52nd International Eucharistic Congress - 2021-09-05 - Opening Ceremony and Holy Mass with First Com

[Music] and a very warm welcome from here in budapest hungary this is the 52nd international eucharistic congress in 144 years of the international eucharistic congresses it has been held in two places only 11 times this is one of them here in budapest hungary this is an opportunity for all of us to contemplate and reflect on the real presence of the eucharist and to come together as a global church to honor the blessed sacrament i'm matthew bunson anchor of this coverage along with my co-host father gohead father john paul mary zeller of the franciscan missionaries of the eternal word it's great to be with you it's good to be with you matthew it's just so exciting to be here in budapest we've had just a great experience so far being walking around the city getting a good layout of the city but most of all we're here to celebrate and come to a door to worship our eucharistic king the king of kings jesus christ truly present in the most blessed sacrament whenever we come before the eucharist whenever we adore the eucharist we are coming before the heartbeat of the church the risen christ truly present in the eucharist that same christ that presented himself before the apostles on the way of emmaus we come before jesus and that's what we're doing this week well father there is a beautiful prayer that we are all saying in honor of this beautiful ceremony would you please start us with prayer today yes in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit heavenly father source of all life send us your holy spirit that we may recognize and grow in the love of christ present in the holy eucharist who handed himself over for us he is our lord and our master our friend and our food our healer and our peace give us the courage to take his strength and his joy to every person grant us that the time of preparation and a celebration of the eucharistic congress would serve the spiritual renewal of our community cities nation europe and the world amen in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit amen well as i was saying father there have been eucharistic congresses literally all over the world the last one that was held in budapest was in 1938 so we're talking about 80 plus years ago right on the right at the cusp of the second world war here we are at an eucharistic congress that has been delayed at once already by the covet pandemic in a world that seems to have lost at times a sense of the sacred and for catholics many catholics a loss of the sense too of the real presence so set the table for us and of what an international eucharistic congress can do uh for catholics and for the world reawaken faith we reawaken hope re-awaken charity to the three theological virtues faith hope and charity without those the christian life is void it's kind of like a body without a soul we need faith hope and charity in order to animate the christian life and the sacraments most especially the eucharist the sacramentum caritatis the sacrament of charity is the sacrament in which the lord feeds us with himself with his own body and blood soul and divinity well this is the opening ceremony and then the opening mass for what will be a week-long series of events sort of culminating with pope francis's visit to budapest and then also to slovakia coming this sunday so there are going to be a lot of opportunities for all of us all of us to really weighed into the meditations the catechesis we're going to have testimonies we're going to have workshops and then of course of everything built around adoration the mass and of course the eucharist so for us then what are some of the things that you're looking most forward to this week i'm looking forward most of all to the homilies the celebration of holy mass eucharistic adoration and just the witness talks i think whenever somebody hears the witness testimony of somebody in their own life that is articulating what the lord has done in their life that changes people and it inspires other people to be better to go beyond ourselves and to be transformed yeah we're gonna have a lot of opportunity in the coming week to talk about the history of eucharistic congresses we're gonna talk about more in fact in this hour but every eucharistic congress the international ones give us a chance to visit different parts of the world in this case we are visiting budapest hungary a city with a rich and profound spiritual history a rich and profound artistic history you and i had a chance to go on a little bit of a tour of budapest with whirlwind but let's take a look at some of the sites that we saw here in budapest hungary [Music] we're at the very beginning of our journey here in budapest we just got here and matthews and i first tripped the budapest and we are very excited for you to go around budapest behind me we have some of the most incredible sights parliament and saint stephen's basilica we're here on this journey we want to bring to you matthew tell us a little bit about budapest the pest side and also the buddha side well as you can see right behind us is the great danube river which is coursing through central europe it is the home of the hungarian people it is a home and sort of the key to understanding budapest and why it has always been of such interest the history of budapest goes back a long way all the way back to the roman empire in fact this was called a quincum it's part of what was called the pannonian province for the romans it was very important to them commercially and militarily that military and economic importance well it continued all the way through the centuries the hungarians have survived mongol invasions they survived ottoman turk invasions they survived the brutal fighting of world war ii as well as the 1956 suppression of the longing for freedom through all of that history has been the catholic faith which is one of the key anchors and absolutely vital to understanding hungary and its people we see all throughout this coverage we're going to see national identity and also religious identity i think that's where one thing that you will see anchored within the hungarian people and nation let's also remember why we're here and that is the 52nd international eucharistic congress we're going to be here for an entire week covering all of the events with the focus on the eucharist the focus on deepening our love of the real presence this is just the start of a journey and you and i are going to start a small journey across budapest let's get going let's get going [Music] [Music] so father here we are at the co cathedral of saint stephen the cathedral church a co-cathedral church for the archdiocese of budapest estragon what do you think it's really stunning going inside and outside is stunning but going inside and actually seeing the architecture itself it really preserves the faith of the hungarian people one of the things that is so striking when you look at this church is it's a neoclassical design so it's very evocative of ancient times and yet this was built and completed in 1905 so it's a very modern structure in the church we have a relic the holy dexter as it's called yeah the holy right hand of saint stephen king of hungary i think that for hungarians the faith that he passed on the faith that he wanted to you know build as a foundation for the hungarian people he wanted that