CREATED ANEW

SUMMER 2022

BODY AND BLOOD 

“Make holy, therefore, these gifts, we pray, by sending down your Spirit upon them like the dewfall, so that they may become for us the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

THESE WORDS, OR A VARIANT, ARE SPOKEN every time Mass is celebrated, and they carry an astonishing significance: that right now and right in front of us, bread and wine are being transformed by the Holy Spirit into the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. Not a symbol, not an idea, but the actual Body and Blood. When we receive the Eucharist, Jesus enters us and we enter Him.

Over the next three years, the Catholic Church in America will be working to rekindle our awe and joy at this opportunity for Communion with the Lord. Under the theme “Created Anew by the Body and Blood of Christ, Source of our Healing and Hope,” the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops announced plans in November 2021 for a National Eucharistic Revival to take place from 2022 through 2024. 

The revival is prompted by an alarming trend. In a 2019 poll released by Pew Research, 70% of Catholics indicated that they did not believe in Christ’s Real Presence in the Eucharist. In a civilization that increasingly celebrates appearances over substance, our faith is challenged. “What sense can there be, in the eyes of the world, in kneeling before a piece of bread?” Pope Francis asked in a speech at the Vatican in August 2021. When the “eyes of the world” insist on seeing the Eucharist as just a “piece of bread,” it’s not easy for Catholics to stand against the tide of disbelief. 

“In these times,” says USCCB’s Bishop Andrew Cozzens, “the Church needs to become more missionary.” The National Eucharistic Revival is meant to jump-start the process. “All Catholics are invited into a renewed encounter with Jesus Christ in the Eucharist, especially those Catholics who don’t fully understand the power of the Eucharist. . . . This is a time not to be ashamed of the Gospel but to proclaim it from the rooftops.”

On Corpus Christi Sunday, June 19, the first phase (known as the Diocesan Year of Revival) was formally launched in dioceses across the country with Eucharistic processions at many parishes, including dozens in the Archdiocese of New York. Between now and next June, a series of events is being planned throughout the archdiocese. For more information and updates, visit archny.org/eucharisticrevival/adny.

The Diocesan Year of Revival will be followed in June 2023 by the Year of the Parish Revival, bringing the focus on the Eucharist to a local level. Year three, the Year of the National Eucharistic Congress and Missionary Sending, is set to begin in July 2024 with a five-day gathering of tens of thousands of Catholics in Indianapolis. From there, attendees will go forth to spread the word. 

The bishops believe that a revival of faith in the Eucharist will bring about a wider resurgence in church attendance and parish participation, which are languishing below pre-pandemic levels. “We worry that a lot of our people no longer take Sunday Mass seriously, and that many no longer understand or appreciate the meaning and message of the Blessed Sacrament,” Cardinal Timothy Dolan wrote in prefacing a set of resolutions for this year. “I can’t think of a more helpful or fruitful resolution,” he wrote, “than to renew the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist as the anchor, the center of our lives.”  

To receive a weekly newsletter from USCCB with Eucharistic teachings and updates on National Eucharistic Revival events, go to eucharisticrevival.org/heart-of-the-revival-newsletter.