Jesus invites us to encounter him and to be transformed through prayer and the sacraments, especially the Eucharist

By Supreme Knight Patrick E. Kelly

7/1/2024

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On Memorial Day weekend, I visited New York City with my family to join in a Eucharistic procession from St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Midtown to St. Peter’s Church in Lower Manhattan. The procession was part of the St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Route of the 65-day National Eucharistic Pilgrimage, which originated at St. Mary’s Church in New Haven, Connecticut, and will end at the National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis later this month.

It was a truly amazing experience to walk with our Eucharistic Lord through the streets of New York. As the monstrance passed, residents and tourists knelt on the sidewalk and took videos. Waiters came out of restaurants and crossed themselves. Onlookers broke out in spontaneous applause. And all the while, hundreds of pilgrims sang hymns expressing their love for Jesus in the Eucharist.

These responses bear witness to Christ’s true presence in the Eucharist — body, blood, soul and divinity. And yet, it’s one thing to say we believe; it’s quite another to let that belief really sink in and change everything — our thoughts, our actions, our relationships. The challenge for us as Catholics and as Knights is to make the profound truth of Jesus’ presence a profound reality in our lives. Christ himself helps us do this, for the Eucharist is not a something, but a someone, who is living and active in our world and who desires a relationship with us.

The way we come to know Jesus Christ, truly present in the Eucharist, is the same way we come to know any other person — learning about him, listening to him, and spending time with him.

In the Gospels, we learn how Jesus acts, how he thinks, what he says. Through personal prayer, we engage in conversation with him. We can speak to the Lord from our depths of our heart, just as we would talk to a close friend or loved one. Nothing will surprise him, for he knows us better than we know ourselves (Ps 139:1-4). And as with any conversation, we must also listen.

The way we come to know Jesus Christ, truly present in the Eucharist, is the same way we come to know any other person — learning about him, listening to him, and spending time with him.

In his desire to teach, heal and transform us, Jesus has also given us the sacraments, through which he remains present. We become spiritually and physically united with him when we receive him in holy Communion in the Mass. He is always waiting for us to spend time with him in Eucharistic adoration. And when there is rupture in our relationship, due to our sin, we go to him in confession to offer a heartfelt apology and receive forgiveness.

But if we truly want Christ to transform us, we must actively surrender our entire will to him. Indeed, his words to the Father must become our own: “Not my will but yours be done” (Lk 22:42). A solid help here is the Surrender Novena, a powerful prayer written by Servant of God Don Dolindo Ruotolo. The novena stresses letting go of our own will and placing our complete trust in Jesus, with its refrain, “O Jesus, I surrender myself to you, take care of everything!”

Likewise, through a morning offering and brief prayers throughout the day, we can foster awareness of Christ’s presence, offering our every action and every moment to God.

The question, then, is this: Are we simply going through the motions of faith, or do we have a personal, living relationship with Jesus Christ? Pope Benedict XVI put it this way: “Being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction” (Deus Caritas Est, 1).

Jesus has given us the gift of the Eucharist so we can stay close to him. And he seeks not only to transform us, but to touch all those whom we, in turn, encounter each day.

Vivat Jesus!