Dear Friends,
Tomorrow is a solemn feast, the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary into Heaven. While the obligation to attend Mass this year on this holy day is lifted since it falls on a Monday, it is a beautiful, wonderful celebration; a reminder to us of our final destination as well as confirming the ongoing maternal help of Mary. Masses will be celebrated at 6:30 and 9 AM. The latter is live streamed. May we all implore our Blessed Mother for the grace to persevere in loving Jesus more deeply and the courage to share His love with others.
You will recall that on Corpus Christi Sunday, this past June 19, a national Eucharistic Revival was launched by our Bishops. It will culminate on Pentecost 2025. There will be a national Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis, IN, July 17-24, 2024. And here in our Archdiocese, we will gather for an Archdiocesan Eucharistic Congress on September 20, 2023, at the Shrine in Doylestown.
However, the focus of these years is on our personal encounter with Jesus in the mystery of His real and substantial presence in the Most Blessed Sacrament. As we declare over and again, Jesus is truly and really present in the Most Holy Eucharist ~ His Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity.
The Bishops have offered a beautiful reflection for our meditation entitled, The Mystery of the Eucharist in the Life of the Church. It is divided into two sections: “The Gift” and “Our Response” with a brief concluding reflection “Sent Forth.” You can find and download the pdf of this document at https://www.usccb.org/resources/mystery-eucharist-life-church or https://www.usccb.org/prayer-and-worship/sacraments-and-sacramentals . It is 35 pages in length and would be a wonderful personal preparation or accompaniment for our upcoming Forty Hours devotions, September 11 – 13. We look forward to welcoming Father Louis Monica as our homilist this year.
It was Pope Saint John Paul II, who in his encyclical letter, Church of the Eucharist, reminds us “The Church draws her life from the Eucharist. This truth does not simply express a daily experience of faith, but recapitulates the heart of the mystery of the Church. In a variety of ways she joyfully experiences the constant fulfilment of the promise: “Lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age” (Mt 28:20), but in the Holy Eucharist, through the changing of bread and wine into the body and blood of the Lord, she rejoices in this presence with unique intensity.”
…“For the most holy Eucharist contains the Church's entire spiritual wealth: Christ himself, our passover and living bread. Through his own flesh, now made living and life-giving by the Holy Spirit, he offers life to men”.2 Consequently the gaze of the Church is constantly turned to her Lord, present in the Sacrament of the Altar, in which she discovers the full manifestation of his boundless love.”
May I also recommend that you read or re-read as I plan to do this encyclical letter quoted above. You will truly find much to enrich your love for the Lord and can find it at
Praised be Jesus Christ! Now and forever!
God bless you, God love you,
Monsignor McCulken
