National Eucharistic Revival

In John’s Gospel, after listening to Jesus’ Bread of Life Discourse, we read, “Then many of his disciples who were listening said, ‘This saying is hard; who can accept it?’”…and “As a result of this, many of his disciples…no longer accompanied him” (John 6:22-71).  Although this episode in the life of Jesus occurred nearly 2,000 years ago, it could describe so many Catholic disciples today. This teaching on the Eucharist, as with many other doctrines of the Church, are perceived in our present culture as “hard teaching.” For a number of differing reasons, over the past several decades Catholics have turned away from the Church and no longer accompany Jesus. Others remain in the Church, but regular Mass attendance on a weekly basis has dropped to around thirty percent. Still others routinely attend Mass, but fail to experience it in its richness and beauty, due to a lack of understanding of Christ in the Eucharist and its centrality to the Mass. Even those who do believe in the real presence allow this truth 
to become mundane, taking for granted the abundance of grace that is manifest in this sacrament. Many of us, to one degree or another, need to accompany Jesus more closely in our walk of faith, especially with respect to the Eucharist.

The U.S. Bishops have taken notice of this need and have sought to address it by implementing the National Eucharistic Revival beginning in June 2022. The mission of the revival is “to renew the Church by enkindling a living relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist.” Its vision is “a movement of Catholics across the United States, healed, converted, formed, and unified by an encounter with Jesus in the Eucharist—and sent out in mission ‘for the life of the world.’” The revival hopes to draw people closer to Christ by highlighting the Eucharistic themes of real presence, sacrificial offering, and communion and our response of thanksgiving.   The revival will take place over the next three years. The first year will focus on building awareness on the diocesan level, the second year at the parish level and the third will culminate on the national level with a National Eucharistic Congress to be held in Indianapolis.

From the article "U.S. Bishops implement the National Eucharistic Revival, starting in June", written by Rob Hartley, Director of Evanglization, Family Life, and Pastoral Ministries, for the May 29, 2022 edition of The Catholic Moment. Read the full text here.