The Eucharist: God’s Greatest Gift
The hope of Christ’s presence in our lives shines through in a eucharistic procession
Catholics from across central and southern Indiana follow a float carrying the Blessed Sacrament during a June 19, 2022, eucharistic procession on Illinois Street in downtown Indianapolis. The procession was part of the start of the National Eucharistic Revival in the archdiocese. (Photo courtesy of Cantaloupe.tv)
(Editor’s note: Tens of thousands of people are expected to participate in an eucharistic procession through the streets of Indianapolis on July 20. The potential impact of that procession can be viewed in two scenes from the archdiocese’s eucharistic procession in Indianapolis on June 19, 2022.)
By John Shaughnessy
As the joyous sounds of church bells echoed through downtown Indianapolis on June 19, 2022—celebrating the arrival of the archdiocese’s uplifting eucharistic procession along the streets of the city—about 1,000 people poured into St. John the Evangelist Church, filling it to overflowing for adoration of the Eucharist.
Being a part of that breathtaking moment at the start of a three-year eucharistic revival in the archdiocese deeply moved Jane Pollom. So did an encounter she had before entering St. John, as she followed the procession along Georgia Street.
“There was a young man standing on the street,” recalled Pollom, a member of St. Pius X Parish in Indianapolis. “I asked him if he knew what was happening. When he said he didn’t, I explained the Eucharist to him. I told him that Jesus is coming out to you in the streets.
“I explained to him that Jesus wants him to partake of him. He asked, ‘Can I come in?’ I said, ‘Yes, come in and kneel down in adoration.’ He did. I just told him to open his heart. He’s in there kneeling down now. If all of this can win a heart, it’s a success. It’s an opportunity for the rest of us to invite people on the street to see the real presence of Jesus.”
Pollom’s story was just one of many from the sun-kissed, blue-sky day—a day when the essence of Christ’s teaching about the gift of the Eucharist overflowed throughout the start of the archdiocese’s eucharistic revival.
Joe Wilhelm felt both the stress and the responsibility of being the driver of the float that transported the monstrance containing the Eucharist through downtown Indianapolis and to St. John Church.
“I worried every time I hit a bump,” Wilhelm said with a relieved smile after the completion of the 1.7-mile journey of the procession from the Archbishop Edward T. O’Meara Catholic Center at 14th and Illinois streets to St. John. “I felt I was riding the brake the whole time.”
Driving his red pickup truck, the member of Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary Parish in Indianapolis was also responsible for setting a comfortable pace for the estimated 500 people who participated in the procession—a crowd that swelled to nearly 1,000 by the time the procession entered St. John.
Still, through it all, Wilhelm focused on “the honor to be able to pull the float with the Blessed Sacrament on it to start this eucharistic revival.”
“The Eucharist is what everything should revolve around,” he said. “It keeps us on track and keeps Jesus in our lives. It’s both comforting and fills me with hope—just to have the feeling that Jesus is present with us, and he’s guiding our lives.” †
