BY KATHI STEARNS

Staff Writer

ATLANTA--Over 1,000 people gathered at the Cathedral of Christ the King Sunday, June 14 for Benediction on the feast of Corpus Christi, the second anniversary of the Eucharist-centered renewal that is ongoing in the archdiocese.

The opening event of the celebration began outdoors with a procession highlighted by the display of colorful banners, followed by singers, clergy and Archbishop John F. Donoghue, who held aloft a monstrance bearing the Eucharist.

Once inside the Cathedral a period of adoration followed, which included readings from Scripture.

Father Richard Lopez, religion teacher at St. Pius X High School, Atlanta, and chaplain at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Home, Atlanta, was the homilist.

He told the congregation that Catholics are often morally and spiritually empty due to the loss of a sense of surprise and wonder in their religion.

The greatest provocation for this experience of wonder, said Father Lopez, comes when one realizes that someone greater than oneself has sacrificed himself for the other---one who neither deserved nor expected this sacrifice.

Father Lopez said that Jesus Christ, God made man, came to this earth and did just that. He sacrificed everything, including his own life for our salvation.

“Should that not be our biggest source of surprise and wonder every time we are in his presence?” Father Lopez questioned.

He explained that every time people look at an image of Jesus Christ with his arms outstretched on the cross they see how much Christ loves them.

“Whenever you wonder how much Christ loves you, look at the cross. Look at the crucified Christ with arms outstretched who gave his life for you and hold onto that sense of wonder and surprise. Don’t you know that the reason we are here today is that Christ tells us that we are his beloved children whom he has come to love. How can we not adore him?”

Catholics need to be ready to receive Christ in the form of the Eucharist and in the Blessed Sacrament with “open hands, open hearts, an open tabernacle and an open monstrance,” Father Lopez said.

“That is all he asks of us. It is unfortunate that we have to be reminded of this fact so often by those coming into the Catholic faith and others from different faiths.”

The celebration continued with Benediction. The Blessed Sacrament was reposed on the altar between two lighted candles and incensed. After a period of prayer the archbishop, wearing the humeral veil, traced the sign of the cross over the assembled congregation as they sang the hymn “Tantum Ergo.”

After Benediction Archbishop Donoghue affirmed the teaching of the Church.

“When we gather today, drawn by the true presence of Christ in the Eucharist, we also come to know and better understand the truth about what the Church really is---an expression of the breadth of life, the height and the depth of Christ’s love...My prayer for you is that the Lord present in the Eucharist will continue to bless you and your families and bless the whole archdiocese as he has in the past so our Church can continue to grow and become a sign of the Lord’s presence in our lives.”

The celebration concluded with the singing of “He Is Truly Present,” a song written by Mary Welch Rogers specifically for the Eucharistic Renewal.

The Eucharistic Renewal began in the archdiocese on Corpus Christi Sunday, June 9, 1996 when Archbishop Donoghue invited Catholics to reflect upon the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, to deepen their understanding of this Catholic doctrine and to deepen their faith.

Archbishop Donoghue began the renewal because he was convinced that many Catholics did not know or completely grasp the teaching of the Catholic Church on the Eucharist, namely that Jesus Christ is truly present in the Eucharist, which becomes his body and blood during the consecration of the Mass.

Archbishop Donoghue cited a 1992 Gallup poll that found that only one-third of U.S. Catholics agreed with the statement that when receiving Holy Communion they actually received the body and blood, soul and divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ under the appearance of bread and wine.

Since the renewal began in 1996, the Cathedral and two other parishes, the Church of the Transfiguration in Marietta and Corpus Christ Church in Stone Mountain, have begun perpetual adoration of the Blessed Sacrament 24 hours a day. Many other parishes offer adoration times weekly or monthly.

In addition, “Life in the Eucharist” seminars have been offered throughout the archdiocese. These two-day seminars provide participants with a broad understanding of the graces that flow from the Eucharist and are based upon the documents of the Second Vatican Council, The Catechism of the Catholic Church and Scripture.