for generations to come [Music] so here we are at st elizabeth church and father this is a church that was built uh ancient as it looks similar to saint stephen's basilica in 1901 i think being in hungary just uh the foundation of hungary is built upon these spiritual giants and saint stephen of hungary laid the foundation for what a couple centuries later would be saint elizabeth of hungary being that spiritual giant that she is now she died at the age of only 24 was a widow at 20 but there are so many stories especially that the hungarians have preserved what are two of the most interesting well i think the most interesting one is her giving um bread to the poor and her husband was a little bit suspicious and told her to reveal the what she had underneath you know and she revealed it and it wasn't bread but it turned into roses one other amazing aspect to this church is the discovery uh not that many years ago of a set of mosaics sort of the fragments of mosaic that have been covered over during the ottoman muslim occupation what did we see there saw our lady holding the christ child behind the altar and it was revealed not very recently actually yeah that revealing of the history uh so many small details that come to life well you can try and cover things up i think people throughout history you can try and cover up you know the religious faith of people but these churches show the deep depths of the faith of the hungarian people [Music] we're now in holy trinity square overlooking the danube river and behind me is matthias church and also a beautiful statue of saint stephen this church was actually founded by saint stephen of hungary the church itself is called the matthias church an honor not of a saint but of matthias corvinus one of the greatest of the kings of hungary and the history of the church itself is complicated in the sense that for a while it wasn't even a church it was taken over at one point by the ottoman turks who converted it into a mosque there's a story relating to the blessed mother that there was a statue of her that was hidden by the hungarians from the turks out of fear that they would destroy it and it disappeared for about 100 and some years and then in 1686 when the hungarians were able to recapture buddha a cannonball landed in the mosque and hit part of the wall right at the time when ottoman soldiers ottoman troops were praying hoping to sort of be saved from the hungarians well when the wall itself fell and the cannonball did its work sure enough there was the statue of the blessed mother it completely demoralized the ottoman troops and was crucial in the hungarian victory in recapturing and then reconverting this church back to a church since then they've been a number of renovations but this is still a very important spiritual center in the history of hungary and there are a few other kings that were crowned here as well that's right including a blessing one of them was charles iv of hungary who became king of hungary but then was also the emperor of the austro-hungarian empire turns out the last emperor of the austro-hungarian empire is also now a blessed blessed carl blessed carl pray for us [Music] well father this is truly an extraordinary church what we're in of course is a church dedicated to the blessed mother but this is for obvious reasons considered with the cave church and it is a church that has deep roots in hermits who lived here saint ivan is one here on gellert hill in budapest but it also has a great history of martyrdom yes but let's remember too that this is a functioning church yeah a functioning church they have daily mass here daily confessions and i've been in caves in colorado a little cave in lourdes france but this cave is really unique as it is right behind us the blessed sacrament is reserved for people to pray in adoration they have a crucifix here which they call the olympia's crucifix which is a replica of a one in spain if you notice this crucifix is not of the dead christ of the of the corpus of the dead christ but this corpus is of jesus actually living you know his side has not been pierced yet so he's offering himself in suffering to the father i think a lot of people all of us can identify with that what suffering means in our life and that idea of suffering on the part of our lord reminds us too of the intense martyrdom that took place on this hill in fact we go all the way back to about 1024 when the person who gave his name to this hillsing gellert or saint gerard was murdered by pagans by tradition he was stuffed into a barrel filled with spikes and rolled down this very hill we jump ahead centuries all the way to 1951 after the takeover of hungary by the soviet uh atheist regime and we have the arrest of the pauline monks who lived here and who are still here they were taken away one of the heads of the community was executed the others were sent into forced labor after the fall of communism they were able to come back to this cave and of course what they found too was that the entrance had been blocked filled with concrete by the soviets by the atheist communists trying to prevent people from coming here to pray and to celebrate mass but with that new freedom that concrete was removed the church began to function again and it remains today a real spiritual powerhouse here in budapest well here we are at our last stop of this whirlwind tour of budapest this is the the parliament building for budapest and follow a more beautiful setting to wrap things up i don't think we could find just stunning i mean it just shows you the national identity of this country not just a religious identity but just a national identity as well inside this building we have been visiting for example since stephen's basilica is the crown of the kings of hungary this is uh one of those great national treasures we by tradition are told that the crown was given to saint stephen by pope st sylvester ii for all of us who are here for the international eucharistic congress it has one more little connection that's really significant that we would start out here with adoration with our eucharistic king to start out here and then process to hero square [Music] as whirlwind tours go this is a pretty remarkable one and a pretty memorable one for both father john paul and i father the eucharist of congress itself brings together people from all over the world but it also requires an intense amount of preparation i can only begin to wonder how one actually starts doing this unfortunately we are joined by somebody who can answer that question peter heltai who is the communications and pr manager for the international eucharistic congress for this year welcome well thank you for the invitation well peter first talk about your role in trying to put all of this together especially from a communication side well i i have to tell you there was a it was a real challenge especially due to the pandemic you you all know the viewers are all know that we had to postpone the event due to due to the coronavirus so it was really a huge effort on our behalf as well to somehow maintain well not not the interest but somehow to raise awareness again of the congress because you all know as we're working in communications that it's it's not enough to have the event you have to prepare it on social media you know to go and meet the people and internationally was especially difficult but my role well in the