DCCW convention focuses on the Eucharist
SALT LAKE CITY — With the U.S. Catholic Church in the midst of a three-year Eucharistic Revival called for by the bishops, and with the diocesan-wide Eucharistic Rally and Mass only a few months away, it was perhaps natural that the Eucharist was the theme for this year’s Diocesan Council of Catholic Women Convention, held April 22-23 at the Sheraton Salt Lake City.
The convention theme was “Abiding in Faith, Hope and Love for the Eucharist.” The keynote address, “Easter Joy in the Eucharistic Church: Eucharistic Amazement and the Eucharistic Revival,” was presented by Father Christopher Gray, pastor of St. Mary of the Assumption Parish and the point person for the diocesan Eucharistic Revival. He was followed by Holy Cross Sister Veronica Fajardo, who spoke on “Responding with Eagerness to the Body of Christ.”
In his opening remarks, Fr. Gray acknowledged that he has been promoting the Eucharistic Rally and Mass “to pretty much everything that is a party or an engagement or luncheon or really any kind of congregation of people” because his hope is that people throughout the diocese will attend what he describes as a once-in-a-generation event.
“As the Catholic Church we are all about the Eucharist all the time,” he said, but “the Eucharistic Revival is in a way hopefully always happening in our hearts and our minds; the Eucharist Revival is always a part of our identity.”
The rally and Mass will be “a moment when the whole diocese can be present together body and soul for the body and soul and divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ at the same time, not just in a remote way but actually present physically. … The Body of Christ – the Church – together.”
The Eucharistic Rally and Mass will be July 9 at the Mountain America Expo Center in Sandy. The morning agenda includes keynote speakers and family activities. Bishop Oscar A. Solis will preside at the Mass, which will be at 2 p.m. People may attend the entire day’s events, or come only for the Mass.
“July 9 is a Sunday, so instead of your normal parish Sunday experience, I’m asking everyone to let’s do church together and be present to each other and to really enjoy what this Diocese of Salt Lake City, this local Church in Utah, actually means to itself,” Fr. Gray said.
Coming together is important “because it’s a manifestation of something we don’t necessarily otherwise see,” the Real Presence of God, he added.
In addition to talking about the rally, Fr. Gray discussed the Eucharist.
“Every commitment to holiness, every activity aimed at carrying out the Church’s mission, every work of pastoral planning, must draw the strength it needs from the Eucharistic mystery and in turn be directed to that mystery as its culmination,” he told the women at the convention. “You are here this morning because of the Eucharist. You are women of the Eucharist. This is who you are, who we all are as one church together.”
He used the word “amazement” several times because, he said, this emotion “should always fill the church during the celebration of the Eucharist.”
Prayer also is important, he said. “The time that you spend in prayer is not time that could be used for other things. The time that you spend in prayer is the most valuable kind of communion with the Lord that is manifesting something which is particularly true in you, especially when that is with the Eucharistic presence – you visit a tabernacle, you go to Adoration.”
Sr. Veronica agreed, noting that members of her religious order “give special importance to prayer in our lives by providing time for personal prayer and various forms of common prayer. We plan for celebration of the Eucharist together as a local community to express and strengthen our union in Christ.”
“The Eucharist is very, very important to us because we know that when we are nourished within, then we receive the grace of God; it comes to our hearts, but it doesn’t stay there” but rather goes out to be shared, she said. “But we have to be nourished in order for us to share it with each other.”
In some places of the world, such as her home country of Nicaragua, Catholics are persecuted. Tears came to her eyes as she described the religious suppression that occurred and how Nicaraguans were prevented from practicing their religion during Lent and doing “what many of us do and sometimes here in the U.S. we take for granted.”
She exhorted those present to remember that as the Body of Christ “we are in union with each other, and through our prayers we are in union with each other.”
She also asked the women to have a grateful love. “God is ever present in our midst,” she said. “God knows that we’re human. God knows that we have challenges and yet God is always faithful, so let’s not be afraid of being present and appreciative of the … love and hope that we receive constantly as we are nourished through the Eucharist.”
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