Thousands of Catholic New Yorkers gathered at a Eucharistic Congress in upstate Auriesville this past weekend to celebrate the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist.

They joined in a 40-hour schedule of Masses, keynote addresses and Eucharistic processions and devotions beginning on Friday evening and continuing until Bishop Edward B. Scharfenberger of Albany celebrated the closing Mass on Sunday morning.

Bishop John O. Barres of Rockville Centre was joined at the Oct. 20-22 congress by bishops, priests, deacons, religious and lay Catholics from Long Island.

Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan, in a video message from Rome showing the dome of St. Peter’s Basilica behind him, said that the bishops of the New York’s eight Catholic dioceses had dreamed for a long time about the weekend congress at the Shrine of the North American Martyrs.

The cardinal, who is Archbishop of New York, said while he was physically distant from congress participants, he felt “very close” to them in spirit.

(He was in Rome participating in this month’s Synod on Synodality convened by Pope Francis.)

“That’s the power, that’s the magnetism of the Holy Eucharist,” Cardinal Dolan said.

He went on to share a poignant story from the life of his own family illustrating the power of the Eucharist. His father, Robert, who was only 50 years of age, died suddenly at work. His mother, as would be expected, had been heartbroken over the death of her husband, the cardinal explained. “It took her a while to get over it,” he said.

Shortly after his ordination as a priest, then-Father Dolan returned home to visit his mother, Shirley, on a day off.

Eucharist Brings Communion

During the visit, he was surprised to hear his mother say that she had begun attending daily Mass. When he expressed his surprise, his mother replied, “You know, Tim, I feel very close to your Dad. I miss him very much, but I feel very close to him, especially when I’m at Mass.”

Then she explained her reasoning to her son. “When I receive our Lord in Holy Communion, I’m very close to Jesus, he’s living in my heart and soul. I trust that your Dad is now very, very close to Jesus in heaven. So, I figure after Holy Communion, am I ever close to him.”

“I never thought of my dear Mom as a theologian,” the cardinal said, “but she sure was.”

Mrs. Dolan, who lived until she was 93, died on March 12, 2022.

Cardinal Dolan, in his message to the Auriesville pilgrims, explained, “So when we’re at Mass, we’re close to Jesus, as close as we can be this side of paradise, we’re close to our family and friends, we’re close to those who have gone before us, we’re close to the communion of saints reunited.

“So, I thank God to be united with you in prayer, in this moment of Eucharistic Revival.”

A good resource for enabling Catholics to develop a deeper understanding of the Eucharist in the life and mission of the Church is Sacramentum Caritatis, a 2007 apostolic exhortation by Pope Benedict XVI. In the section “The Eucharist, Causal Principle of the Church,” the pontiff explained that the Church "draws her life from the Eucharist.”

“Since the Eucharist makes present Christ's redeeming sacrifice, we must start by acknowledging that ‘there is a causal influence of the Eucharist at the Church's very origins.’ The Eucharist is Christ who gives himself to us and continually builds us up as his body.

“Hence, in the striking interplay between the Eucharist which builds up the Church, and the Church herself which ‘makes’ the Eucharist, the primary causality is expressed in the first formula: the Church is able to celebrate and adore the mystery of Christ present in the Eucharist precisely because Christ first gave himself to her in the sacrifice of the Cross.

“The Church's ability to ‘make’ the Eucharist is completely rooted in Christ's self-gift to her.”

The Catholic Bishops of the United States have called for a three-year period of Eucharistic Revival that began last year and culminates with a major National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis, Ind., next July. In between, the Eucharistic Revival has focused on diocesan and parish phases.

Bishop Barres, speaking of Eucharistic Revival in his August pastoral letter about St. Peter Julian Eymard, said, “Today the Church in the United States is immersed in a period of Eucharistic Revival.”

“This time of grace,” the bishop explained, “invites us to deepen our love for the Lord in the Eucharist and proclaim his Real Presence among us.”’

A Familiar Rhythm

Bishop Barres, continuing in the letter, said the “rhythm” of Eucharistic Revival is “loving Jesus in the Eucharist and sharing that love on mission.”

“It is a very familiar rhythm and one woven into the story of every saint,” said the bishop, who went on to expound on the Eucharistic life and ministry of St. Peter Julian, a 19th-century French priest who founded the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament.

Bishop Scharfenberger, in a video message last fall, said Eucharistic Revival offers “an opportunity for us to come closer to Jesus in the Eucharist and with a deeper understanding of what that really means.”

The bishop said a unique element of our Catholic faith is that God so wanted to be close to us that he “takes on our human nature, dies for us and rises.”

“(Jesus) wants us to know how much God understands our trials and our tribulations, our yearnings and our desires.

“The desire, for example, to be happy. To live life to the full. And to believe that somehow or other there’s more to life than what we see,” Bishop Scharfenberger said.

Peace of Christ

“In fact, Jesus by dying and rising, reminds us that we have an eternal destiny, that our life does not end here on Earth, and that if we stick with him, he’ll pull us through any possible trial, including death itself.

“Every time we celebrate Mass, this is what we celebrate. We celebrate the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.”

Bishop Scharfenberger said, “I would invite you to take advantage of this opportunity, all of us, to work together, to pray together and to learn together, to come close to Jesus Christ…”

If Catholics allow Jesus to be “the king” of their hearts, they will receive a great gift. “He will give you the peace that the world can’t give,” the bishop said.