June 1, 2022
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has embarked upon a three-year process of Eucharistic Revival. The process begins on the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, Corpus Christi Sunday, June 19, 2022.
The National Eucharistic Revival is being conducted under the heading: “My Flesh for the Life of the World” with the mission: “To renew the Church by enkindling a living relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist.” The three-year process is set to conclude with a National Eucharistic Congress scheduled to take place in Indianapolis July 17-21, 2024.
Down through the centuries the People of God have been called to witness to the reality of God’s great love and to be a light to all nations.
We are living in times not seen by people for centuries. War is currently being waged in Ukraine, while unrest and skirmishes of various sorts flare up with alarming frequency.
Division and polarization are all too common across the globe. And the Coronavirus pandemic has cost many lives, been a source of isolation from community events and involvement, and even caused suspension of the Church’s Sacramental Life for the sake of the Common Good.
As we emerge from the effects of the pandemic and learn to live more safely in the face of threats to individual and public health, the return to appreciation of the Sacramental Life of Catholic Christians is needed.
And such appreciation must bear fruit in lives lived as witnesses of God’s love most beautifully expressed in the Eucharistic Celebration and enduring Presence of Jesus Christ.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church sets forth for Catholic Christians the key elements of our belief in the Holy Eucharist. Article 1322 of the Catechism introduces the teachings on the Eucharist by saying, “Those who have been raised to the dignity of the royal priesthood by Baptism and configured more deeply to Christ by Confirmation participate with the whole community in the Lord’s own sacrifice by means of the Eucharist.”
In the documents produced by the Second Vatican Council in the middle of the Twentieth Century, we find familiar teachings regarding the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist:
• “At the Last Supper, on the night he was betrayed, our Savior instituted the Eucharistic sacrifice of his Body and Blood. This he did in order to perpetuate the sacrifice of the cross throughout the ages until he should come again, and so to entrust to his beloved Spouse, the Church, a memorial of his death and resurrection: a sacrament of love, a sign of unity, a bond of charity, a Paschal banquet ‘in which Christ is consumed, the mind is filled with grace, and a pledge of future glory is given to us.” (Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy)
• The Eucharist is “the source and summit of the Christian life.” (Dogmatic Constitution on the Church)
• “...in the blessed Eucharist is contained the whole spiritual good of the Church, namely Christ himself...” (Decree on the Ministry and Life of Priests)
In Article 1333, the Catechism sets forth what takes place when bread and wine become the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Christ through the action of the Church in the Eucharistic Celebration: “At the heart of the Eucharistic celebration are the bread and wine that, by the words of Christ and the invocation of the Holy Spirit, become Christ’s Body and Blood. Faithful to the Lord’s command the Church continues to do, in his memory and until his glorious return, what he did on the eve of his Passion: ‘He took bread...’ ‘He took the cup filled with wine...’
The signs of bread and wine become, in a way surpassing understanding, the Body and Blood of Christ; they continue also to signify the goodness of creation.”
Article 1337, drawing upon the teachings of the Sixteenth Century Council of Trent, expands upon that understanding, saying: “The Lord, having loved those who were his own, loved them to the end. Knowing that the hour had come to leave this world and return to the Father, in the course of a meal he washed their feet and gave them the commandment of love. In order to leave them a pledge of this love, in order never to depart from his own and to make them sharers in his Passover, he instituted the Eucharist as the memorial of his death and Resurrection, and commanded his apostles to celebrate it until his return; …”
The Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist is set forth profoundly in Article 1374 of the Catechism: “The mode of Christ’s presence under the Eucharistic species is unique. It raises the Eucharist above all the sacraments as the perfection of the spiritual life and the end to which all the sacraments tend.” (St. Thomas Aquinas). In the most blessed sacrament of the Eucharist ‘the Body and Blood, together with the soul and divinity, of our Lord Jesus Christ and therefore the whole Christ is truly, really, and substantially contained.’ (Council of Trent}. ‘This presence is called “real” – by which is not intended to exclude the other types of presence as if they could not be “real” too, but because it is presence in the fullest sense: that is to say, it is a substantial presence by which Christ, God and man, makes himself wholly and entirely present.’ (St. Paul VI).”
Article 1375 says, “It is by the conversion of the bread and wine into Christ’s body and blood that Christ becomes present in this sacrament.”
And article 1377 speaks of Christ’s enduring Presence when it draws upon the teachings of the Council of Trent saying: “The Eucharistic presence of Christ begins at the moment of the consecration and endures as long as the Eucharistic species subsist. Christ is present whole and entire in each of the species and whole and entire in each of their parts, in such a way that the breaking of the bread does not divide Christ.”
