“Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst.’ “ John 6:35
One of the aspects of our charism is evangelization: to spread the Good News of salvation – that Jesus came, suffered, died, and rose for us in order that we may have abundance of life; that Jesus is a REAL Person and truly alive today; that He promised to be with us always and gives Himself fully to us; that He is the fulfillment of every true desire and longing of the human heart. And there is no better way to know this than by encountering Jesus’ gift of Himself in the Eucharist – small enough, real enough, humble enough – to be seen by us, touched by us, tasted by us. He gives us Himself.
The Eucharist is incredibly important to community – so much so that it is in our name! Franciscans OF THE EUCHARIST of Chicago. All of us have found solace, healing, and transformation in His presence. Many of the Sisters and Brothers have had strong conversions or experienced deep moments of clarity in our vocations either at Eucharistic Adoration or at Mass. So, when our community discerned a need to provide a large-scale Eucharistic-centered Confirmation retreat for teens in our local parishes and schools, we knew right away that our number one priority was to try to help these teens come to a deeper heart-level knowledge of Jesus’ True Presence in the Eucharist, to see firsthand how He can transform, heal, and save lives through this Presence, and to prepare their hearts for their own encounter with Him.
We hosted the retreat on February 11th, 2023. We had well over 400 attendees – our first really BIG Confirmation Retreat to date! St. Ignatius College Prep was very generous in offering us of the use of their facilities for the retreat, so we had a beautiful, spacious, prayerful atmosphere to welcome all of the teens into. As Pope Paul VI said in Evangelii Nuntiandi, “Modern man listens more willingly to witnesses than to teachers, and if he does listen to teachers, it is because they are witnesses” (EN 41) – so we stacked the day with witnesses as best we could – we brought in a number of dynamic priests and religious to give talks, as well as recruited dozens of our amazing young adult friends, seminarians, and others who are on fire with love for Jesus and His Church – all in addition to the catechists, teachers, and chaperones that came with the Confirmandi. Once all of the teens arrived and we successfully relieved them of their phones (more or less!), we offered them our very best – Jesus and the testimony of how He has transformed our lives.
After a few hours of catechesis and witness talks, reinforced by a brilliant activity that showed how all of our desires can bring us to God when transformed in Christ, Bishop Bob brought Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament in the monstrance into the room. It was incredibly powerful to see a cafeteria instantly transformed into a chapel. The students maintained quiet prayer for 2 hours (which teens can TOTALLY do). It was not just sitting of course – we had an incredible band play meditative music (shout out to Opera Christi and Josh Goodman!), a moving testimony by a St. Ignatius College Prep student, and some catechesis by Sr. Alicia, Sr. Jess & Fr. Bobby Krueger, AND – about 15 priests hearing Confession! Bishop Bob also read the story of Jesus’ miraculous healing of the woman with the hemorrhage and then brought Jesus, in the Blessed Sacrament in the monstrance, to each and EVERY person present – allowing each person to reach out and touch humeral veil coming down from the monstrance just as the woman reached out to touch the tassel of Jesus’ cloak.
We then transitioned to a Eucharistic procession – with Jesus leading the way to the Church of the Holy Family for a closing Mass.
In short summary – God is good – all the time! We are so grateful for everyone that made this day possible, to the teens themselves for giving a listening ear, and to our Eucharistic King for showing up big time. Let’s continue to pray that the seeds of grace that He planted in all of our hearts will continue to bear fruit thirty, sixty and one hundred fold.
