“Jesus is alive, brothers and sisters!”
Applause and cheers of “Amen” resounded through Freedom Mortgage Pavilion at the Camden Waterfront as Father Patrick Hyde, OP, and Father Joseph Jean-Louis energized the crowd of faithful, young and old.
“When you feel out of strength, go to the Blessed Sacrament and say, ‘Jesus, here I am. I feel alone. I feel out of strength. Tell me what I need to continue on,’” said Father Jean-Louis, from the Archdiocese of Miami.
Father Jean-Louis and Father Hyde, both National Eucharistic preachers, headlined the Diocesan Eucharistic Congress that was held March 25 and drew more than 3,400 Catholics from throughout the Diocese of Camden and beyond. The bilingual, daylong program included Eucharistic talks by the visiting priests, witness stories from two local parishioners, Rosary prayer, music and a Mass celebrated by Bishop Dennis J. Sullivan that was concelebrated by more than three dozen clergy.
“When Mary conceived the Son of God in her immaculate womb by the power of the Holy Spirit, Mary became a temple of God,” Bishop Sullivan preached. “Temple of God describes Mary because God, who is holy, lived within her. Likewise, brothers and sisters, Temple of God fittingly describes you when you receive Holy Communion, the Body of Christ. He who is truly, really present in the host is truly, really present in you.”
With the Congress taking place in the inaugural year of the National Eucharistic Revival, Father Hyde spoke in English about the call for all Catholics to be open to their own personal encounter with Jesus.
“He is challenging us in this revival to open the doors of our hearts, not just the doors of our Church,” he said. “Only in this friendship [with Jesus] are the doors wide open. Only in this friendship do we experience freedom and liberation. Now is the time to open wide the doors of our hearts to Christ. The Eucharist has the ability to change our lives in an instant.”
Father Jean-Louis, speaking in Spanish, shared a similar sentiment. “This Eucharistic Revival is giving us the opportunity to hug the Lord and give testimony that our Lord is alive.”
Addressing the crowd from the pulpit on the large, concert-venue stage, Father Hyde shared the story of a young woman he met while in his capacity as pastor and director of campus ministry at the St. Paul Catholic Center at Indiana University. She doubted components of her faith, and her life “was all about the here and now,” he said.
Now a devout Catholic after her own personal encounter with the Eucharist, Father Hyde said “she almost glows” every time she receives Holy Communion during Mass.
He also shared his own story of a time he spent in Krakow as a young man. Father Hyde was feeling lonely because he was traveling on his own and was going to be by himself for the first time on Christmas. Each time he would pass a church, he felt drawn, and attended a service for Christmas that inspired his dedication to serving the Lord.
“I knew that God loved me in that place,” he said. “I knew I was home.”
Father Hyde said that stories like those are evidence of the type of encounter that the revival is all about.
“God continues to meet us and encounter us where we are. … No two people, let alone two parishes, have the same experience,” he said. “The Eucharistic Revival is truly about that encounter, the continuous encounter that Jesus desires to have with each and every one of us each and every time you come to Mass.”
Said Father Jean-Louis, “Jesus promised he would be with us every day until the end, and in the Eucharist, we realize that promise. There, he is with us in a very special way.”
The revival is also an opportunity for Catholics to ask themselves a critical question: “Is an encounter with Jesus in the Eucharist at the center of what we are doing?”
“Surrender to Jesus and realize that only through him can we find the answers we need to fill the emptiness in our lives,” Father Jean-Louis said. “When we experience Jesus as someone who accompanies us, we can’t feel alone.”
Father Hyde addressed the challenges facing the Church, including the lasting impact of the sexual abuse crisis; the lingering challenges left behind by the COVID-19 pandemic; and too many who do not believe that Jesus is truly present in the Eucharist.
“It is so easy for us to grow disheartened,” he said. “But we stand on the sure foundation that Jesus Christ is risen from the dead.”
Holding up his cell phone, Father Hyde commented on how there have never been more opportunities to connect with one other, but that there is “a quiet epidemic of lonely people” that permeates society. Too many times, those who are lonely turn to meaning in things that are finite, and lead to more thirst.
“People are hurting, people are lonely, people are desperate for relationships,” he said. “He is calling you. Jesus is alive, Jesus is here, Jesus is with you.”
With an eye toward the goal of “a Church fully alive,” Father Hyde challenged attendees to look beyond the “simple encounters” of brief welcomes they might extend to fellow parishioners, and to strive to build stronger bonds of community and get to know the faithful they see at Mass.
He also reminded of the call each Catholic has, to bring Jesus to their spouse, family members, friends, neighbors and coworkers.
“We need to go to Mass every Sunday. We need to make this the most important thing we do,” he said. “Each of us is called to bring the Gospel into our unique circumstances in life.”
That call to spread the Good News was heard by Juanita Lopez of Our Lady of Hope Parish, Blackwood, who said she was moved by all the talks and seeing the dozens of priests and religious sisters in attendance.
“I’m motivated to keep following Jesus,” she said. “I’m going to share this holy moment with my community back home.”
Staff reporter Peter G. Sánchez and managing editor Jennifer Mauro contributed to this report.
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