first place is to maintain the communication with the international press and i was very impressed not only by your colleagues and you at ewtn who are our official partners media partners but all the other outlets from all over the world who maintain this interest in promoting our congress so indeed it was a hard job but we did it with you know very enthusiastically knowing that the most important objective is this of this event is to somehow bring the eucharist and the message message of jesus christ to the people and now we are here as you can see so it worked this delay that was caused by the pandemic did you ever think at some point where this may never happen well i personally know and i really i really was impressed by one of the the homilies and messages of cardinal erdo peter the archbishop of budapest who said i think in february or january that we have even a you know a bigger hunger a huger need to organize this congress covet permitting because you know when we realize our fragility we we need more to you know to somehow let in jesus christ in our lives jesus in the eucharist so we were well more or less convinced that this event is going to happen and we have to do our best to make it the more international and the better possible maybe just think about that that message that we can tell people that in hungary we can increase that eucharistic hunger i think exactly exactly exactly exactly and you know as hungarians we are a very small country there are only 50 million hungarians in the planet and 10 millions living here in hungary one of our i think uh best cardinals in history cardinal yo jeff mincenti whose beautification process is is going on in rome in these very moments as well he once said well after the the communists took over the countries in one of the darkest hours of the 20th century that you know until we have at least one million hungarians who pray i'm not afraid of tomorrow so this is and this you know objective or this message hasn't changed since decades and i think it's very very relevant even today so yeah our goal as well is to somehow bring closer to eucharist to us to hungarians and through our nation it can be you know a light to all the nations we can show up the eucharist especially as you have all mentioned in these very difficult times so what actually goes into organizing an event like this because it has the national dimensions it has the ecclesiastical dimensions but then it has that whole global international dimension yes well i think you know it has a general dimension jesus christ and of course we have to send a clear mesh message to the universal church and those parts of the world for instance where you know some people some christians are persecuted because of their faith some of them you know cannot attend masses because of the pandemic some of them i don't know when we think of afghanistan and many other countries where the situation of christians are or you know the the sheer reality of of practicing your religion is extremely hard so we have to tell these people that you know at least here in this small country hungary in central europe we are doing our best to to show you that you know christ is the same yesterday today and tomorrow so this is i think a very universal dimension and as i've said it has a national dimension and a regional dimension as well here in central europe because the pope is coming here to hungary on sunday and he's going to visit afterwards slovakia so this is a huge event a huge celebration for central and eastern europe as well so you mentioned the holy father coming that's just one of the many events taking place here what else is happening this week here at the eucharistic congress so where we are now this is the hero square where the the opening mass will take place in just a few hours between the closing mass celebrated by his holiness pope francis uh and today will be mainly at hung expo which is going to be the main venue of the catechesis and the holy masses during the week during the the actual congress we've had a teleological symposium a conference before in estragom and as i just said we're going to return here to the hero square but on saturday there is an exception because we are going to gather at koschutz square in fort of the hungarian parliament to celebrate the holy mass and then to do a candlelight procession so what are your hopes that will come from this both for hungary and then for the world well i think you know jesus christ is our hope and and i think in the 21st century which is you know in some ways a very very confusing era i mean we have we can i mean we can go to youtube we can you know surf on the internet we can reach you know as many people as almost as possible that we have we have never been able to and still there is a huge hunger of having very personal close relationships with one another with their family um i don't know for priests with their communities with in their parishes and the nations between each other so i think the eucharist is always a sign and the hope of unity in this sense the unity in jesus christ and and and and the very it has a very strong message in terms of its clarity i mean there is a huge confusion some relativistic thoughts are spreading around but still jesus christ is and was very clear about his message and we have to promote this message which can lead us to real happiness so this i mean what else do you need exactly well peter the budapest has been incredibly gracious as a host so thank you for that and uh know our prayers for the success of this international eucharistic congress thank you very much and thank for ewtn to cover this event well it's a privilege peter heltei the communications and pr manager for the international eucharistic congress here in budapest well this is the 52nd international eucharistic congress from budapest this is ewtn's ongoing coverage we're going to take a quick break and be right back [Music] [Music] welcome back to ewtn's ongoing coverage of the 52nd international eucharistic congress this one from budapest hungary as you can hear and see behind me this is the opening ceremony for the international eucharistic congress in a little while we're going to have the opening mass celebrated by cardinal angelo banyasko the representative of the holy see here at this congress i'm matthew bunson executive editor for ewtn news joined by my co-host father john paul mary zeller father we were just talking with peter heltai who is the communications director which is an immense task for any international eucharistic congress he talked about the rise of relativism and the threats of relativism here and even in hungary which is such a devoutly catholic country talk a little bit more about that what was your take away from some of the things he said well just first of all relativism i think let's go back to pope emeritus benedict xvi what did he say on going into the conclave that he was elected he warned the world about a dictatorship a tyranny of relativism basically that your truth is your truth and my truth is my truth and there there's a threat to objectivity is there objective truth does truth exist outside of me and the answer is yes yes we conform our lives to truth the eternal truth the eternal truth of god i think peter one of the things that i like that he said was that we live in a world that we think we're all connected we have social media and