Consecrate America To The Eucharist

We Are Fed At The Table

Before getting married, a spiritual director told my husband and I that one of the most important objects in our home is the dining table. Resembling the Eucharistic Feast, the household table is an important place to gather, pray, break bread with one another in communion, share our hearts, and our very lives. 

This wisdom greatly affected my husband and me. Together, we have made our table a central part of our home. It is where we come together three times a day. It is where we laugh, where we joke, where we cry, where we share our hearts, where we try to impress one another with a new dish, where we eat take-out, where we mourn, where we pray. It is where we come together hungry and leave filled.

The Strength Of His Love Is Irresistible

Like the table within our home that we so eagerly meet at throughout our day, we have the daily opportunity to gather with the community of faithful at the Eucharistic Table. Infinitely more than the table found within our home, the altar at Mass is the sacred place that turns the ordinary of our life into the extraordinary, the holy. A man who knew the reality of the importance of the Eucharistic was Venerable Francis Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan, a Cardinal who spent thirteen years in a Communist prison, nine of those years in solitary confinement. 

In his book Five Loaves and Two Fish, Venerable Van Thuan recalls that during his imprisonment, “We had weekly indoctrination sessions in which the whole camp had to participate. During our break, I and my Catholic companions took advantage of the opportunity to pass to each, or to the other four groups of prisoners, the little container that held the Blessed Sacrament: they all knew that Jesus was among them, He who could heal all their physical and mental suffering. At night, the prisoners took turns for adoration; Jesus helped us in a tremendous way with His silent presence. Many Christians regained the fervor of their faith during those days, and Buddhists and other non-Christians converted. The strength of Jesus’ love is irresistible. The darkness of prison became light; the seed germinated underground during the storm.” 

In Communion, We Unite

Venerable Van Thuan risked his life to share the Eucharist with those who needed to be nourished by God. He knew that the Eucharist, communing together, unites. He witnessed the Eucharist convert, sustain, and fulfill even the most hard-hearted of men. He, who prior to his confinement once celebrated the “Eucharist with a gold-plated paten and chalice” now held Jesus’ “Blood in the palm of my hand.” Cardinal Van Thuan’s imprisonment was an echo of the great Psalm “Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of my enemies; thou anointest my head with oil, my cup overflows.” (Psalm 23:5) 

Consecrate America

I was incredibly moved when I saw the Consecrate America initiative: the first ever Eucharistic Consecration with the goal of consecrating America to the Eucharist. To consecrate means to offer everything to God: our entire person and all that we possess, for His greater glory and for our sanctification. Consecrate America is inviting the faithful to sign a petition that will ask the Bishops of the United States to consecrate America to Jesus in the Eucharist. 

Join Me In Three Things

Our world is divided and the answer to the unity we need is Jesus in the Eucharist. Yet this change begins with us. We must do our part. In this Year of the Eucharistic revival I ask you to join me in these three things:

1.) Sign the petition: HERE is a link

2.) Share it with others – the goal is one million to sign!

3.) Consecrate Yourself: I’m going to be using the book 33 Days to Eucharistic Glory, available HERE

The world needs Jesus, we need Jesus in the Eucharist. He is our nourishment, the food we need. As we eagerly run to the tables within our own homes to be nourished, let us run ever more longingly to the Eucharistic Table to receive the Bread of Life, so that we may one day participate in His heavenly banquet.