If you are in Indianapolis for the National Eucharistic Congress, then you have seen signs like these all over the city and the Indianapolis Convention Center:
Revival Starts Here
In Indy As In Heaven
These Roads Lead to Revival
Tens of thousands of people have poured over the streets of Indianapolis, and the hallways of the Convention Center, over the past four days. Our team of ten Daughters of St. Paul who are present have had the privilege of encountering hundreds and thousands of them at our booth, walking around, at the sessions, and of course in prayer.
Now that the Congress is in its final couple of days, the Sisters are beginning to ask themselves a question often asked by our co-foundress, Venerable Mother Thecla Merlo, at the conclusion of her travels or activities:
What have I learned?
So, at the conclusion of the 10th National Eucharistic Congress, and on the threshold of this new Eucharistic Missionary Era, what have we as Daughters of St. Paul learned?
We have learned how much Jesus can do when his people come to him with open hands and open hearts. In talking and praying with people of all walks of life and in all kinds of situations, we have encountered Jesus and have seen him healing, kindling enthusiasm, bringing about unity, and touching and changing hearts.
We have learned anew the importance of our consecration and our mission, a consecration that proclaims God’s love through our lives and a mission that proclaims the Gospel through media that often remain with people long after we do. One person who came to our booth shared these words that ring true in our own hearts: “You are missionaries to the world. There is no place on earth that you have not reached.”
We have learned that the greatest witness we can give to a hurting world is the witness of unity. In participating in the Impact Sessions, break-out talks, Revival Sessions, and Eucharistic Adoration, we have been united with the thousands of people here and the millions more who are not here. These sessions and especially Adoration have been some of the most powerful moments of the Congress.
We have learned, as one Sister shared, that “what Jesus does, he does everywhere. One of the most beautiful gifts I’ve received has been what’s happened inside me, and it’s been there before the Blessed Sacrament, before Jesus, that this has taken place. It makes me know that when I leave here, when we all leave here, we will all still find Jesus. Everybody who goes into every church finds the same Jesus, and what he does there for us personally is what is most important.”
We have learned, even those of us who did not personally attend the Congress, that revival starts with us. While I personally was not present at the Congress, I followed it closely in prayer, via the livestream of some events and talks, on social media, and in the quiet of my own heart.
The very first night of the Congress, as I tuned in to the livestream of the opening session, and watched the procession that brought Jesus into the stadium, I was moved to tears—by the presence of Jesus with 50,000 people in a stadium, yes, but just as much by the presence of Jesus with me in the small chapel of our convent in Alexandria, VA.
It is the same Jesus—it is always the same Jesus—who comes to us in the Eucharist. It is right to celebrate and honor and praise him with pilgrimages and processions and lights and music—and it is right to sit quietly with him at the end of a long day. It is right to come together, thousands and thousands of people—and it is right to encounter him in solitude.
That night I learned that revival starts here, revival starts now, whether “here” is Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, IN, or whether it’s a parish church, a convent chapel, our place of work, our school, our home. Revival starts here, revival starts now.
We have learned all this and we know there will be much more. As the Eucharistic Congress draws to a close, then, may the graces that have been poured out on our Church and our country continue to flow through each of us to all those around us. We can’t wait to welcome our Sisters home, to hear their stories, and most of all to continue walking the road of revival. Praised be Jesus Christ!
