+JMJ
Dear Parishioners,
Did you know there will be a huge Eucharistic procession, from four directions across the United States May 2024 through July 16, 2024? This will be the culmination of the parish year of the National Eucharistic Renewal. The pilgrimage will start on the West coast in San Francisco, CA; on the East coast in New Haven, CT; on the southern border in Brownsville, TX; and in the North at Mississippi Headwaters, Lake Itasca, MN. The four simultaneous pilgrimage routes will converge at Indianapolis, IN on July 16, 2023. The East coast route from New Haven, CT will pass closest to us in Columbus June 28-30. Each pilgrimage path will have a group of perpetual pilgrims. Then there will be caravans who join the pilgrims along the way from local cities and towns. Then there will be people who host pilgrims overnight. Most importantly, of course, there will be Jesus at the center of each pilgrimage, i.e., the Blessed Sacrament carried in the monstrance.
This national pilgrimage with the Blessed Sacrament culminates with the National Eucharistic Congress that will take place in Indianapolis next year July 17-21. Along with New Riegel, we are arranging a bus and housing and registration for the Eucharistic Congress. Registration opened this past Monday. Please see the bulletin or facebook, or ask in the parish office for more information. We have 35 spaces to fill. This should be an amazing event… a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Sign up, if you feel the Lord prompting you.
For this parish level of the renewal, parishes were invited to consider four questions:
– Is there anything more that we can do to elevate the beauty of the Mass, so that our people can delve more deeply into the mystery of the Eucharist?
– Can we provide a monthly encounter night that helps parishioners encounter Jesus in the Eucharist personally?
– Can we preach on the Mass and provide small group opportunities for people to understand more profoundly the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist?
– Can we empower our people to invite others from the margins to come back to Mass or encounter Jesus in the Eucharist for the first time? Can our people be “on mission”.
Regarding these four invitations, it seems:
– We are trying our best to elevate the beauty of our Masses, so that people can connect with invisible beauty of Jesus' Real Presence in the Eucharist. Our musicians and cantors are doing great work. We are using the most solid songs from Journeysongs. Perhaps we can allow for a bit more silent meditation time after Holy Communion? We will be considering this. Before Masses we will be substituting the Eucharistic Renewal Prayer for the Diocesan Prayer, until the Eucharistic Congress happens.
– We already have Jesus By Candlelight monthly. We are changing the name to “Evening of Encounter”, to match the invitation of the National Eucharistic Renewal. We want people to encounter Jesus in the Eucharist, as they worship Him in adoration, every second Sunday evening of the month, at 6:30 PM. At these holy hours, we also have the opportunity to encounter Jesus' mercy in the Sacrament of Confession. Finally, we are hoping to train a small team of people to pray for healing for those who would like prayer for physical or spiritual healing. These will all be ways to encounter Jesus in these Evenings of Encounter.
– Regarding preaching, we might have some homilies that focus on parts of the Mass, or some doctrine connected to the Eucharist. You know that already not a homily goes by without the deacons or me saying something about the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. If people really believed the Eucharist is Jesus, they wouldn't miss Mass. Obviously, we can teach more on this, and evangelize more on this. We will also have a Eucharistic focused enrichment in Lent for everybody. This will replace the RESCUE Project we have run for the last three semesters.
– Regarding evangelizing others, inviting others to Mass: I am considering a small school of evangelization, where we would teach people how to share their faith journey with others and invite others to practice the Faith. I think sometimes people just don't know where to start, when it comes to sharing the Faith with others.
The Eucharistic Renewal has a motto: “The Cross stands steady while the world turns” (Stat crux dum volvitur orbis.) That's the case with the Eucharist. The Eucharist sustains the world, as the world revolves day-in and day-out. Is it the case that you experience your life revolving around the Eucharist? Do you think about the Eucharist every day? Do you realize that any good you accomplish in a given day comes from grace from Calvary, which is poured into the world as Calvary is made present in Holy Mass? Do you realize that the good works you do each day by God's grace can be gathered as a bouquet and offered spiritually to the Lord in Holy Mass each weekend? That's how the Eucharist can be experienced as the Source and Summit of our life, as the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches. Everything good in our life is sourced from the Eucharist; everything good in our life points us towards the Eucharist.
Here's a final quote from the Eucharistic Renewal materials:
The celebration of the Eucharist is the Source and Summit of our Faith, because through this gift we encounter Jesus Christ Himself. During the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, Christ's passion, death and resurrection are made present before our very eyes – albeit in a veiled way. This Sacrifice is the source of our hope, the summit of salvation history and the steady axis around which the world turns. As an extension of this truth, the celebration of the Mass will be central to the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage. We will have Mass at every stop, worshiping and receiving our Lord together with locals we meet along the way. We pray that through the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, Christ will draw us into greater unity as a people, as a nation and as a church.
Let's beg our Lord at each Holy Mass to help us appreciate more deeply the Gift and Mystery that the Eucharist is… the Source and Summit of our life.
Have a blessed week!
In cordibus Iesu, Mariae et Iosephus,
Father Poggemeyer
Link to register for Eucharistic Congress: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSej6hFOeriphkdItacMcropcT5OejLcqnI0ku5PzBA1njYLxA/viewform