Member Log InOn the Feast of Corpus Christi, June 19, 2022, the Catholic Bishops of the United States began a very important initiative, a nationwide Eucharistic Revival. Known also as “Eucharistic Amazement,” the spiritual initiative is meant for us to revitalize (in some cases, discover) our love for and, quite literally, our amazement in Jesus Christ, His Real Presence, in the Holy Eucharist. This second part in our “Eucharistic Amazement” series introduces a big event planned for the summer of 2024.
In learning about the 2024 National Eucharistic Congress, we read another story of a life-changing personal encounter with Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament. There is a theme here. Meeting Jesus in the Holy Eucharist is as easy as spending time with your best friend. For us Serrans and Catholics, it is part of our response to God’s vocational call to holiness.
Meet Tim Glemkowski. Tim is the founder and former president of L’Alto Catholic Institute and Revive Parishes. He authored Made for Mission: Renewing Your Parish Culture, released in Fall 2019 through Our Sunday Visitor. A former Director of Strategy for the Archdiocese of Denver, Tim is Executive Director of the 2024 National Eucharistic Congress, to be held in Indianapolis, IN, July 17-21, 2024.
Read on to learn Tim’s story.
Growing up, I was proudly “the rebellious one” in a very devout Chicago Catholic family. I’m not sure if I didn’t believe in God or if the world was just more compelling . . . but as my older sister discerned religious life, I was partying on weekends.
This all changed when my daily-Mass-going, Rosary-praying, Irish Catholic mom forced me on a bus to a weekend youth conference in a place called, “Steubenville.” The full story I will have to tell you someday, but that weekend I met Jesus in the Eucharist. Nothing was ever the same. God moved from an idea to a Person who knew me fully and loved me unre-servedly. I realized that if this was all real, all true, if God was actually present in that tiny, white Host, then this was not just one thing among many, but the “stillpoint of the turning world.” (T.S. Elliott)
The Only Thing.
That encounter changed my life completely. But as I returned home and began to grow in a relationship with God in the dark quiet of the 6:30 AM daily Mass at my suburban parish, something began to gnaw at me.
I began to realize that we are a Church in desperate need of revival.
And as a member of a generation that has lost faith in previously unforeseen numbers, I want to be part of that solution. I have had front row seats to the discouraging trends with respect to belief and practice in Catholicism, and organized religion generally, in our country. Personally, I don’t think these trends are cause for despair. I think a relationship with Jesus Christ, in his Church, is still the answer to every question and longing of the human heart, and that God is still desiring to work powerfully in this world, through His Church. But only if we are willing to become open to that work.
Almost a year ago, Bishop Andrew Cozzens and the National Eucharistic Congress Board invited me to be a deep-er part of the Eucharistic Revival movement (which is another long story) as the first Executive Director of the new National Eucharistic Congress apostolate.
I joined the mission for one reason. After years of working in our Church for revival, I have become convinced that this is where it is happening. Through this work, I have seen how, through the Eucharistic Revival, Congress, and Pilgrimage, God is doing something new in His Church. Something that people will be talking about for a very long time. He wants to call everyone back to His heart. He wants to breathe new life into His people. He want this, both for our sake, and “for the life of the world.”
I have heard from countless Catholics across the country who feel the same way, who feel like God is up to some-thing through this Eucharistic Revival. They tell me how God is drawing them close to His Eucharistic heart in a new way. They want to be part of this movement, falling more in love with God and helping others to do the same.
This is what the Eucharistic Revival is about. It’s not the marketing campaign, a program, or a strategic plan. It’s a prophetic invitation issued by God, through the bishops, to every Catholic in our country to say, “God is on the move. Will you join Him?”
So . . . will we?
In Christ,
Tim
Tim Glemkowski’s photo and story © National Eucharistic Congress, reprinted with permission