we can use that as a means but it's not enough we need christ we need christ present in the eucharist his truth is what unites everyone around the world and he made the point too several times i think of christ the king christ is king something that we've lost sight of as a global culture well i think being here in hungary where there it's a country of kings and queens and we saw that yesterday when we were going around in churches this sense of royalty i think anyone who is in power that has a position of authority such as a king they should submit themselves to the authority of christ the king you know christ kingship is what rules and his dominion is what rules our lives even in a family even a husband is only ahead of his family insofar as he has had that christ is his head first and foremost right as a priest too in my religious life a pastor a pastor is not the king of his parish he's subject to christ completely and in any eucharistic congress we have that focus obviously on the real presence on eucharistic adoration on the eucharist the objective reality of the eucharist i think is something that any eucharistic congress gives us this opportunity to really meditate on yeah i always like to think that you know the presence of jesus in the eucharist when we adore him when we're sitting before him in the chapel wherever we may be no matter what if people may be walking past the chapel they may driving past church the church they may not believe that jesus is truly there but he is he is he's there and we have to pray i think something like this an event like this can awaken within people and stir within people a wonder and an awe at the mystery of the eucharist i asked peter about the the obvious delay that had to happen if you look at some of the the materials it says the iec the international eucharistic conference 2020. the original plan of course was for this eucharistic congress to be held a year ago yes uh on this very day uh here we are now however sort of hopefully emerging out of covet so this is the international acres of congress 2021. we have seen in history uh a number of eucharistic congresses blocked by terrible events we go all the way back to 1938 the first time that the congress was held here in budapest as i was mentioning earlier right on the cusp of world war ii if we go back to 1881 and the founding the start of eucharistic congresses that became this international phenomenon we have seen throughout the history of the international eucharistic congresses many challenges but also incredible statements of faith literally all over the world here's a package on sort of the history of the eucharistic congresses from their very beginning to today exactly 140 years have passed since the first international eucharistic congress in history it was in 1881 in lille france from there the series of international national and diocesan eucharistic congresses began marking the contemporary catholic world [Music] it all began thanks to the intuition of a french woman emily marie tamicier one of the many lay women who had dedicated their lives in defense of the catholic church it was a project that tommy sierra saw while she was at the mass of the consecration of france to the sacred heart in the chapel of the visitation of parai lemonialo the same place where another woman margaret mary alacoque had had visions that started the modern worship of the sacred heart of jesus tamichir wanted to organize activities that would animate the religious awakening around eucharistic worship in a secular context like that of 19th century europe and so gathering the fruits of her spiritual director saint peter julian a mart known as the apostle of the eucharist tommy sierra worked hard to combat ignorance through catechesis and with adoration the indifference regarding jesus christ in the eucharistic mystery initially the first eucharistic congress was supposed to be held in liege belgium the city of juliana of mount cornilon the mystic who promoted the beginning of another feast dedicated to the body of christ the solemnity of corpus christi it was a project that for political reasons was later decided to be held in france at the start tomisier limited herself to organizing pilgrimages within france to shrines that preserved the memory of eucharistic miracles only later when she was successful in involving pope leo the 13th in her congressional project did these take on an international character today as then the eucharistic congresses are characterized as public events designed to stimulate catholics faith through eucharistic devotion for this reason the historical root of the congresses is also linked with the so-called social dimension of the eucharist [Music] as we have just seen no eucharistic congress international or otherwise is even possibly going to be held without the close cooperation and the collaboration of cardinals bishops of men and women religious and especially of laypeople as the example of emily timothy demonstrated for us and father the role of laypeople is something that seems so vital in the life of a eucharistic congress and in the life of the church talk about that role here in any sort of a congress well i think just locally in a particular church and in a congress back home where i grew up in the diocese of harrisburg they had eucharistic adoration and now they have 12 perpetual adoration chapels and in my experience it's always been a work of the laity that rises up to encourage and to lay that foundation that eucharistic adoration can can be for for years in my own parish it was really an initiative of laypeople that started out with just a few hours and then it moved to a couple days and then now 24 hours a day or seven days a week the formation of lay people to become good and faithful catholics has to start right from the beginning doesn't it right from baptism forward and one of the things that is going to happen today one of i think one of the most poignant episodes events for today in this opening ceremony is going to be first communion for over a thousand children why is that such a logical thing but also such an important thing to include in in today's beautiful liturgy well i think both of us can probably remember our first communion there are key moments in everybody's life that we remember and i can remember my first communion very vividly and i was reading through some addresses and and interestingly pope francis pope benedict pope john paul ii they've really emphasized in their own pontificate the importance of their own first communion that first communions can serve all of us in a reawakening of our own faith you know just to go back to having that childlike excitement there's nothing more exciting when you see a child unwrap a gift you know and the greatest gift of all is jesus body and blood that he gives us in eucharist we were talking earlier today about uh the conversation that pope benedict had with some of the kids who were receiving first communion what was the the one child in particular who asked him uh what i thought was a logical question but an important one well he said holy father do i have to go to confession every time i receive holy communion and he and he went on to say you know kind of explain a two-fold answer he would say you know young man no you don't have to go to confession every time you receive holy communion but if we are in grave sin if we've committed a