ORLANDO | Hosted by the Servants of the Pierced Hearts of Jesus and Mary, the fourth Eucharistic-Marian Conference held in Miami, Oct. 7-9, 2022, included voices from all over the world, such as Antonia Acutis, mother of Blessed Carlo Acutis.

Archbishop Santo Marciano, of the Military Ordinariate of Italy, presided at the Oct. 8 Mass. The homily was offered by Father Jorge Torres, a priest of the Diocese of Orlando who currently serves as the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ representative for the National Eucharistic Revival. He said according to two Pew Research surveys, 30% of Catholics believe in the real presence.

“People know the Eucharist is sacred. Yet, it is more than sacred,” he said. “The Eucharist is the real and true presence of the body and blood, soul and divinity of our resurrected Lord. Language will always have limits to expressing these truths that transcend us, but this is an invitation to start anew, hence the Eucharistic Revival for our country.”

Referring to the fall of Adam and Eve, Father Torres explained God does not leave his children flailing and lost. He already had a solution, to send His only son as reparation for our sin. Father Torres encouraged those attending to pray with that reality in mind.

In his bilingual homily, Father Torres recalled the apparition of Our Lady of Fatima to three children: Jacinta, Lucia and Francisco. He said the angel of peace, who prepared the children for Mary’s apparition, invited them to pray: “Constantly offer prayers and sacrifices to the Almighty.”

The angel asked them to “offer any sacrifice as an act of reparation for sins that have offended Him and pray for the conversion of sinners. Above all, accept and withstand with submission any suffering God allows.” Focusing on Jacinta’s understanding of the request, Father Torres explained she saw it “as a light which helps us comprehend who God is, how He loves us and desires to be loved, the value of suffering.”

Together with the approximately 4,000 gathered, he spoke the prayer the angel gave the three children: “My God, I believe, I adore, I hope and I love Thee. I ask pardon for those who do not believe, do not adore, do not hope and do not love Thee.”

He also encouraged praying the rosary. “The path to heaven is full of love,” he said. “And it is a reciprocal love where I can offer my pain for the grace of Jesus’s sacrifice, uniting in the grace of our Baptism. … To whom do you wish to offer your heart, your Holy Communion, your suffering, and your prayers?”

“Jesus came to show us the way not only to the graces of original justice and original innocence and back to the garden of Eden, he is showing us the path to Heaven, and the body and blood of his son now become, not only healing here on earth but, the way for our salvation,” Father Torres continued. “His humanity is not only our nourishment, but the Way for us to enter in the divine life of the Trinity. Don’t miss it. Our Lady can show you the way.”

For those wishing to learn more about the Eucharistic Revival, go to EucharsiticRevival.org.

By Glenda Meekins of the Florida Catholic staff, October 13, 2022