I was not paying much attention to the Eucharistic Revival that has been launched in the United States and is moving into the Parish Renewal stage this Corpus Christi Sunday after a year of the Diocesan Renewal stage. Maybe I've been living under a rock. More likely under a book. What drew my attention to the Eucharistic Revival was actually the complaint of a friend, who shall remain nameless. She exclaimed, "You can't plan or program a revival! Only the Holy Spirit can bring about a revival!" Her second complaint was that a revival that is promoted and implemented by bishops cannot be called "grassroots," as their website states.
The Revival is a grassroots movement of Catholics, each responding to the gift of the Eucharist in their own way.
My friend's comments, as I mentioned, got me interested in learning more, and what I discovered were other controversies around the Eucharistic Revival. "Controversies" might not be quite the right word, but maybe it will grab the attention of casual readers...I find most interesting the critique of the Eucharistic Revival by Bishop John Stowe of Lexington, Kentucky, who writes in Commonweal (June 3, 2023) that the Eucharistic Revival has gained much more traction in the United States than Pope Francis's Synod on Synodality. He sees a contrast between the active, participatory ecclesiology of the Synod and the Eucharistic Revival's focus on passive Eucharistic piety, like Eucharistic adoration. I'll let the bishop speak:
It does not strike me as coincidental that much of the Eucharistic Revival focuses on eucharistic adoration, passive in nature, and so offers an easy alternative to the active engagement of walking together synodally.
Compare Bishop Stowe's words to the Eucharistic Revival website, which offers a free course on the Eucharist by Bishop Andrew Cozzens of Crookston, Minnesota.</p>
Bishop Andrew Cozzens presents the incredible reality of the Real Presence, unpacks “The Mystery of the Eucharist in the Life of the Church” as published by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, and invites you to respond to this radical gift. Discover practical ways you can spread a love for the Eucharist in your community!
The course dives deeper into the U.S. Bishops' document on the Eucharist, which they published in 2022. The document divides into two main chapters, "The Gift" and "Our Response." "The Gift" includes sections on the sacrifice of Christ which is made present in the Eucharist, the teaching on the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, and Communion with Christ and the Church. "Our Response" breaks down into four sections: "Thanksgiving and Worship"; "Transformation in Christ"; "Conversion"; and "Food for the Journey."
This all seems like a pretty comprehensive teaching on the Eucharist, not just a promotion of passive Eucharistic piety as Bishop Stowe claims. I am not against Bishop Stowe's concerns, though, and think it would be helpful to notice a few points about Catholic faith in the Eucharist. If you can forgive my lack of the technical language of sacramental theology, I'll give it a go.
The Eucharist is both an action and an object. It seems like Bishop Stowe wants to draw our attention to the Eucharist as an action and that he is critiquing the other bishops for focusing exclusively on the Eucharist as an object. The Eucharist is unique in this sense. Let's contrast the Eucharist to the Sacrament of Baptism in order to clarify. When we go to a Baptism, we see the action of water being poured over the head of the child with the words "I baptize you..." After the Baptism is over, we might save some holy water from the font or the candle or the white garment. But we do not, when we enter a Catholic church, kneel or genuflect in front of the baptismal font. The Eucharist is different: during the Mass, the Eucharist happens, as the people offer bread and wine and the priest takes them up and prays the words of consecration; then, during Communion, people come forward to unite themselves to the offering of Christ, offering themselves with Jesus; then, after Mass, we reserve the Eucharist in the tabernacle, we carry the Blessed Sacrament to the sick, we kneel or genuflect as a sign of adoration.
Eucharistic piety, from the Middle Ages until today, has often focused on the worship of the Blessed Sacrament outside of the action of the Eucharist, outside of the Mass. Starting in the early 20th century, Pope Saint Pius X encouraged the faithful to a more active participation in the Eucharistic action, namely, through more frequent reception of Communion. This push for more active participation, for a focus on the Eucharist as an action, bore fruit in the Second Vatican Council and its reform of the liturgy. At that time, and still today, many pastors and teachers wanted to focus the Church's energies on the participation of everyone in the Eucharistic action and not so much on the devotion to the Eucharist as object, in Eucharistic adoration, processions, and other devotions.
It seems to me simplistic to contrast these two aspects of the Eucharist. We need a good old Catholic "both/and" and not an "either/or." It is too simplistic in these days to turn Catholic life into an all-or-nothing either/or: pre-Vatican II or post-Vatican II; Benedict or Francis; passive piety or active synodality.
I will share an experience that I had when I was in seminary at Mount Angel in Oregon. We were having a communal hour of adoration and had invited Father (now Abbot) Jeremy Driscoll to give us a talk on adoration.
Abbot Jeremy spoke about the Eucharist that we place in the monstrance as a freeze-frame of the moment in the Mass when the priest elevates the host. The priest, we know, elevates the host after the words of consecration as well as after the host has been broken. And we recognize Jesus in the breaking of the bread... Eucharistic adoration prolongs a moment that is over all too quickly during Mass. Adoration allows us to soak in, to bask in the presence of our Lord who has been offered for us and to us in the Mass. It is not a replacement of the Eucharistic action, particularly of the action of receiving Holy Communion. But it is an opportunity to deepen our love for the one we receive in Holy Communion. And I must say, I do not know anyone who prefers to adore Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament rather than receive the Lord in Communion. But I do know people who appreciate spending time in adoration as a way of prolonging those moments at Mass that are over so quickly and often not free from distraction.
Is it possible for people to be overly passive in their faith and devotion? Certainly. Is it possible for people to be so focused on activity that they never take the time to receive the loving gaze of our Lord? Certainly. But it is also possible to live that beautiful balance between activity and passivity that is the call of every Christian, the immigrant as well as the bishop, each in their own way.
So let us pray for a Eucharistic Revival, a prayer for a fuller understanding of and entrance into the great mystery of the Eucharist. Let the bishops make plans and programs and also critique each other. And let us help each other not miss out on the one who loves us infinitely and walks with us, even today.