mortal sin something that is so grievous that we've broken our friendship with god then we do have to receive the sacrament of confession penance and reconciliation before confession before the eucharist and then he would also went on to say the second half he said now even though that you don't go to confession every time you receive communion it's still important for you to go to confession regularly right and he emphasized regularly and it's so important i think the last couple of popes have emphasized frequent confession for the catholic yeah and the role of parents in the life of their children in preparing them for first communion do you find that there is a temptation a tendency for some parents just to say well that's the church's job i i don't really need to worry about preparing my children for first communion for confirmation the the family is the first church the family is the first domestic church and is it is the role and the god-given privilege of the parent to catechize to teach their children to be the first and best of examples now especially when it comes to confession i always tell parents show your children by example go to confession start going to confession first of all even as you're before you're married as you're dating and then after you get married as a couple go to confession take your kids with you and as your kids start to prepare for the sacraments take your kids to confession go in the confessional before them they need to see that their parents are sinners that example but yeah do you find also that as parents are helping their children to be better formed in the faith or just to be formed at all that they themselves are embarking on a kind of journey of rediscovering the faith for themselves you know i think children do that a lot with their parents in that and i've heard stories about this i have a friend of mine whose parents were kind of away from the faith and it was his own curiosity of getting up and going to sunday mass without his parents walking there that brought his parents back to the face so i think it could be twofold it could be the parents teaching the children but also children have a lot to teach their parents too and that's extends to of course going to mass faithfully yes every sunday every day if you can the confirmation all of the sacraments as they progress through their lives and eucharistic adoration i would say this if if a family commits to one hour every month i'm not going to say one hour every week i know right but if if a family can commit to one hour every month let's just say a half hour you know i don't want to set the bar high yeah you don't want to be too demanding at least to start let's start let's start a half hour just to sit before the lord in silence with the family i will guarantee you your life will change the family's life will change if you go before the lord in eucharistic adoration that will help you in the way you prepare for mass it'll it'll transform the way you pray the way you pray the rosary the way you interact with one another but doesn't that also require a proper teaching and a proper understanding of what it is that we're adoring absolutely and it starts with the bishops teaching us it starts by example as it starts with priests giving solid doctrinal homilies from the pulpit i think that was you know when i went to seminary i had such great teachers that taught us the the importance of eucharistic adoration holy mass but they themselves i would see the way they offered mass the way they sit and would come out and give thanksgiving and preparation before mass parents need to do that and imitate that to their children right the real presence is something we're going to have a lot of opportunity to talk about over this i don't want to squeeze everything in now i'm not going to have a week but there's a phrase that we're going to be coming back to quite a bit over this coming week and that's eucharistic revival we touched on it in a way with peter heltai about the dangers of relativism about losing our faith in the modern world but an idea of a eucharistic revival just to set the table a little bit how can it start with an event like the international eucharistic congress well an event here which is a particular church in hungary can have an impact on the whole universal church you know in our theology we understand particular church universal church i think this because of the people's prayers here because they're gathering together before the eucharist and they're praying not just for themselves but they're praying for a eucharistic revival and a renewal in the whole world pope benedict the 16th would say something like this very beautifully in his encyclical uh apostolic exhortation sacramento caritatis he says that whenever there is a real renewal a real change of people in the faith at the center of that is going to be a rediscovery of the real presence of jesus in the holy eucharist that's going to be at the center that real presence has to be central in our lives as it is central in our faith and we're going to be hearing over this coming week catechesis testimonials you're going to be seeing workshops from people from all over the world experts theologians cardinals reflecting on the eucharist one of the things that i find striking when we were looking at the different workshops is obviously the universality of the church in bringing people from all over the world together to talk about the eucharist but also how those testimonials how people's lives have been changed by that encounter with our lord in the eucharist yeah i'd like to read a quote from mother alvirah and mother alvirah is the foundress of chanakolo community yes i think this this quote really says it all and this is her testimony and she says without the slightest fear and certain that god will not disappoint them i ask the youth to kneel before the bread of life from the very beginning of their walk in the trocalo thanks to the goodness of our bishops the eucharist is our in all our houses some of the you say to me i am an atheist i don't believe i don't understand i tell them that you can't understand the eucharist with your mind you can only understand the eucharist with your heart if you kneel before him with trust and you can open your heart you will find that his humanity present in the consecrated host reawakens a true humanity and the image of god within you begins to shine again when i see them after a few months they say to me i feel changed and i see a new light in their eyes now this quote says a lot to me that's why i read it because i have worked with these guys that have entered the community and i have seen firsthand how the eucharist is at the center of their house and has changed their lives to have that courage as she says to open our hearts and and then our faith and our minds well there is a another pretty remarkable mother who had a lot to say about the eucharist over the years and that of course is our beloved mother angelica here are some thoughts that she had on the eucharist go to your church this week and pray to jesus in the eucharist and say hi jesus i'm here i love you jesus [Music] i want you to go i want every catholic listening to me who really believes in the eucharist and if you're not a catholic that's okay i'd like you to go into any catholic church some of your churches are closed all week and you can't get there till maybe