The Catechism (article 1378) launches us into our Eucharistic Revival Process when it says: “In the liturgy of the Mass we express our faith in the real presence of Christ under the species of bread and wine by, among other ways, genuflecting or bowing deeply as a sign of adoration of the Lord. ‘The Catholic Church has always offered and still offers to the sacrament of the Eucharist the cult of adoration, not only during Mass, but also outside of it, reserving the consecrated hosts with the utmost care, exposing them to the solemn veneration of the faithful, and carrying them in procession.’ (St. Paul VI).”
As Bishop of the Diocese of Lubbock, chief teacher of the Faith and chief liturgist of our local Church, I am personally spearheading our Diocese’s participation in the Eucharistic Revival Process. I have drawn upon the help of our newly reshaped Diocesan Worship Committee to assist us in conducting the Eucharistic Revival Process.
The Diocese of Lubbock’s Eucharistic Revival Process will include:
• A thorough formation on the Celebration of the Eucharist: That formation will occur through podcasts which I have recorded which will be made available to the Faithful of the Diocese; a specially designed curriculum for those students to be confirmed in parishes of the diocese which will contain emphasis on the Eucharist intermingled with teachings on the Holy Spirit and the sevenfold Gifts imparted by the Spirit; Family Faith Formation lessons made available throughout the Diocese with special emphasis upon the Eucharist.
• That will be followed by a study of the document approved by the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops in November of 2021 entitled, “The Mystery of the Eucharist in the Life of the Church.”
• Finally, it is my hope that the parishes and other entities of the Diocese of Lubbock will then carry the torch of Eucharistic renewal within their own structures and among the people attached to them.
• From June 25, 2022, until June 17, 2023 the Diocese of Lubbock will embark upon a special spiritual revival effort in preparation for the Fortieth Anniversary of the establishment of the Diocese. Pope St. John Paul II, in his Papal Bull erecting the Diocese of Lubbock, placed the Diocese under the patronage of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
o On June 18, 2022, I will be celebrating Mass at Christ the King Cathedral at 5:30 p.m. followed by a Eucharistic Procession around the Cathedral campus in honor of the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi), kicking off the Diocesan Eucharistic Revival Process to take place in the course of the following 51 weeks.
o On June 25, 2022, the Diocese will gather in celebration of the Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary with a special diocesan Eucharistic Celebration of the Feast at Christ the King Cathedral at 10:00 a.m. In the afternoon the Evangelization and Family Faith Formation Division of the Diocese will sponsor its first post-COVID Kaleidoscope of Faith Conference on the campus of the Diocese’s administrative offices on 4th Street.
o As a way of blending the U.S. Eucharistic Revival and our diocesan preparation for the 40th Anniversary of our founding, every parish in the Diocese will be encouraged to host special devotions to the Sacred Heart of Jesus on Fridays and to the Immaculate Heart of Mary on Saturdays, particularly on the First Friday and First Saturday of each month, between June 25, 2022, and June 17, 2023. The Diocesan Worship Committee will be making available to all parishes a suggested set of rubrics and prayers for use on those Fridays and Saturdays.
o On June 9/10, 2023, in observance of the vigil of Corpus Christi Sunday (The Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ) the Evangelization and Family Faith Formation Division of the Diocese will host its Kaleidoscope of Faith for 2023 with a series of mini-Eucharistic Congresses to be held in Plainview, Denver City, and Snyder (more specific details will be forthcoming).
o On June 11, 2023, the Eucharistic Revival will be turned over to observances in parishes throughout the Diocese of Lubbock as Catholic Parishes throughout the United States enter into the parish-based phase of our three-year Eucharistic Revival project.
o On June 17, 2023, the Diocese of Lubbock will gather at Christ the King Cathedral for an inspiring celebration of our Patronal Feast Day and the 40th Anniversary of the Founding of our Diocese.
In the sixth chapter of the Gospel according to John, Jesus tells us, “I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.” (John 6:51).
May our efforts in the coming three years bear fruit in greater understanding and appreciation of the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist; more fervent and meaningful full, conscious, and active participation in the Eucharistic Celebration; and empower us for an ever more faithful response to our call to missionary discipleship, becoming ourselves what we receive in the Eucharist.
May Our Lady of Guadalupe and Blessed Carlo Acutis pray for us as we embark upon this process, this journey together.
Most Reverend Robert M. Coerver, Bishop of Lubbock