Do we need a national eucharistic revival?
We do—and for several reasons. Studies have recently shown that large numbers of Catholics do not understand the Eucharist, especially as the real sacramental presence of the Lord in his church. At a practical level, the numbers of those who regularly participate in the Sunday Eucharist continue to diminish. In fact, those who do participate weekly form a distinct minority of perhaps 20 per cent of U.S. Catholics, and they are largely an older and vanishing generation of believers.
There are pockets of young Catholics frequenting Mass, and those celebrations can be vibrant and sustaining. But younger Catholics overall are not to be found in church each Sunday. The Covid-19 pandemic has also had an impact on eucharistic practice. Many of those who rightly stayed away from Mass because of health concerns have yet to return, even with a much-diminished risk of contagion. Finally, there is a small but vocal minority of those who want the traditional Latin Mass instead of the renewed and restored liturgy of the Second Vatican Council. With all this in play, we certainly need a national eucharistic revival or—perhaps more accurately—a national eucharistic reset.
The real challenge is not to understand, appreciate and reverence the Eucharist as a sacramental object, which can be a real tendency of eucharistic devotions. No, the real challenge is to enter together the mystery of the Lord’s self-sacrificing love made present and communicated in the eucharistic action—take, eat, drink, do, remember. To enter that mystery is to find ourselves individually and collectively transformed into the very one we celebrate, Jesus who is present among us as our hope of glory.
Eucharistic devotions can serve a good purpose for many, if not all, people. They can lead us to the eucharistic action, and they can lead from it and, in a certain sense, prolong it. In neither case, however, can they substitute for the eucharistic action itself or claim an absolute value in Christian life.
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The Rev. Louis J. Cameli, a priest of the Archdiocese of Chicago, is Cardinal Blase J. Cupich’s delegate for formation and mission. He is the author of Bread of Life: Exploring the Presence of Eucharist in Our Lives.
With thanks to America and Fr Louis J. Cameli, where this article originally appeared.
