The National Eucharistic Congress has successfully concluded, having drawn crowds of faithful estimated at 50,000 to fill Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. The five days of events offered no shortage of talks and speeches from Catholic leaders, thinkers, and personalities; including Jonathan Roumie.
[If you missed coverage of the Congress, start here for an overview.]
By the way, in the photo above, Roumie is wearing a T-shirt with a partial quote from Flannery O'Connor about the Eucharist.
Roumie took the stage to speak to those assembled at the National Eucharistic Congress on July 20, remarking that he hadn't been sure when he would get there until the night before. The beloved actor, who plays Jesus in the hit series The Chosen, revealed that he had been shooting scenes for Season 5 right up until he had to get on a plane.
Regardless of the questions around travel, Roumie said he knew for a whole year that he would come to the Congress and he trusted that “God knows what he’s doing.” What he didn’t know was that he would arrive at the Eucharistic Congress after spending a week shooting scenes depicting the Last Supper.
“When I tell you that there’s a little bit of pressure to film those scenes – probably the most iconic scenes in Jesus’ life and ministry, because of the institution of the Eucharist. It’s basically what gave himself to us for eternity, so needless to say, ya know, my stomach wasn’t the best the week we started.”
He explained that he had his spiritual director, Fr. Ian, with him so that the priest could offer Roumie spiritual grounding before filming these important scenes. He said that it was important for him to go into these scenes “properly and with a right heart and with a holy posture.”
“At the end of the day no matter what I do for the rest of my life, playing Jesus Christ will transcend anything and everything that I do. It is the greatest honor not only of my career, but definitively of my life and I can only thank God for the opportunity to serve him using the gifts that he gave me to impact the rest of the world and the culture. So glory to God, thank you, Lord, for that.”
He spoke a little more about the preparations he made for the challenging scenes of the Last Supper before he turned his attention to a different biblical scene. He noted that he had always wished to film the discourse on the Bread of Life, recorded in John 6, in which Jesus reveals the institution of the Eucharist.
Roumie lamented that The Chosen was not able to fit this important discourse into the show, and is unlikely to do so at this point in the timeline. Still, he gave the audience an idea of what it would be like, launching into a dramatic reading of the Scriptures, speaking Jesus’ lines in the voice we are accustomed to hearing in The Chosen.
His reading of John begins at around 8:45 in the video and is worth a watch. Roumie has a way of reading which, as anyone who listens to his biblical readings on the popular prayer app Hallow can tell you, is incredibly engaging. He pays special attention to his pauses, knowing just where to put a little more weight to keep listeners in rapt attention.
Jonathan Roumie’s speech can be seen in the video above. Afterward, visit the EWTN YouTube Channel to browse through a catalog of videos that document the many introspective Catholic speeches offered at the 2024 National Eucharistic Congress.
And find Aleteia's unique coverage here.