wednesday night or sunday you go too and just sit there first you've got to find the lord i'm sad to say but once you find the tabernacle i just want you to remember this i am the living bread which has come down from heaven and anyone who eats this bread will live forever and the bread i give is my flesh now somebody says well that means the crucifixion oh yeah i'll buy that here he goes a little further and the jews began to question them one and they caught on real quick faster than you okay you go to one church and says no it's not there it's just a symbol oh yeah yeah we go another church and he says it's only there during math oh yeah yeah okay it has to be some truth here see what if i what what is it well the jews said they started arguing amongst each other and said how can this man give us his flesh to eat they caught on did jesus stop no i tell you solemnly he said if you don't eat the flesh of the son of man and drink his blood you will not have life in you see and he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood lives in me and i live in him isn't that a most wonderful thing [Music] that was our beloved mother angelica we're going to have a lot of uh her thoughts on the eucharist throughout this week but father in her discussions about inviting people to go to adoration catholics protestants we want them coming to the church to have that encounter with christ don't we yes and in irondale uh and also in hanceville um there's a a sign that says this chapel is open to people of all faiths we want people to come want people to come in and sit before the lord mother angelica would say that often to people it's just come come sit before him many of our employees a lot of them are catholic and mother angelica would invite them come in and be with the lord come in and spend time with jesus just sit with him a lot of them come and bring their bibles and bring their prayer books you know both protestants and catholics you know in the eucharist it's a sacrament of unity it can bring about a greater unity within the body of christ international eucharistic congresses have been all over the world i mean they actually live up to the name international eucharistic congress one thing too that if you look at some of the places it's been nairobi for example bogota jerusalem places where certainly in a place like jerusalem where you do not seemingly have a huge catholic presence bombay for example that witness of the eucharist within that culture must have had a very profound effect not just on those who attended in bolstering their faith but also in giving that public witness in a country for example where catholics were christians might be the tiniest percentage of the population i think any time that you gather around the holy eucharist that the holy sacrifice of the mass is at the center of the event it's going to leave an impact on the country not just in eucharistic congresses but world youth days i've heard examples of toronto and canada people have said that when john paul ii came there in 2002 it left an imprint on that people that they will never forget that will happen anywhere well that's right and the success of an international eucharistic congress we can talk about numbers we can talk about potential viewership and streaming but the success in many ways is going to be measured in the intangibles by the lives that have been changed the people who have been brought to christ uh it reminds me as the catholic news agency was just covering this there's a great piece that was just posted talking about the world youth day in 1993. it was happening almost on this day really back in 93 so this is 25 years ago i know your life was touched by it a lot of people's lives were touched by it the impact of an event like a world youth day or an international eucharistic congress we don't see what the impact can be and we may not for many years i think our work in general at ewtn will only know in heaven how many people that the gospel has reached but that being said it's not about numbers it's not about how many people that we reach it's not about how many countries that we're in and sure we can we can name all those stats and they're impressive but mother angelica used to say if this network were to touch one soul if one soul were to encounter jesus christ it was all worth it was it everything catherine of siena made the observation that one saved soul is the most beautiful thing in almost all of creation i really believe that i've been part of ewtn now for 17 years as a friar eight years as a priest and it's all about the salvation of souls so if you want to look at more of our coverage from the catholic news agency the national catholic register go to catholicnewsagency.com but also you can go to ewtn.com forward slash iec that's ewtn.com forward slash iec for everything that we're offering in terms of the international eucharistic congress but we hope that you're going to stay with us throughout this week because we have a lot to cover it's a lot to unfold a lot of speakers a lot of testimonies i'm looking forward to that the most just just myself and i'd like to invite our viewers too to pray for this event first of all to pray pray for ewtn pray for all of our transmissions because there's a lot of work that goes on behind the scenes there is an invisible world we believe in angels and we believe in fallen angels and there's always forces against us so we want people's prayers so that this transmission may go smoothly we're going to take a quick break as we are now moving toward the opening ceremony for the 52nd international eucharistic congress from here in budapest hungary don't go anywhere stay with us [Music] [Music] and welcome back to the 52nd international eucharistic congress from here in budapest hungary i'm matthew bunson executive editor for ewtn news along with my co-host father john paul mary zeller you are a chaplain for all ewtn employees and a rather popular figure i know with our global audience it's good to be here it's good to be with our employees here too we have over 30 employees from ewtn in the united states in italy poland hungary all throughout the world well we are just minutes away from the opening ceremony the official beginning of this international eucharistic congress coming up we're going to be having a lot of music as well as a beautiful song to the blessed mother i'll come back to that in a second we're also going to have the opening mass that will be celebrated by the people representative cardinal angelo banyasko from italy who is also the president of the european episcopal conferences in other words all the bishops of europe he's also in his own right a pretty remarkable theologian and then we're also going to have a first communion as you and i were just talking with over a thousand young children their first opportunity to receive the eucharist this is the first in what's going to be a week full of events including catechesis workshops as well as testimonials and everything culminating sort of pointing toward what is called the statsio orbeez the closing mass that will be celebrated at least scheduled to be celebrated by pope francis here in budapest as part of his trip to hungary and slovakia so father let's go back to that song about mary and hungary when we were traveling around budapest the last few days the presence of our lady is pretty strong here isn't it in every church