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BY GRETCHEN KEISER
Staff Writer
ATLANTA--A procession of people chanting a litany of praise to Jesus slowly
entered Holy Spirit Church preceding Archbishop John F. Donoghue holding the
Blessed Sacrament aloft in a monstrance.
Footsteps kept pace with the melodic tolling of a hand bell during the
litany of the Holy Eucharist. A woman’s soaring voice began each line of
praise, while the rest of the people chanted in response, “Have mercy on
us.” The strong sun made everything look very bright against a blue sky.
Plumed Knights of Columbus, red-robed altar boys carrying candles and girls in
white Communion dresses with baskets of rose petals preceded the priests and
the archbishop into the church.
The outdoor procession led into a service of exposition of the Blessed
Sacrament, a Liturgy of the Word and homily, silent adoration and Benediction.
In that atmosphere of shared reverence in the presence of Jesus in the Blessed
Sacrament, people for whom eucharistic devotion is a treasured part of lifelong
Catholic faith prayed alongside others who look forward to receiving the
Eucharist for the first time next Easter.
“The beauty of God is ever ancient, ever new,” said Father
Benedict Groeschel, the homilist at the Corpus Christi event, which celebrated
the third anniversary of the Eucharistic Renewal called for by Archbishop
Donoghue.
Father Groeschel, a Franciscan Friar of the Renewal, linked the loss of
eucharistic devotion in the church to a wider modern movement that repudiated
traditional beauty.
In the same time period, a liturgical movement in the Catholic Church
following the Second Vatican Council put greater emphasis on the Mass and less
on the traditional practice of adoration of the Eucharist outside of Mass, the
homilist said.
Those born in the last few decades are missing exposure to a profound
devotion to the Eucharist, he said, that has deep roots extending back many
centuries in church life. Admitting that he is “so tired” of hearing
inaccurate renditions of early Christian church practice, Father Groeschel said
belief that the Eucharist is the Body and Blood of Jesus was unchallenged for
the first 1,500 years of Christianity. He also said the Eucharist was reserved
in a tabernacle to be brought to the sick and this became a place of prayer for
the early Christians.
The author of a book on the Eucharist and of a collection of eucharistic
prayers and hymns, Father Groeschel gave the examples of a cathedral in Lugo,
Spain, which has had perpetual adoration of the Eucharist since the year 706
with very few interruptions and the Basilica of St. Isidore in Lyons, France,
which has sustained perpetual adoration of the Eucharist for 600 years.
In his boyhood, Father Groeschel said he remembers those of Italian descent
rising at 4 a.m. for the feast of Corpus Christi, picking roses from their
gardens and forming a mosaic of rose petals on the church floor depicting the
chalice and host. In France, Corpus Christi is called “La Fête
Dieux,” or the feast of God. Corpus Christi was established as a feast by
Pope Urban IV, he said, who as a priest was told by a Belgian nun that the Lord
had asked for the church to have such a feast. A number of years later he
became an archbishop and then pope, acting on the request communicated to him
and obtaining the services of St. Thomas Aquinas to write hymn texts and
prayers for the church on the Eucharist. The Benediction hymns, “O
Salutaris” and “Tantum Ergo,” were written by Aquinas.
Throughout the centuries the great saints were characterized by intense
devotion to Jesus in the Eucharist, he concluded, mentioning the letters and
prayers of St. Francis of Assisi, the exquisite writings of St. Bernard of
Clairvaux and the preaching of St. Anthony of Padua.
The Franciscan Friars of the Renewal, Capuchin friars who have just been
declared a new diocesan religious order in New York, offer YOUTH 2000 weekend
retreats that are Eucharist-based for teens. The weekend presents eucharistic
adoration to teens who are barely familiar or totally unfamiliar with Catholic
dogma on the Eucharist and worship of Jesus in the Eucharist, Father Groeschel
said. Although they have never heard of 40 Hours devotion when they start the
weekend, by the end many are deeply touched. “Why do they believe
it?” he asked. “Because they have the gift of faith. The problem of
Christianity today and its major divisions is not no faith, it is little
faith.”
An estimated 1,100 people came to the Liturgy of the Word, exposition and
adoration at which the archbishop presided. He concluded the service with
Benediction, carrying the monstrance up and down the aisles of the church
blessing the people.
“It is so beautiful. The greatest thing the Catholic Church has is to
adore Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament,” said Sister Angela Akuagbogu, a
Nigerian serving at St. John the Evangelist Church in Hapeville. “In
Nigeria the celebration is held in November, which is the dry season, so that
it will be a big celebration ... All the parishes far and near will trek down.
The traffic will be shut. Thousands of people, miles of people, children ...
The music will draw people, the young people will dance and thank God.”
But the outward expression, which may vary from African culture to American
culture, is not what is critical, the Sister of the Blessed Sacrament said.
“The real reverence, adoring Jesus until we change our lives, that is the
most important thing.”
Americans, she said, are very busy working. “Too much materialism is
not good if you have no joy.” With a bright smile she quoted Proverbs,
“It is better to eat a piece of bread with peace of mind than a banquet
with a troubled heart.”
Tiffany Lambert and Sarah Stevens, college students who are in the RCIA
program at the Cathedral of Christ the King, Atlanta, long to receive the
Eucharist. “For God to come and sit there like that, it is the essence of
humility,” said Lambert, a graduate of St. Pius X High School, Atlanta,
who received faith since she began college. “The fact that Jesus wants to
live within us, that he is willing to come down and be within us ... it totally
changed my life, believing that.”
Stevens, a Presbyterian who also graduated from St. Pius, said faith in the
Eucharist is a gift she received. “It came to my heart that Jesus was
really there in the Eucharist. My heart was filled with such love for
Communion. It was so moving to watch Communion happen. It is so unbelievable to
watch everyone go to the Eucharist.”
“There is something different about walking into a Catholic
Church,” she said. “It is something I feel.”
Keri Allen, director of evangelization at the Cathedral of Christ the King
and coordinator of the Eucharistic Renewal, said it has been five years since
the cathedral began perpetual adoration of the Eucharist at the request of the
archbishop.
“It was the seed that began the Eucharistic Renewal in 1996,” she
said.
The devotion is spreading throughout the archdiocese. At the same time, more
people are needed to spend an hour in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament at
perpetual adoration chapels, Allen said. “We need more people to volunteer
especially as we enter the year 2000.”
“It really has been a blessing to the archdiocese,” she said.
“We need it. There is so much going on in everyone’s lives. We need
that peace. We need to be reminded who is in charge.”
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