The experience of the Eucharistic Congress should not fade into the past, writes Fr Bernard Healy
Fr Bernard Healy
When the delegates from the Irish dioceses met back in April 2009 to begin planning for the International Eucharistic Congress in 2012, two questions were on our minds: What a 21st Century Eucharistic Congress might look like and whether anyone would show up?
As it happened, both questions answered themselves. The congress ended up being a vibrant gathering of prayer, learning and fellowship for tens of thousands of pilgrims from Ireland and further afield. There were workshops, talks, activities, prayer and the celebration of the Eucharist, to say nothing of the social dimension of meeting up with fellow-Catholics from around the world.
Everywhere one met pilgrims from every corner of Ireland who said, “We didn’t know what to expect, but we’re glad we came”. As the congress drew to a close people began to say, “We need to do this again”.
Experience
There was a strong sense that the experience of the Eucharistic Congress shouldn’t remain just a single event that faded into the past.
The congress met a need in the Irish Church that demanded some kind of follow-up. That follow-up will happen in Knock Shrine next month as the Irish Church gathers for a National Eucharistic Congress on Saturday, September 26 and Sunday, September 27.
Over the past few weeks our Sunday Gospels have been taken from the Bread of Life discourse of St John’s Gospel. We have been hearing how Christ presents himself as the true bread, the bread of life, the bread that comes down from Heaven.
In other words, he promises himself as spiritual nourishment to his followers, responding to a hunger within them. That promise helps explain the aims and importance of a Eucharistic Congress.
Our International Eucharistic Congress was successful in as much as it provided nourishment that the Church in Ireland and beyond was hungering for. When Christ promises himself as food, we think first and foremost of the nourishment given by his body and blood in the Eucharist.
However, related to the gift of the Eucharist, we see that Christ also wants to nourish us by his teaching, by closeness to his heavenly father in prayer and in the Communion of being part of his Church, the gathering-together of God’s people. So it was that the International Congress nourished the people who gathered around the Eucharist in 2012 and so it will be that the National Eucharistic Congress can be a source of nourishment in 2015.
Speakers
There will be speakers inviting us to deepen our faith and discussing how the Gospel of Jesus Christ can be lived out in our homes, parishes and everyday lives. There will be times of prayer and reconciliation so that we can strengthen our relationship with God, and there will be the chance to meet fellow pilgrims from all over the country who will remind us that as part of the Catholic Church we are part of a huge family of brothers and sisters, sharing many of the same hopes and concerns.
Back in 2012 the International Congress explored the meaning of ‘Communion with Christ and One Another’. Building on that, the theme for the congress in Knock is ‘Christ Our Hope’. Hope is one of the fruits of our communion with Christ and one another – we realise that as a Church we are called to glory by Christ. He has one positive plan for us when we cooperate with him and that is a great reason for hope.
But this hope is about more than looking at the future; as a people of hope, Christ’s presence among us should shine a new light on how we live here and now.
Nourished by the Eucharist and founded on faith, Christian hope should open new possibilities for us as we are called to live generously according to the Gospel invitation of Christ. At Knock this theme of hope will be explored in the context of marriage and consecrated life. In marriage and religious life we see reflections of the way in which Christ gives Himself generously in the Eucharist, and both marriage and consecrated life are Christian vocations that are lived to the full when inspired by Christian hope.
There will also be activities for children and for youth, allowing the full participation of families who are, in a special way, the hope we have for the future of our Church.
The National Congress in Knock is also part of the preparation for the next International Congress. One of the unforgettable moments of the 2012 Statio Orbis in Croke Park was the joy of Filipino pilgrims and the Irish Filipino community at the video-announcement by Pope Benedict that the 2016 International Eucharistic Congress would be held in the city of Cebu.
As the Irish prepared for IEC2012, the support and advice of the Canadian organisers of the 2008 Quebec Eucharistic Congress were of huge help, and the large Canadian contingent of pilgrims added greatly to the joy and atmosphere of Dublin 2012.
Members of the Irish Congress team have already visited Cebu to assist in the planning, and the Irish contingent who are travelling to Cebu are hopeful that the celebration of the National Congress in Knock will encourage people to join us in the Philippines in January 2016. The idea of a pilgrimage to such a distant place is obviously a daunting prospect, but there are many reasons to consider it. It will be a sign of support for the Church in the Philippines and a chance to experience something like Dublin 2012 in a new context.
It will be an opportunity to visit the land where so many of the ‘new Irish’ come from and where so many Irish missionaries spread the Gospel. Finally the Cebu Congress will give a once-in-a-lifetime chance for Irish pilgrims to see a vibrant manifestation of the Church in a part of the world where she is young and growing rapidly. Bí ann!
Fr Bernard Healy is a curate in St John’s Parish, Tralee and the Kerry Diocesan Delegate to the Eucharistic Congress National Committee.