10,000 Catholics congregate for Diocesan Eucharistic Rally and Mass on July 9
SANDY — Coming from Logan and St. George, from Tooele and Vernal, from Salt Lake and all parishes and missions between, an estimated 10,000 Utah Catholics gathered July 9 for the Diocesan Eucharistic Rally and Mass, held at the Mountain America Exposition Center in Sandy.
The rally culminated the diocesan phase of the three-year Eucharistic Revival of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, which is meant “to restore understanding and devotion to this great mystery here in the United States by helping us renew our worship of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist,” according to eucharisticrevival.org.
“This is a really momentous day in the history of our diocese, and I am tremendously grateful that you are here,” Father Christopher Gray, the diocesan Eucharistic Revival point person, told those who gathered for the event’s the opening prayer. He gave his comments in English and Spanish.
Bishop Oscar A. Solis led the opening prayer, assisted by Deacon George Reade, diocesan chancellor. Those attending filled all the chairs in the room and stood against the wall as they started the worship by singing “We are the Body of Christ” in English and Spanish.
“What a beautiful day God has given us to be gathered as a faith community, filled with joy and ardor for the Eucharist, where we encounter and experience the living presence – the real presence – of Jesus Christ our Lord,” the bishop said. “It is an exciting moment for all of us Catholics in the state of Utah. Today we celebrate the importance of the Holy Eucharist as the source and summit of our Christian life and worship. We celebrate what it means to truly be a Eucharistic people, and we celebrate how the Eucharist makes present the relationship God has with each of us. As we journey together today, let us keep in mind that the Eucharist is not only something we receive, but something we become. If we do it with faith, the Eucharist helps transform our life into a gift to God and to our brothers and sisters.”
The rally included nationally known speakers, opportunities for the Sacrament of Confession and Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, a Teen Rally and a Family Zone with activities for children. The day ended with a Mass at which Bishop Solis presided.
The speakers in English were Bishop Daniel E. Flores of Brownsville, Texas, who is chairman of the USCCB’s Doctrine Committee; and Dr. Timothy O’Malley, the director of education at the McGrath Institute for Church Life and academic director of the Notre Dame Center for Liturgy. Bishop Flores gave his address in Spanish as well. Also addressing the Spanish-speaking community was Dr. José Antonio Medina, who teaches at the University of St. Thomas in Texas and at Loyola University in Los Angeles.
All of the presentations were standing-room only.
In his presentation, titled “The Eucharistic: Source of unity in the Church,” Medina spoke about the importance of participation in the Mass, beginning with the history.
“Back in the day, the celebrant of the Mass was the father of the family, and it was celebrated in their homes,” he said, noting that as time passed the structure of the Church and its ministries grew until it became “the Church that we know today, but we should never forget that the Church started with the family.”
The community is the base for the Church, he said.
Throughout his presentation he gave some of the most important testimonies about Scripture and Church tradition, and reflected on the rites, symbolism and words used in the Eucharistic celebration.
The Eucharist “unites us in a communion of love with the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit,” Medina said.
Bishop Flores’ presentation, titled “The Eucharist as Participation in the Work of Christ,” considered “how Christ shares the act by which he glorifies the Father with us and tells us to go forth,” said Fr. Gray in his introduction.
The bishop had been scheduled to attend in person, but the doctor recommended he not travel, so his sessions were conducted by Zoom.
The Eucharist celebration “is an invitation constantly to enter into a participation in [Christ’s] life,” Bishop Flores said. He focused his talk on charity, he said, because that is “the key, I believe, for us to kind of appreciate what it is that the Lord gives to us when he makes himself available and present and active during the Eucharistic celebration, the Eucharistic sacrifice.”
In the Church, charity is defined as a particular kind of love; Christ showed charity not only through the Eucharist but also through his teaching and in the washing of the feet of the disciples, the bishop said.
The desire for the Kingdom of God and the desire for holiness “is the object of [Christ’s] preaching; it is also the object of his miracles, the object of his parables,” he said.
When people listen to Christ’s teaching, they should listen for “what is it the Lord is desiring to move in me? Because this is an aspect of charity,” the bishop said; charity “forms us to seek those things which Christ seeks, to desire those things which Christ desires. It is a transformative message; it’s not simply a doctrine that allows us to understand certain things. … It is also a call to move; that is to say, to be moved into the desire for the kingdom and for the life of the kingdom.”
Bishop Flores stressed that “the act by which we are saved is the act by which Christ gives himself to the Father. The Eucharistic narrative is a narrative spoken to the Father; it’s not spoken to us, it’s spoken for us, to the Father.”
Eating the body and drinking the blood of Christ is intended to move people toward God and into service to one another, he said, “or at least it should. … The Church has the responsibility to live the charity of Christ in the manner of the Good Samaritan, in the manner of the father who has sought to reconcile his children in the parable of the prodigal son.”
O’Malley spoke on “Becoming a Eucharistic People.” Peppering his talk with humorous anecdotes, he explored how the Eucharist shapes “the Church into a way of life that is a gift to all those who encounter Christ in the Church. … The task of a Eucharistic revival, I want to suggest, is to foster a Eucharistic culture, where the Church becomes ever more what the Church is called to be: a communion of love that keeps alive the memory of salvation offered by Christ, empowering us to live this life, this Eucharistic life, in the world.”
He encouraged his audience to make a practice of Eucharistic adoration, because it leads “us to see the everyday with new, transformed eyes. Learning to see his hidden love invites you to see his hidden love everywhere. In the hungry and the thirsty, the migrant and the prisoner, the child unborn in the womb and the mother carrying that child – there he is.”
Christ comes all the time in the Eucharist “so that we can learn to see that,” he said.
Also during the rally was a presentation on the USCCB’s “Guidelines for the Celebration of the Sacraments with Persons with Disabilities.”
The Diocesan Eucharistic Rally and Mass was the final event of in the diocesan stage of the National Eucharistic Revival. Next will be the parish phase; a national rally next year will culminate the effort. For information, visit www.eucharisticrevival.org.
© Copyright 2024 The Diocese of Salt Lake City. All rights reserved.
Stay Connected With Us