Embrace summer as a time of renewal in body and soul

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

When this edition of The Catholic Spirit is published, I will be with my mother and others in my family down the shore. Joining us will be friends who are flying in from the Midwest. For one couple, it will be their first visit to the Jersey shore!

I have always loved the summer and going to the shore. Since I was born, my family has been going to the Jersey shore during the summer. These times have given me many, many happy memories and I, as well as my family, still enjoy going to the shore.

For me there is something special about the shore. Even while I’m driving down the Garden State Parkway, I start to feel different as I pass the waterways and smell the air! Even when it is hot, I open my windows to breathe it in. I always feel more relaxed, right away.

So far this summer, I’ve had only a few days down the shore, so I look forward to a little more extended time down there now. I have been encouraging our priests to also find some time away this summer. So many of them find it hard to break away from all their responsibilities, but it is important for their well being.    

It is hard to believe that August is moving along so quickly. It is not too late to take advantage of the summer though. Soon enough, school will start, Confirmations will begin again for me, and the slower pace of summer, will be behind us. So don’t miss out on taking advantage of these last weeks!  It is important for us to find some time to relax. Going to a beautiful place like the shore helps. Being with family and friends helps too. Through both we can be rejuvenated. We all need rejuvenation.

Speaking of rejuvenation, we have begun the parish phase of the Eucharistic Revival which is meant to renew us too. Each of our pastors has been asked to appoint a parish coordinator and arrange for some special activities to take place during this year. Some have begun the year with a Eucharistic Procession which in addition to giving praise and thanks to our Father through His Son, allows us to give public witness and reminds us that all our life is really a procession, a pilgrimage, back to our loving Father. We are on a journey together to a blessed place! 

Some parishes are looking for ways to enhance their weekly worship, so that the active and full participation of the faithful is enhanced. Others have added more times for Eucharistic Adoration, a chance for us to stop and pray in quiet before our Lord exposed to us in the Eucharist.

There are parishes, too, which have arranged Bible studies on the Eucharist.

I have sent a beautiful Eucharistic Prayer written by St. Thomas Aquinas to each pastor suggesting taking time for common meditation and prayer after receiving our Lord in the Eucharist. Whatever creative ways heighten our love for our Lord in the Eucharist, truly present to us, Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity are encouraged!

Our Lord loves us so much, that even though He was to win salvation for us through His death and resurrection, He didn’t want us to be on our own in this world. He knew that it would be challenging for His faithful disciples in our world, so He gave us this great gift of the Eucharist on the night before He suffered death. He gives us Himself, a divine help to us, to accompany us and strengthen us on our journey back to Him.

Our three-year Eucharistic Revival is meant to help us appreciate anew our belief in Jesus’ real presence in the Eucharist. Jesus is alive in the Eucharist, and this Eucharistic Revival is a way for us to be renewed in Him. After all we have been through with the coronavirus, this is a great time for us to focus anew on Jesus in the Eucharist.

So know that while I am at the shore, enjoying the beauty and slower schedule, I will be praying for you and all our parishes. I hope that you had some time to be revived during this summer, but even more so, I will be praying that the Eucharistic Revival taking place in our parishes will be a time for reviving us all in Him!

Know of my love for you, my gratitude and my prayers. Please pray for me too, and for the success of the Eucharistic Revival in our diocese.  You might offer to help your pastor, too!  God bless you.

Most Reverend James F. Checchio, JCD, MBA
Bishop of Metuchen