2023-06-19 17:49:00
June 19, 2023 / 10:49 a.m.
Pope Francis lamented that in modern times “we have lost the meaning of adoration” and for this reason he assured that “we need to recover the meaning of worship in silence, of adoration.”
This was stated during the meeting that he held on Monday, June 19, 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 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 really in our midst to feed us, comfort us and support us on our way”, he stressed.
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 that “it is more than a symbol, it is the real and loving presence of the Lord.”
For this reason, Pope Francis hoped that the Eucharistic Congress “inspire Catholics across the country to regain a sense of wonder and awe at this great gift the Lord has given usand to spend time with Him in the celebration of the 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 about 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 so that the faithful 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 can’t keep to ourselvesbut it demands to be shared with all”.
He then explained that “the Eucharist impels us to 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.”
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Later, he remarked that the Eucharistic Congress supposes “a significant moment in the life of the Church in America”.
“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, launching a website and the deployment of a special team of 50 priests who will travel the country to preach on the Eucharist.
Almudena Martínez-Bordiú is a Spanish journalist, correspondent for ACI Prensa in Rome and the Vatican, with four years of experience in religious information.
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