you can really say that nothing can hold back our lady nothing can hold back um devotion true devotion to the mother of jesus the mother of christ yeah and a song dedicated to her also reminds us of hungarian history that pope saint stephen the first i should say king stephen the first of hungary gave essentially his crown to the blessed mother at the time of his death asking her to guard be a guardian over this country and despite the intense suffering that the people of hungary have suffered that's a faith that has really remained strong hasn't it it's a biblical faith you know mary said her last words do whatever he tells you those are mary's words to us that do whatever the lord tells us to do he's told us a lot in the gospels and in the teaching of the church so for the hungarian people themselves as you and i were discovering in our brief journey there have been mongol invasions ottoman invasions we had the revolution in the 1840s for hungarian nationalism we had the bloodbath of the end of the second world war then we had the suppression of the massive destruction caused by the soviet union as it broke and crippled the hungarian revolution in 1956 and yet through all of that the faith of the hungarians has endured and we see that now post-communism what over 20 some years almost 30 years since the fall of communism what has your experience been in sort of wandering the streets here and encountering some of the hungarians it's been very impressive and you just you see a new sense that there are people of faith people of culture people of national identity and that there's nothing wrong there's nothing contradictory between the two i think it's it's the catholic faith has always um embraced culture as a matter of fact the catholic faith is supposed to change culture too it's supposed to transform culture we we can't let the culture just bow we can't that we we can't bow down before the culture but but we as a people of faith we need to be salt and light to the world so the gospel itself has to transform the culture i think that's what you see in saints stephen king of hungary you see a man who truly subjected himself to jesus christ in his kingdom and you saw how he laid that foundation for future generations and that's why he is a patron saint of bricklayers that's right it's because the firm foundation there needs to be a firm foundation uh that's a description that's a bit on the nose but very very appropriate and we were talking at the parliament building with four million bricks i think so you're right four million so with that 40 million 40 million you're right hungary itself is also very forward in its defense of christians being persecuted around the world the organization hungry helps for example that i know the dwtn news has really highlighted over the last few years christian persecution around the world is very real and international eucharistic congress is traveling the world as they are is that opportunity again to highlight those catholic communities those christian communities that are under threat and it seems at times that even in the west we're starting to see a kind of white or dry martyrdom we may not there's so many places in the world right now that the eucharist may not be being celebrated right now for instance in afghanistan there may not be a public mass now in afghanistan um and we need to pray for christians there that are being persecuted all around the world there are people being slaughtered all around the world in the name of christ laying down their lives for christ but we like you said we can be you know martyrs in another sense well father the opening ceremonies have begun for the 52nd international eucharistic congress from here in budapest hungary we're going to take you now to our coverage of that event so [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] you [Music] you [Music] hey [Music] my [Music] so [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] so [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] uh is [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] me [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] do [Music] so [Music] is [Music] [Applause] 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[Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] m [Music] me [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] i [Music] oh [Music] thank you [Music] do you [Music] foreign [Music] my [Music] [Applause] here [Applause] [Music] [Applause] so [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] do do [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] is [Music] [Music] you will recognize them by either their uniforms information thousands of volunteers will be on duty during the congress look for our volunteers in all sectors you will recognize them by their uniforms there are toilet facilities in the side streets near each sector please follow the posted signs first aid is available in all sectors in case of difficulties these points will also be signposted the program will be translated interpreted into six languages hungarian english german italian french and spanish and they will be available on the radio application on your mobile phone in the side street near each sector please follow the posted signs first aid is available in all sectors your list you're listening to the 52nd international eucharistic congress from budapest hungary the official beginning of the international congress has is now underway we just saw a beautiful musical interlude as well as traditional dancing from the hungarian people themselves the crowd itself is filling in as we anticipate the opening address we actually have texts of these addresses one will be by cardinal peter erdo who is the archbishop of budapest estagam on the introduction to what we're going to see this week and then the homily for the actual mass is going to be delivered by cardinal angelo banyasko who is the representative of the holy see for this event father what did you think of the initial dance and music for the opening ceremony well it was all for the glory of god i think i um we're just getting so many uh responses back from people around the world even my own mother uh texted me and she said that it was much better than the olympics she said it was all for the glory of god something happened a little earlier today that we were talking about so discuss that well there was a flash mob and um so six schools 2200 students welcomed the 52nd international eucharistic congress from the center of the hungarian catholic church the big day has arrived thereby giving a great reason for 2200 students to take part in a flash mob organized in front of the largest church in hungary now basilica for those who may not be familiar what exactly is a flash mob well you can explain that to them better typically a flash mob is a seemingly spontaneous event in which people who they're not organized they're not organizing they just appear out of nowhere oftentimes in shopping malls or in stadiums or elsewhere it was very interesting in this uh this flash mob with all these children coming together and they approached the church in an iconic location from five different directions finally forming a huge cross in front of the basilica stairs and surprisingly the first person to step out of the basilica was not the parish priest but it was the cardinal it was the cardinal of this local church