CHARLOTTE — The theme for the 15th Eucharistic Congress of the Diocese of Charlotte has been announced by Bishop Peter Jugis: “Stay With Us, Lord.”
The 2019 theme is taken from the Gospel book of Luke (24:29), telling of two dejected disciples leaving Jerusalem after Christ was crucified and died. As Pope Benedict XVI wrote in 2008, “They were joined on their way by the Risen Jesus but did not recognize Him. Realizing that they were downhearted, He explained, drawing on the Scriptures, that the Messiah had to suffer and die in order to enter into His glory. Then entering the house with them, He sat down to eat, blessed the bread and broke it; and at that instant they recognized Him but He vanished from their sight, leaving them marvelling before that broken bread, a new sign of His presence. And they both immediately headed back to Jerusalem to tell the other disciples of the event.”
“The locality of Emmaus has not been identified with certainty. There are various hypotheses and this one is not without an evocativeness of its own for it allows us to think that Emmaus actually represents every place: the road that leads there is the road every Christian, every person, takes,” the pope wrote. “The Risen Jesus makes Himself our travelling companion as we go on our way, to rekindle the warmth of faith and hope in our hearts and to break the bread of eternal life. In the disciples’ conversation with the unknown wayfarer the words the evangelist Luke puts in the mouth of one of them are striking: ‘We had hoped...’ (Lk 24: 21). This verb in the past tense tells all: we believed, we followed, we hoped..., but now everything is over...
“This drama of the disciples of Emmaus appears like a reflection of the situation of many Christians of our time: it seems that the hope of faith has failed. Faith itself enters a crisis because of negative experiences that make us feel abandoned and betrayed even by the Lord. But this road to Emmaus on which we walk can become the way of a purification and maturation of our belief in God. Also today we can enter into dialogue with Jesus, listening to His Word. Today too He breaks bread for us and gives Himself as our Bread. And so the meeting with the Risen Christ that is possible even today gives us a deeper and more authentic faith ... a faith that is robust because it is nourished not by human ideas but by the Word of God and by His Real Presence in the Eucharist.”
The Eucharistic Congress will be held Sept. 6-7 at the Charlotte Convention Center.
— Catholic News Herald
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