Section 3: The Upper Room

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The Sunday Eucharist in our parishes

Now we can see how “Do this in memory of me” brings us from the Last Supper to the Sunday morning Eucharist and, thus, from the Upper Room of Jerusalem to the Upper Room of every Catholic parish, including the 185 parishes of this local church. One of my great joys as your shepherd is traveling to the four corners of the Archdiocese Sunday after Sunday to see the many and varied ways those 185 communities, reflecting the vibrant multicultural character of our region, are fulfilling the Lord’s command, “Do this in memory of me.”

As I do so, I cannot forget how these very words implicate me as Archbishop, since they were first directed to the Apostles, of whom I am a successor. The Apostles became “stewards of the mysteries” (1 Cor 4:1) at the Last Supper. This privilege – and great responsibility – was entrusted to the bishops through apostolic succession: “For the Diocesan Bishop, the prime steward of the mysteries of God in the particular Church entrusted to his care, is the moderator, promoter, and guardian of the whole of liturgical life.”

“Prime steward of the mysteries of God” – I count this among my most sacred episcopal titles not only because it touches the “source and summit” of all Christian mysteries, the Eucharist, but also because this is who you – the faithful of the Archdiocese – have asked me to be. In fact, Synod Proposition 9 (Education for the Mass: Educate God’s people on the beauty, form and meaning of the Mass, with special emphasis on the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist) received the third highest number of 16 votes in the Synod Assembly, and I have committed to make this our Synod Priority for Year 2 (July 2024 – June 2025).

And how could I commit to anything less, given the launch of the National Eucharistic Revival this past June on the Feast of Corpus Christi? Many of you know that the Revival will take place from 2022 to 2025, thus coinciding with the first two years of our Synod implementation. Why a Eucharistic Revival now? The bishops themselves, under the leadership of our former Auxiliary Bishop, Andrew Cozzens, explain:

Scandal, division, disease, doubt. The Church has withstood each of these throughout our very human history. But today we confront all of them, all at once. Our response in this moment is pivotal.

In the midst of these roaring waves, Jesus is present, reminding us that he is more powerful than the storm. He desires to heal, renew, and unify the Church and the world. How will he do it? By uniting us once again around the source and summit of our faith—the Holy Eucharist.

The National Eucharistic Revival is the joyful, expectant, grassroots response of the entire Catholic Church in the U.S. to this divine invitation.

Promoting healing and unity in the local church was one of my principal motivations in calling for a Synod, so I count the concurrence with the National Eucharistic Revival as nothing less than a gift of divine providence to aid us in those hopes.

(Source: archspmmainsite/Synod_Pastoral+Letter)