This year, the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage traveled from Hartford to Indianapolis from May 17-July 16, the first event of its kind in the United States in more than 80 years.

The pilgrimage drew attention to a growing devotion to the Eucharist in the Catholic Church – decades after the practice of popular piety for the sacrament began falling in the United States.

“I do think the response and enthusiasm surrounding the Eucharistic Revival is a sign of growing devotion,” said Father Randy Stice, the Director of the Office of Worship and Liturgy for the Diocese of Knoxville in Tennessee.

“But at the same time, I have never met a Catholic who was not interested in learning more about the Mass,” he told Crux.

Stice is the author of Eucharistic Amazement: Experience the Wonder of the Mass, a new book from Pauline Media.

“The book includes many of the quotes from popes and saints that I have used in homilies over the years. Before I was ordained I was a teacher, and I think a small amount of information given on a regular basis can be more effective than a massive but infrequent dose,” the priest said.

“So from my experience, the interest has always been there. My hope is that this book will respond to this interest and to the growing devotion sparked by the Eucharistic Revival,” he added.

The full interview with Stice is as follows:

Crux: Why did you write this book?

Stice: I wrote this book to share with Catholics important aspects of the Eucharist taught by the Church and the saints. St. Teresa of Avila exemplifies the teaching that the Real Presence as a personal presence, that in Communion they had the Person himself present. St. Faustina wrote extensively about the unique graces she received at each celebration, feast, and season. Speaking of the power of Christ’s Eucharistic presence, St. John Chrysostom that the Blood of Christ drew angels and put devils to flight.

I want people to come to Mass to receive “the Person himself”, to receive the unique graces made present throughout the liturgical year, and to experience ‘the power of the sacrament’, a phrase that occurs with slight variations in over fifty orations in the Missal.

This year, the U.S. church held the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage – is this a sign of a growing devotion to the Eucharist among American Catholics?

I do think the response and enthusiasm surrounding the Eucharistic Revival is a sign of growing devotion. But at the same time, I have never met a Catholic who was not interested in learning more about the Mass. I try to include some catechesis on the Mass in every homily and have always gotten a good response.

The book includes many of the quotes from popes and saints that I have used in homilies over the years. Before I was ordained I was a teacher, and I think a small amount of information given on a regular basis can be more effective than a massive but infrequent dose. So from my experience, the interest has always been there.

My hope is that this book will respond to this interest and to the growing devotion sparked by the Eucharistic Revival.

Over the second half of the 20th century and into the 21st century, Mass attendance has fallen profoundly in the United States and other Western countries. Why do you think this is so?

An important impetus for the book that touches on this question is Pope Francis’ observation in Lumen Fidei, “Our culture has lost its sense of God’s tangible presence and activity in our world” (no. 17). When this is the case, people may come to Mass with low expectations of what is going to happen. But the Church expects God to act during Mass. For example, it recommends silence during the Liturgy of the Word to give the Holy Spirit time to apply the word to individually to each person.

Pope Francis affirmed the perennial faith of the Church in “God’s tangible and powerful love which really does act in history…that can be encountered” (no. 17). Saints through the ages have encountered this love in the Mass, I want people to come to Mass with the same faith-filled expectations that Teresa and Faustina and Chrysostom had.

How does the Catholic devotion to the Eucharist affect relations and ecumenical relations with protestant denominations that do not believe in the Real Presence?

A fundamental assumption of the book is that the Mass is “a meeting of God’s children with their Father, in Christ and the Holy Spirit” (Catechism no. 1153). The Eucharist is the preeminent way that Jesus fulfills his promise to be with us always (Mt 28:20) because, as St. Paul VI said, “it is presence in the fullest sense…Christ, God and man, makes himself wholly and entirely present” (CCC 1374).

I think if we keep the Mass as a personal encounter with the Trinity always in the forefront, it speaks powerfully to Protestants because personal encounter is central to their practice of the faith.

I celebrate Mass regularly at our high school—about a third of the students are non-Catholics—and we emphasize that the Mass is a personal encounter with Jesus who is present in the Eucharistic species, but also in his word and in the people gathered in his name (SC, no. 7), truths that Catholics and Protestants share. Many want to learn more about our belief in the Real Presence.

Earlier this year, Pope Francis said “Once we have encountered Christ in adoration, once we have touched and received Him in the Eucharistic celebration, it is no longer possible to keep Him to ourselves; instead, we become missionaries of His love to others.” What role does the Eucharist play in the missionary aspect of the Church?

In the book I talk about how Eucharistic amazement changes us using examples from the Gospels. One response of people who encountered Jesus was to tell others about him, to invite them to meet him: the prophetess Anna in the Temple (Lk 2), the testimony of the woman at the well (Jn 4); the leper in Mark 1. They were compelling witnesses, and I think the same is true of those who have had powerful encounters with the Eucharistic Lord. I suggest ways that those who have experienced Eucharistic amazement can share that amazement with others.

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