In modern times we have “lost the sense of adoration” and for this reason, he assured that “we need to recover the meaning of worship in silence, of adoration,” lamented Pope Francis during the meeting that he held on 19 June, Monday, with the members of the Organizing Committee for the next National Eucharistic Congress in the United States.
At the beginning of his speech, the Pontiff recalled that this morning, while celebrating the Eucharist, he had thought that the Body of Christ is “what gives us life.”
” The Eucharist is God’s response to the deepest hunger of the human heart, to the hunger for true life: in it Christ himself is truly in our midst to feed us, comfort us and support us on our way”, stressed the Holy Father.
The Holy Father regretted that today “sometimes among our faithful some believe that the Eucharist is more a symbol than the real and loving presence of the Lord.” However, he specified, “it is more than a symbol, it is the real and loving presence of the Lord.”
For this reason, Pope Francis hopes that the Eucharistic Congress ” will inspire Catholics throughout the country to recover a sense of wonder and amazement at this great gift that the Lord has given us, and to spend time with Him in the celebration of Holy Mass, as well as in personal prayer and in the adoration of the Blessed Sacrament”.
“I think that in this modern time we have lost the sense of worship. We need to recover the meaning of worship in silence, of adoration. It is a prayer that we have lost, few people know what it is, and you, bishops, must catechize the faithful on the prayer of adoration; the Eucharist asks us for it ”, he underlined.
Along these lines, he stressed “the need to promote vocations to the priesthood, because, as Saint John Paul II said: ‘There is no Eucharist without a priesthood. Priests are needed to celebrate the Holy Eucharist,” Pope Francis clarified.
For the Holy Father, the Eucharistic Congress can be “an opportunity for the faithful to commit themselves with ever greater zeal to be missionary disciples of the Lord Jesus in the world .”
“In the Eucharist we meet the One who gave himself entirely to us, who sacrificed himself to give us life, who loved us to the end. We become credible witnesses to the joy and transforming beauty of the Gospel only by recognizing that the love celebrated in the sacrament cannot be kept to ourselves , but demands to be shared with all.
He then explained that “the Eucharist impels us to a love strongly committed to our neighbor, because we cannot truly understand and live its meaning if we keep our hearts closed to our brothers, especially the poor, those who suffer, those who they are exhausted or lost in life.”
In this sense, he asked to visit “the elderly, who are the wisdom of a people, and the sick, who are the figure of the suffering Jesus.”
Later, he remarked that the Eucharistic Congress represents ” a significant moment in the life of the Church in the United States .”
“May everything you do be an occasion of grace for each one of you and bear fruit to accompany the men and women of your country towards the Lord: He, with his presence among us, revives hope and renews life.”
Finally, he entrusted those present “to the maternal intercession of Mary Immaculate, Patroness of the United States” and assured them of his prayers.
Seeking to rekindle devotion to the Eucharist, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) launched a three-year revival initiative, culminating in a National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis July 17-21, 2024.
Since 2021, new teaching materials, training for diocesan and parish leaders, the launch of a website, and the deployment of a special team of 50 priests who will travel the country to preach on the Eucharist have been developed.