Christ is the reason we’re all here

In July, I had one of the most moving spiritual experiences of my life.

Together with 200 pilgrims from Oakland, and more than 50,000 Catholics from around the United States, I participated in the National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis. It was the capstone of our country’s three year Eucharistic Revival, which includes parish devotions and diocesan events. 

I am not one who enjoys crowds. I have been to large Masses in Rome, where the altar was a small dot hundreds of yards away, and all I could see was the back of the person in front of me.

This was different.

Lucas Oil Stadium became a cathedral. Even though there were 50,000-plus faithful in attendance, there was silence, reverence and hearty singing, all at the right times. The sanctuary was a feast of light, which featured the Sacred Heart for the opening Mass. 
Discreet cameras and screens made the altar and pulpit seem close. 

The music was amazing. They had a full choir, organ and orchestra. Most of the music was Gregorian chant: Scripture verses sung in English. It took 30 minutes for Holy Communion to reach everyone, but nobody minded, as the music led us into a profound “being in communion” with the Lord.

They sang all seven verses of “Adoro te devote” in Latin, then again in English. And then sang two African-American spirituals. Praise-and-worship style music was appropriately saved for the evening Revival Sessions.

The big difference between this Mass and many other liturgies I’ve attended is that in Lucas Oil Stadium, all the attention was on Christ. Not on singers, band members, dancers, speakers, Johnny-Carson-style presiders, whatever. No gimmicks.

Christ was the reason we were all there. All who partook in the liturgy used their talents to create a sense of Communion with Him, and with each other. Although I was only one of 50,000, I felt intimately one with Christ. And one with a great “crowd of witnesses,” as 
is written in the Book
of Revelation.

Faith sharing
Another highlight for me was the experience of faith sharing we had with our diocesan pilgrims. Thanks to Father Erick Villa and his fundraising efforts, we had a banquet for our pilgrims in a nice hotel ballroom. 

Before we ate, Father Villa guided our tables in a series of reflection questions: “What graces have you received from the Lord during the Year of the Eucharist?” “What more can the Church do to help you foster your relationship with Christ?” 

Powerful testimonies 
were given by some of our parishioners. I wish everyone in the diocese, especially our young people, could have heard their stories. It was proof God is alive. We came away saying, “What marvels the Lord worked for them! Indeed we were glad (Ps 125).”

There were other highlights: The diocesan Mass that Archbishop Cordileone and I celebrated for the pilgrims from Oakland and San Francisco in the beautiful historic Italian church nearby. The major public procession with the Blessed Sacrament through the streets of Indianapolis with worshippers lining the route. The sustained applause and cheers from the faithful when 1,200 sisters and 1,000 seminarians marched out of the convention center to join the procession. Never in my life have I seen more sisters in habits in one place. And most were young. 

I needed it.

In the convention center itself with hundreds and hundreds of people circulating in the hallways going to talks and events, I spotted a sister holding up a big sign: “If you need confession, follow me!” (I think she sold used cars in a previous life). 

I needed it. So I joined a group of fellow sinners in a large hall, dimly lit, with Gregorian chant playing, and religious icons illuminating the walls. She had a QR code we could scan to examine our consciences. Then she and her fellow sisters directed us to one of the 72 priests seated in long rows who were hearing confessions, nonstop, all day. That for me was one of the best parts of the whole week: Encountering the Lord in such an intimate sacrament.

When it was all over, some pilgrims said being there was like “heaven on earth,” “a taste of the New Jerusalem,” experiencing “the countless number worshiping God together.”

The subsequent scandalous mockery of the Last Supper at the Paris Olympics was Satan’s answer to our devotion. But he could not ruin it. 

“Christ is among us. He is and always will be,” they say in the Byzantine Rite when exchanging the Kiss of Peace. He’s waiting for you at your parish church this Sunday.