Dear Parish Family,
The Church in America just celebrated its 10th Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis last weekend. Over 60,000 Catholics participated along with thousands of priests, bishops, seminarians, and men and women religious. Let's be clear. This Eucharistic Congress is a revival. That means hearts will revive and come alive again with renewed and deepened love for Jesus and His Church.
 
The effects will be felt in our parishes for many years to come since the grace of the Holy Eucharist, the very love and mercy of God incarnated in our world, has penetrated deeply into the hearts of these faithful. They will spread the Eucharistic love and joy of our Lord with those they encounter and be powerful instruments of transformation in our Church and society. As one of our staff members remarked at a recent staff meeting, "I am excited to see the miracles that will come from this!" Amen! Let us be attentive to the miracles that will pour forth from the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist!
 
Fr. Michael Schmitz gave a great talk at the Eucharistic Revival. I want to share some of his words that sent a shiver down my spine and convicted me when I heard him: "In the history of Christianity, you can never have a revival without repentance…Sometimes our problem [with Jesus in the Eucharist] is ignorance. What we need is knowledge, and the road to knowledge is truth. And sometimes our problem is indifference. Sometimes it's 'I don't know'…Too often it's 'I don't care.' And too often us Catholics that's what we say, 'We have the Real Presence!' but our hearts are far from Him…We know. We just don't care." 
  
We know Jesus is present in the Eucharist…but do we care? Do we actually take time to spend time with Him? I invite you to come to Adoration on Wednesdays at St. Mary's from 12:30 - 7 pm, or on the First Thursday of the month here at St. Pat's from 7-8 pm. We know, we know…but do we care enough to come?
 
I know that I need repentance for my heart to revive in deeper love for Jesus. Wouldn't you know we have the perfect opportunity the next few weekends to repent and revive?! Starting this weekend, for five consecutive weekends, we will be hearing the Sunday Gospel proclaimed from John 6, which is Jesus' infamous Bread of Life discourse. I pray that all of us will commit ourselves to the repentance needed to see, trust, and love Christ in the Eucharist these next few weeks in order to grow, not just in knowledge, but in heartfelt intimacy with Jesus.
 
Next weekend we welcome Fr. Praveen Mummadi, a missionary priest from the Diocese of Kurnool in southern India. Please see Fr. Praveen's introduction in today's bulletin, and welcome him to our parish at our Masses. Thank you in advance for your generosity to the needs of our universal Church!
 
I am yours in Christ,
Fr. Scott Goodfellow