By Fr. Jim Berning, SDB
(Chicago, IL – July 3) – Young adults were invited from St. John Bosco-St. James Parish to attend an archdiocesan young adult Eucharistic Revival event on Friday, June 28, at St. Alphonsus Church in Chicago. This was part of the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage Revival effort that began in California on the Junipero Serra Route (one of four in the states) as it stopped in Chicago to make its way to Indianapolis, IN, for the Eucharistic Congress.
The event at St. Alphonsus was a full night consisting of Mass, procession with Eucharistic adoration, a social, and pilgrim witness talks.
At Mass, the homilist focused on the theme of staying with Jesus because Jesus desires to stay with us despite our shortcomings. This was pointed out in Peter’s three-fold denial of Jesus in the Passion, yet Jesus helped Peter to move from trepidation in denial to a three-fold pledge of commitment of love for Jesus by tending and feeding the flock. A witness talk made by a permanent pilgrim traveling the entire Junipero Serra route spoke about how her worldly life and behavior were altered once she attended a retreat. During the adoration session, she experienced a profound connection with Jesus which has remained with her.