jesus Christ. The celebration hopes to inspire a movement of Catholics across the United States who are healed, converted, formed, and unified and who are then sent out on mission “for the life of the world.”
A revival is no new idea for Glenmarians. Father William Howard Bishop, founder of Glenmary, articulated just two years after his ordination, in 1915, a very similar missionary vision of the Eucharist:
“One who has found a vast treasure which was meant for the whole human race to enjoy will not be excused for failing to try to bring his fellow-men to a knowledge of it. We have found such a treasure for we have drunk of the Water of Life, we have eaten of the Bread of Angels. We have Christ with us every day. Should we hesitate to show the world where he is to be found?” (Father Bishop,1917).
Indeed, this missionary understanding and vision of the Eucharist still guides and motivates Glenmary’s mission efforts today.
In Glenmary we have undertaken our own eucharistic revival for our community and all of our missionary ministries. We have four goals: Invite the Catholics in our missions to encounter more profoundly Jesus in Eucharist; reinvigorate eucharistic devotion and worship in each of our missions and ministries; deepen the knowledge and understanding of the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist; and, finally, understand the missionary sending given at each Eucharist to share the love of God and gift of the Eucharist.
Our plan of action (missioners always have plans of action!) is based on four pillars:
1. Eucharist and Catholic social teaching. Following the lead of Jesus at the Last Supper with the washing of the apostles’ feet the Eucharist impels us into service: to seek out the lost and forgotten.
2. Eucharist and ecumenical synodality. Once again inspired by the words of Jesus, “‘Whoever is not against you is for you” (Lk 9:50), we reach out to our fellow Christians. Synodality is sharing experience.
3. Eucharist and prayer. Twelve hours of adoration and prayer on the first Friday of Lent (February 16, 2024) will happen in each of our missions and houses of formation and residences. We seek to meditate on the mystery and the majesty of the Eucharist.
4. Eucharist and mission. We will promote eucharistic processions in all of our missions. As many of us as possible will attend the National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis, Indiana (July 17-21, 2024). We will provide scholarships to those in our missions who could not otherwise afford to attend.
You are members of Glenmary’s Charismatic Family—all of us who carry the Glenmary charism, the Holy Spirit’s gift of mission, into the world. I’d like to invite each of you to join us in the eucharistic revival. Watch for more detail in the coming months. But first, join me in prayer:
Heavenly Father, we thank you for the gift of your Son, Jesus, who promised to stay with us always, until the end of time.
Send us your Holy Spirit, that our hearts may be opened more fully to encounter Jesus in the breaking of the bread as were the disciples on the road to Emmaus.
Inspire us to become more dedicated in our missionary discipleship, to reach out to those who still hunger and thirst for the Bread of Life. Amen.
This letter by Glenmary President Father Dan Dorsey first appeared in the Summer 2023 Glenmary Challenge.