Tenth National Eucharistic Congress opens with 50,000 people in IndianapolisJaime Reyna: "The Eucharistic Congress is the best spiritual investment we can make".The second day of the Congress had as its central theme: the greatest love story. The day began with the prayer of the rosary followed by two morning Masses, one in English presided by Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Bishop of New York at Lucas Oil Stadium and another in Spanish celebrated by Cardinal Sean O'Malley, Bishop of Boston at the Indiana Convention Center.
In their respective homilies, the prelates referred to the Eucharist as the sacred food, indispensable in the life of every Catholic. Without it we cannot establish a relationship and communion with God, said the Bishop of New York. However, Dolan acknowledged that in the USA only 25 % of Catholics are faithful to the Sunday precept and in view of this it is necessary to recover the centrality of the Sunday Mass because without the Eucharist there is no church: "We need to eat this sacred food because we want to be in communion with Him", said the Bishop of New York.
For his part, during the liturgy in Spanish, Cardinal Sean O'Malley said that the world is ruled by people suffering from spiritual amnesia. "They have forgotten God," he said, which causes people not to go to Mass; and he continued, "I see fewer people in Church today than when I was growing up. Many have even forgotten what Mass is all about. Therefore, O'Malley emphasized, this Eucharistic Congress is important because it helps us to understand that as disciples of Christ, the Eucharist must be the center of our lives. "God loves us and nourishes us because the Eucharist is the madness of God's love," the cardinal said.
Impact sessions
At the end of the liturgies, the congress participants attended one of seven "Impact Sessions", i.e. classified and targeted talks for Catholics in different states and stages of life: clergy, parents, youth, catechists and parish leaders. There were also two "encounter" sessions for Catholics seeking to renew their faith through the mystery of the Eucharist and for those looking for practical tools to evangelize their community and become "Eucharistic missionaries.
Among the "impact sessions" in Spanish was a reflection by Bishop Daniel Flores of Brownsville, Texas, who spoke about the need to renew the spirit of communion and mission in the Church. The temptation of the culture, said Flores, "is to think that the world is saved by wealth, but it is not so. It is the poverty of Christ that has saved us. The Lord was vulnerable and gave his life for us," said Flores. Therefore, in order to evangelize, "we must touch the poverty of the Lord, because God makes us rich in the richness of his poverty".
Work sessions
The afternoon of the second day of the Congress was structured around the so-called "working sessions" and "special experiences". The former are mini-workshops given by speakers belonging to different lay ministries or Catholic educational institutions such as "Augustine Institute", "Catholic University of America", "Catholic University of America", "The Catholic University of America" and "The Catholic University of America".FOCUS"Exodus 90" or "Our Sunday Visitor", among others. Workshop topics included: "A Biblical Walk through the Mass", "Evangelizing through the Eucharist", "What does it mean to be a Eucharistic people", "The family and Catholic education", "Transforming the world with the Eucharist and evangelization".
In addition, one of the "special experiences" was a round table on the theme "A Synodal Church in Mission", presented by Cardinal Blase Cupich, Bishop of Chicago and Bishop Daniel Flores, among other speakers. In his intervention, Cardinal Cupich indicated that "if there is a crisis of faith in the Church, it is not so much because people do not believe that Jesus is present in the Eucharist, but because people do not fully understand and believe what it means for Jesus to rise from the dead," he said. Likewise, we must focus our attention "on what Christ is doing and what is happening to us as individuals and as a community, that is, to be transformed so that we can more fully assume Christ's mission of bringing justice, peace and love to the world," he said.
Eucharistic Adoration
In the afternoon-evening came one of the most awaited moments for the congress participants: the presentation of the main speakers and the Eucharistic adoration in the Lucas Oil Stadium. The keynote speakers of the day were Mother Olga of the Sacred Heart, founder of the Daughters of Mary of Nazareth in the Archdiocese of Boston, and Father Mike Schmitz, a priest of the Diocese of Duluth. In recent years Schmitz has become one of the celebrities of the English-speaking Catholic world for his video messages, aimed primarily at young people, and his podcasts "The Bible in a Year" and "The Catechism in a Year".
In his presentation, Schmitz spoke of the sacrificial and redemptive aspect of the Holy Mass: "God becomes present among us during the liturgy. In the Mass you are part of the redemption of humanity. Every time it is celebrated, the Father is glorified and the world is renewed". In spite of this, the prelate pointed out that many Catholics ignore this mystery or are indifferent. In view of this, the prelate invited those present to make known the marvel of the Eucharistic mystery and tell the world that "they have been redeemed and that only love can make them saints". The day concluded with the solemn exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, adoration and the final blessing.
