Recently, a significant moment happened in the life of the American Church—the Tenth National Eucharistic Congress. I was there as one of three hosts broadcasting the Congress for EWTN, which covered the event across all its channels worldwide.

Several years ago, some studies indicated that faith in the true presence of Jesus in the Eucharist was very low, even among practicing Catholics. More recent studies have raised questions about the accuracy of those statistics; nonetheless, the bishops recognized that there was a crisis of faith within the Church. In response, the US bishops, at the suggestion of Bishop Andrew Cozzens, agreed to a three-year plan for a Eucharistic Revival with a Eucharistic Congress in the second year. Eucharistic Congresses were relatively popular in the early nineteenth and twentieth centuries but then stopped in the US due to World War II. It had been over eighty years since the American Church came together for this event.

The event was scheduled in Indianapolis, with the hope that tens of thousands of people would participate. Along the way, there was a lot of skepticism, curiosity, and hope regarding the event. I want to share what I saw the Lord doing at the Eucharistic Congress, because it was an unexpected but remarkable five days.

This Congress was framed within the context of a Eucharistic Revival. Revival is God’s idea; He pours out grace in a particular time and place for an explosion of faith. At the Congress, I saw elements of authentic revival.

First, Jesus is at the center of any revival—and I saw that in Indianapolis. The Congress began in an unbelievable manner. Nearly fifty-thousand people were in the stadium for the opening night. There was a festive atmosphere with music, and they honored the four Eucharistic pilgrimages that had processed with the Blessed Sacrament across the country for sixty straight days. Then, the lights went out and a spotlight revealed Bishop Cozzens coming out of the tunnel underneath the stadium holding a monstrance with the Blessed Sacrament. He brought Jesus to the center of the stadium, enthroned Him on an altar, knelt in front of Him, and said that the Eucharistic Congress is all about Jesus and we would give Jesus the first word at his Congress. Bishop Cozzens asked, “What is Jesus going to say to you right now?” For several minutes, the entire stadium was silent in adoration. It was clear that this Congress was going to be different—that Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament was the center point. Everything throughout the Congress pointed back to Him—the talks, the moments of prayer, and Adoration. The last day culminated with a Eucharistic procession through the streets of Indianapolis, with tens of thousands of people marching together. The procession concluded at the war memorial in the center of the city. Jesus was placed on an altar, and we and worshiped Him in the heart of a major American city. Unbelievable grace was released.

The second element of revival is repentance. For the first two-and-a-half days, the theme was, “We need to repent. We need to get down on our knees and cry out to God to heal us, to forgive us, to save us.” In her talk, Sister Josephine Garrett looked at all the different constituencies there—the bishops, priests, religious, and lay people—and with a warm, loving, but iron-sharp word, she said we all need to repent with hope and love. Repentance is at the core of this because it’s a crying out, a recognition that we need a savior, and his name is Jesus.

Third, revival is always marked by consistent, abundant, faithful prayer. It’s travailing prayer that says, “We’re not going to stop praying until you move, Lord.” The whole Congress was infused with prayer. In every session, a word would be preached, and there was always a prayer response. Adoration was held every day. There were multiple Masses throughout every day. It was liturgical and spontaneous, charismatic and traditional. It was woven into one beautiful tapestry with the people of God praying throughout all five days.

Finally, revival needs the Holy Spirit. The final day of the Congress focused on crying out to God for a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Let Pentecost be released in the Church! I think our openness to the Holy Spirit needs to keep being emphasized. However, there was no question that the Holy Spirit was acknowledged, invited, and loved. St. Bonaventure spoke about how the Holy Spirit always comes wherever He is loved, welcomed, and expected—and all those things happened at the Congress.

God was moving, and his people were responding. This is what a healthy Catholic Church looks, sounds, and feels like. There was tremendous unity, charity, and service. There were all ages and young families with kids running everywhere. There was every color, every race, and a lot of different languages. There was full liturgical expression, with Novus Ordo Masses, a Syro-Malabar Holy Qurbana, daily rosary, praise and worship, incredible chant, classical music including the Indianapolis Symphony, and silence and contemplative prayer. People spent hours making three-hundred-thousand meals for the for the poor. There was an external vision and an internal vision. For the church in America, which has been so divided, broken, and wrecked by scandal, it was really refreshing to have a unifying moment. I also appreciated the representation and celebration of vocations. There was a joyful, happy, confident group of priests and bishops there, and they were honored, celebrated, and challenged in ways that I think would make many young boys consider that way of life. There also were fathers with young kids, and I think that young boys might think that is good too. And for young women, there were incredible habited religious sisters who were a full expression of being the bride of Christ with joy, power, and conviction. There also were moms and grandmas and the full spectrum of what the Church invites us to in terms of discerning our vocations. I think one of the great graces and fruits that we will discover in the years to come will be an explosion of discerned vocations and the release of grace at this Congress. We will encounter priests who say, “I met Jesus in the Eucharist at the Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis, and He called me to the priesthood.” We will meet young, consecrated women who say a conversation with a sister, the witness of someone they heard speak, or the encounter of Jesus in the Eucharist at the Congress stirred their heart to move down this path of being a consecrated sister. This will be one of the tremendous fruits of the Congress.

Finally, the Congress was excellently done, including the lighting, sound, and graphics. It was both extremely professional and winning. Many people looked back to when Denver was chosen to host World Youth Day in 1993. It was a pivotal moment for the American Church. So many things, like the Augustine Institute, FOCUS, and Christ in the City trace their roots to that event. A lot of people, myself included, had a sense at Indianapolis that we’re going to look back on the history of the American Church and say that in Indianapolis in 2024, God released a fresh grace and anointing on our Church, the fruit of which is going to be born for generations.

About sixty-thousand people were at the closing Mass. We were there because we loved the Lord. We were there with the bishops, cardinals, priests, deacon, religious, lay people, families, and single people. The one Church gathered around the one table with the one cup, one bread, one Lord. The king of the universe was honored, acknowledged, respected, praised, glorified, and adored.

Watch EWTN’s coverage of the Eucharistic Congress here.