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Pope Francis’ personal representative to the 10th National Eucharistic Congress in the United States said that his experience in Indianapolis gave him an experience of the Church “in the original sense of the word.”
Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, who was pontifical legate to the Congress, celebrated the closing Mass of the event on July 21.
For Cardinal Tagle, a native of the Philippines, being with more than 50,000 Catholics gathered for the event was an experience “of a Church in the original sense of the word, a gathering of people, but not just a gathering because they wanted to party or just because they have a common interest, but a gathering that is really a response to a calling."
Cardinal Tagle spoke with Vatican Radio’s Christopher Wells about his experience.
Tagle, who is Pro-Prefect for the Section of First Evangelization for the Dicastery for Evangelization, commented, “It was palpable that people were responding to a calling from God who sent His Son Jesus in the flesh and whose presence remains among us in the Eucharist.”
“This has sent the Holy Spirit touching their hearts through the voice of their pastors and their religious orders and their lay movements or groups, to come to respond to the call and to express their faith now in Jesus’ Presence among us,” he added.
Cardinal Tagle said it was clear to him from a letter Pope Francis sent him and from a conversation with the Pope that Francis “wanted to encourage the people to recover the sense of wonder, of amazement at the gifts, the spiritual gifts that the Eucharist brings to us, again, a sense of wonder.”
The Pope added, in a letter to Tagle, that having received such a gift, believers should impart to others the beauty of that gift – “the missionary dimension of our Eucharistic devotion so that our Eucharistic devotion does not end up being a closed relationship between Jesus and me, and I forget the world and I forget others.”
Based on conversations he had with people at the Congress and with several people he met in the airport when flying home, he said he already sees the beginnings of the growth of the fruits sown during the Congress.
“I saw the joy of being gifted with the Lord,” Tagle said. “And that joy I hope will be spread by people. Because I think the Holy Father stressed that the Evangelii gaudium, the joy of the gospel, yes, our life as Christians, our Eucharistic practice are not just obligations imposed on us, but they are gifts to us that we should receive with gratitude and with joy.”
Encouraging return to Mass
Secondly, he said he saw the fruit of encouraging people to come together for Mass, especially for people who have been hesitant to return to regular attendance at church in the wake of the Covid pandemic.
“I hope this big gathering will encourage people to come back to church in their parishes and to experience the totality of the Eucharist, that Jesus gathers us as His Body,” he said. “We listen to the word of Jesus in the Liturgy of the Word, we gather the gifts of the earth, the fruits of human labor, that will become the body of Christ. And then after receiving it, we go on mission, but before we can go, we should be gathered.”
Speaking as pro-prefect of the section of the dicastery for evangelization, he said there is an “intimate connection” between the Eucharist and evangelization." This was the theme of his homily at the closing Mass.
“When we go to the experience of the early Church after the Resurrection and Ascension of the Lord, we see that the early Christian communities gathered to listen to the teachings of the apostles, to break bread together, and they shared their goods, their properties to be shared in common, especially with the poor,” he noted. “And according to the Acts of the Apostles, that gathering in the Word of God, gathering for the Breaking of Bread, the gathering in charity, which is very Eucharistic, caught the attention of many people, and many were converted to the Catholic faith.”
Similarly, he said that in parts of the world where Christians are a tiny minority, other citizens notice them walking for miles in order to join the community in the celebration of the Eucharist.
“In that gathering, they are renewed, and they give a witness to non-Christians about the good news,” the cardinal said. “Sometimes it happens that it is the Eucharistic assembly that makes non-Christians curious – what I call this holy curiosity. They ask why? Where are you gathering every Sunday and why do you share songs? Why do you share even your food with each other? They open the gates for us to proclaim what we have seen, heard, and touched Jesus in the Eucharist.”
