Reflection / Sean Gallagher

An ordinary conversation to carry out an extraordinary mission

On the afternoon of July 20, I was busy taking photos for The Criterion of the massive eucharistic procession on the streets of downtown Indianapolis that was a culminating moment of the historic 10th National Eucharistic Congress.

It is my prayer that the work my co-workers and I did that day will help those not able to be in Indianapolis for the procession know of the power of some 50,000 Catholics filling the streets and expressing their faith in and love for our Lord present in the Eucharist.

Hopefully, our small contributions can thus be a channel of God’s grace to our readers to strengthen their own devotion to Christ’s real presence in the Blessed Sacrament and move them to share that faith with others.

So, our work is one part of the evangelization efforts of the Church in central and southern Indiana, and I’m proud of all that my co-workers and I have done to assist Archbishop Charles C. Thompson and all the faithful of the archdiocese in carrying out this Christ-given mission.

But I have to say that I am especially heartened by what my wife Cindy did during the procession on July 20.

While I was hustling on side streets to get to good positions to take photos, Cindy stood in a large crowd along Meridian Street by its intersection with New York Street, waiting for the float carrying a monstrance with the Blessed Sacrament to go by.

Nearby was an Indianapolis Department of Public Works dump truck parked in the middle of New York Street to block traffic.

(As an aside, the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department and other local and state agencies did phenomenal work during the congress in general—and the procession in particular—to make the congress possible and safe for all. Many thanks to them.)

As she waited, Cindy took an opportunity to go over to the dump truck to talk with its driver. She had to climb up to talk with him face to face through the open window of the driver’s side door of the truck. But that didn’t phase her.

Cindy got to know him a little, asking him about himself and his work. She then asked him if he knew what was happening in downtown Indianapolis that afternoon. After he said he didn’t know a lot, she shared with him what the congress and the eucharistic procession were about.

He listened with interest. Cindy answered questions he had. She later ended the conversation with an invitation to him to come and worship at Mass at our parish.

This was a small living out of the mission that Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle gave to all who attended the congress in his homily during the congress’ closing Mass the next day in Lucas Oil Stadium:

“What you have heard, touched and tasted, you must share with others. We have received the gift of Jesus. Let us go to proclaim Jesus zealously and joyfully for the life of the world.”

The eucharistic procession was an extraordinary moment showing the Church’s zealous and joyful love for Christ in the Eucharist to anyone who was in downtown Indianapolis that day.

But what Cindy did on July 20 to take one step to fulfill the missionary goal of the congress was just an ordinary conversation in which faith was humbly and joyfully shared and an invitation to worship was made for the good of the man Cindy had just met.

Just imagine the effect on our own little corner of the world if each of us took ordinary opportunities in our everyday lives to draw others to Christ in the Eucharist and to the Church.

It is my prayer that the ripple effects of the explosion of God’s grace that poured forth from the National Eucharistic Congress will spread out across central and southern Indiana and beyond in the months and years to come.

Then, perhaps many years from now, we’ll look back on the days of the congress in Indianapolis as a decisive moment in the revival, a new springtime, of the Church in our country. †