By MARY STADNYK
Associate Editor
UPDATED July 16, 2024
The Eucharist is more than just about receiving the Body and Blood of Christ. The Eucharist is about seeing Christ in one another.
So said Father Martin O’Reilly to the approximately 30 women and men from around the Diocese who are heading to Indianapolis for the July 16-21 Eucharistic Congress. The pilgrims, some bringing along family members, gathered for a send-off Mass and reception July 10 in St. Robert Bellarmine Co-Cathedral, Freehold.
Father O’Reilly, pastor of Mary, Mother of the Church Parish, Bordentown, and co-chair for the Eucharistic Revival for the Diocese, was principal celebrant of the Mass and homilist. He was joined by priests and deacons from the Diocese who are also making the pilgrimage.
PHOTO GALLERY: Eucharistic Congress send-off Mass
In his homily, Father O’Reilly reflected on the Gospel passage of when Jesus commissions the 12 apostles who are preparing to carry on his work of evangelization. Father O’Reilly then asked his fellow pilgrims to think about the disciples who Jesus called and how they might relate to them in their lives.
“Did you recognize your name when you thought about the disciples and their characteristics?” Father O’Reilly said, telling of how Jesus had selected apostles “who best represented humanity.”
“Jesus called you,” Father O’Reilly said assuredly. “Just as he called those disciples from more than 2,000 years ago, he calls you and me.”
Father O’Reilly also spoke on the Last Supper when Jesus instituted the Eucharist and proceeded to feed the apostles with his Body and Blood, despite knowing that one of the apostles would deny him (Peter) and another apostle would betray him (Judas). “Jesus knew their weaknesses and he knows our weaknesses and he still wants to feed us,” he said.
Reasserting the reason that the U.S. Bishops initiated the three-year Eucharistic Revival – to help Catholics gain a greater appreciation for the Eucharist — Father O’Reilly said, “They want us to know that the Eucharist will bring us true healing. Jesus gives us medicine to heal us and make us strong.
“They want all of us to know what Christ has offered us – he has given us food for the journey, the food that will help bring you home to the place that Christ has prepared for us,” Father O’Reilly said.
After Communion, Father O’Reilly read a message for the pilgrims from Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M., wishing them well and a safe journey.
“As you go forth from the Diocese to Indianapolis, you could not have a better traveling companion than the Lord Jesus Christ himself,” Bishop O’Connell wrote. “May the Eucharistic Congress renew and invigorate your faith and the communion we share with each other.
“Please take the Diocese with you in your hearts: pray for its clergy, its consecrated religious and its lay faithful and all our needs,” Bishop O’Connell wrote. “And pray for me. May the Holy Eucharist transform us all so that when people encounter us, they will sense the grace-filled presence of Christ in all we say and do.”
Pilgrim Ximena Bustamante, a staff member in St. Anthony of Padua Parish, Hightstown, has been an active participant in the Eucharistic Revival with parish and diocesan related programs.
What she looks forward to the most in Indianapolis is encountering many people who are attending the Eucharistic Revival for the same reasons as she and to “see the presence of Jesus with in others.”
Janice Hozella looks forward to participating in the Eucharistic Revival with others from her prayer group in St. Joseph Parish, Toms River, and learning more about the Eucharist, which she described as the source of “all nourishment, healings and miracles.
“This is going to be a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” she said. “I couldn’t miss it.”