Disclaimer: All articles published within the section of Commentary are opinions of the respective authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the The Cor Chronicle.
It’s easy for brokenness and scandal in our Church to lead to cynicism surrounding large Catholic events. I attended the National Eucharistic Congress with hope, but mostly with skepticism.
Some of the Congress’ promotional material made it look like it would only appeal to one kind of spirituality. I expected the Congress to push the agenda we frequently hear from conservative and liberal Catholics alike, that one group is heterodox and the other rigid, or one reverent and one intimate.
My experience at the NEC completely defied all my fears and expectations.
The Congress began with Bishop Andrew Cozzens carrying Jesus in his arms to the center of Lucas Oil Stadium. Thousands of Catholics knelt in silent Adoration, praying for renewed faith in the True Presence and for the healing of Christ’s Bride. The praise and worship music gave pilgrims reverent words to utter before the God of the universe, as did the timeless chant of Thomas Aquinas.
As critical thinkers at the University of Dallas, we love to make logical and philosophical distinctions ‘till the cows come home. But we students are all still quite young in years lived, books read and hours well-prayed.
Sometimes our distinctions and love for debate lead to a polarization surrounding the liturgy and prayer. Our zeal for proper worship of our Lord is meritorious-here is no greater activity that we enter every week than the sacrifice of the Mass, so we should care about the liturgy and the way our community engages with the mysteries of the Faith. But sometimes in our zeal, we lose sight of Christ’s merciful eyes and the universal expanse of His infinite love.
At the Congress, I discussed this polarization with Meg Hunter-Kilmer, a personal hero of mine who lived out of her car for 12 years to preach the Gospel across the world. Hunter-Kilmer now lives in South Bend, Ind., working in campus ministry at the University of Notre Dame.
“It’s a big Church,” said Hunter-Kilmer, “and that’s something that I think is hard for young people, because you have found Jesus, and this is the way that that resonates with you…it’s hard not to universalize all of that.”
“You have to recognize that you are not the arbiter of all that is Catholic…I don’t like praying the way that those people are praying right now. But if Rome allows it, I will not bind what Rome has loosened.”
Rome has birthed millions of saints over the last two millennia, but never have two of them had identical spiritualities and vocations. If our Church is big enough for spitfire Catherine and gentle Thérèse, it is big enough for the varieties of temperaments and spiritualities here at UD.
“There’s so many different ways that we marginalize each other within the Church,” said Hunter-Kilmer. “And for people to hear, ‘No, this is the place where you are seen and known and loved exactly as you are’- I think that’s what everybody needs,” said Hunter-Kilmer.
God is not calling you to holiness in the same way that He is calling your roommate. The thousands of charisms lived by religious communities across the globe are a testament to the fact that the Church delights in all personalities and truthful expressions of faith. We really do need Franciscans as desperately as we need Dominicans!
On Saturday night of the Congress I ended up in the nosebleed seats of Lucas Oil. As I prayed and sang alongside Matt Maher with my raised hands and my chapel veil, I stared down in awe at Christ in the monstrance and at the 60,000 unrepeatable souls around me, so diverse in their backgrounds and stories, but totally united in the Eucharist.
Despite all of the sins and wounds and temperaments and backgrounds each person carried with them into that stadium, we were all united in our ultimate Vocation: spousal union with the God-Man.
“Jesus is calling you to be His Bride. That is the Vocation of every baptized Christian,” said Hunter-Kilmer.
The married couples, giggling children, prayerful sisters and solemn priests I prayed with at the Congress all shared in this Vocation to receive the Eucharistic Lord as a Bride receives her husband.
For in Christ, there are no trads versus charismatics, no long skirts versus chacos, no Gregorian Chant versus praise and worship. There is only love, a Love wide enough to take all personalities and backgrounds and wounds and joys into His scarred, glorified arms.
Bio: Larisa Tuttle is a senior English and theology major. She is the President of Thomistic Institute at the University of Dallas and a Blessed is She mentor.