My encounter with Christ in the Eucharist during the 10th National Eucharistic Congress was quite wonderful. I felt the Holy Spirit burn with new life for the Church in the United States. Jesus gathered all of us in one space from all four corners of our country. I personally feel empowered to share the love of Christ with everyone I meet because of three things: an encounter, the power of healing, and unity.
During the first portion of the Congress, I was asked by the speakers to open up my heart to encounter Jesus in a new way, and I am glad I did. As various speakers began to help me meditate on the overarching narrative of the Bible, I was reminded of a simple truth that I think many in our world have forgotten: God is God, and I am not. I recalled the many times I had my own plans. I was going to do things, my way, the way I wanted, and I shoved God’s voice out of my mind. The very God who is love itself wanted to remind me that the greatest gift I could give him that night in Lucas Oil Stadium was my presence. I wasn’t supposed to worry about my own plans, just to listen to Jesus’s plans for me. I felt great peace that night, a kind of peace I don’t think anything could take away.
The next portion of the Congress focused on healing, and my encounter with Jesus brought with it a message I didn’t realize I needed to hear. Sr. Miriam James Heidland, one of the emcees for the Congress, told the participants, “God is not overwhelmed by you. He just wants to love you.” That message was a gut punch to my stomach. All throughout life I’ve experienced moments of frustration, anger, fear, and joy. These emotions have felt like too much to handle at times, but if God is infinite, then he has no limit, and if he has no limit, then my sin, my sadness, whatever I am feeling, no emotion is too intense for the Lord.
Towards the end of the Congress, I heard talks focusing on unity and mission. We are united as a Church under our head, Jesus Christ. In addition, anything that causes unnecessary division within the Church leads as farther away from Jesus’s prayer that we may all be one (John 17:21). We must stand as one Body of Christ, and not let things like liturgical preferences distract us from the one faith we all share. Our world is aching for unity too. Left vs. right, black vs. white, pro-life vs pro-choice, Protestant vs. Catholic, all of these are the wounds of Christ’s Church. We must go out with renewed compassion, renewed zeal, speaking the truth in love, especially when our world makes us timid. Only then can we truly change it.
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