cardinal peter erdo an international eucharistic congress like this uh is an immense undertaking but it also places a great deal of pressure on whoever the archbishop or the local bishop is of the diocese in which it's held in this case cardinal peter erdo who has had to shepherd his flock through the covid crisis as well as the the cultural tides the we were talking earlier about the the crisis of relativism that's sweeping across europe we have as well the pressure that has been put on so many of the european diocese and archdiocese as we have seen in the united states from the mass migration from places like africa and in the middle east especially of those who are fleeing the the terrible events in places like syria and and afghanistan and elsewhere so this is a cardinal i think who has risen over the years in international prominence he is one of the most respected canon lawyers uh in in the church today but he's also somebody who really knows the church today and i think has a lot to offer in terms of his perspective and maintaining the faith in a very difficult relativistic time i asked a bishop the other day that i was interviewing on wtn you know what it was like to be appointed a bishop during the pandemic that's right we're going to go back to the opening ceremony for the 52nd international eucharistic congress here in budapest hungary [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] is [Music] okay [Music] foreign [Music] me [Music] foreign mom [Music] [Music] yes [Music] is [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] so me [Music] any sunless [Music] is is [Music] is is [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] is [Music] is [Music] [Music] is [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] rules [Music] me [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] so is [Music] is [Music] is [Music] your ears is [Music] is [Music] is [Music] is [Music] is [Music] is [Music] oh [Music] force is [Music] is [Music] is [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] is [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] to the uh the catholic schools all uh their brothers and sisters who came here to take part uh together at the opening holy mass of the international eucharistic congress to celebrate the christ living together with us the high celebrator of the uh the holy mass is uh [Music] cardinal who [Music] yeah he had he made a parallel uh metaphor with his uh childhood when when i was a little boy when i was waiting for the dinner uh i was playing uh in the street uh between um destroyed ruins of the war my mother opened the door and called me on my name and she because she was afraid i would be uh lost in the uh the stairs uh case where i followed her until the fourth floor where my mother took me on with uh took my hands and and and took me home this is uh the um the the open arms of the god of god will lead us and let us lead by the the arm the open arm of the um of god and that we can encounter him in the um the holy eucharist uh okay [Music] you [Music] [Music] is [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] oh [Music] is [Music] is [Music] is [Music] oh [Music] is oh [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] republic of hungary and her wife anita herzeg there monica prime minister revive eminence your eminence is cardinals your excellencies uh arbitrage and bishops dear archbishops and bishops uh the year uh representatives of the uh church sister churches uh there uh priests monks nuns brothers and sisters uh honored representatives social uh state social and cultural life uh honored representatives uh dear pedophiles and pupils who came here to the venice sanctity of this catholic schools dear sisters ladies and gentlemen i give thanks to the divine providence that we can open the second 52nd international eucharistic congress today after the postponement of last year we feel like our life the pontifical commission of the university congress and to especially to piero marini the heroic work of the hungarian organizers and all support from the hungarian society that grant that these days we can especially fear the presence of christ in the eucharist the church the people and mankind alone means all our strengths and hope come from him from it the eucharist is the source from which our christian life and mission is nourished lord jesus christ be with us give us strength and light for our mission in the world grant that we live with you here on earth [Music] and to encourage our catholic schools and especially our brothers and sisters who will receive their first communion metropolitan before the world [Music] foreign foreign on um [Music] yes [Music] my [Music] it is [Music] uh [Music] uh [Music] so [Music] so [Music] oh [Music] so [Music] amen reading from the book of the prophet isaiah say to all faint hearts courage do not be afraid look your god is coming vengeance is coming the retribution of god he is coming to save you then the eyes of the blind shall be opened the ears of the death unsealed then the lame shall leap like a deer and the tongues of the dumb sing for joy for water gushes in the desert streams in the wasteland the scorched earth becomes a lake the parched land springs of water [Music] [Music] yes [Music] oh [Music] is [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music] boys [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music] apostolo do not try to combine faith in jesus christ the glorified lord with the making of distinction between classes of people a man comes into your synagogue beautifully dressed and with a gold ring on and at the same time a poor man comes in in shabby clothes and you take notice of the well-dressed man and say come this way to the best seat then you tell the poor man stand over there or you can sit on the floor by my footrest can't you see that you have used two different standards in your mind and turned yourselves into judges and corrupt judges listen my dear brothers it was those who are poor according to the word that god chose to be rich in faith and to be the heirs of the kingdom which he promised to those who love him [Music] is [Music] uh [Music] [Applause] [Music] school [Music] me [Music] [Music] galilee [Music] and people brought to him a deaf man who had a speech impediment and begged him to lay his hand on him [Music] he took him off by himself away from the crowd he put his finger into the man's ears and spitting touched his tongue then he looked up to heaven and ground and said to him [Music] that is be opened [Music] and immediately the man's ears were opened his speech impediment was removed and he spoke [Music] plainly he ordered them not to tell anyone but the more he ordered them not to the more they proclaimed it [Music] they were exceedingly astonished and they said he has done all things well he makes the deaf hear and the mute speaks [Music] [Music] me [Music] oh oh [Music] to celebrate the eucharist the mystery of faith the eternal source of the salvation of the world uh a warm welcome to all of you who represent the christian people in this historic square i owe a great debt to the gratitude of gratitude to the hungarian church which under the leadership of its bishops is hosting the international eucharistic congress in this hour the bears of the nation and the city will form a chorus with their solemn tolling and announce that they embrace all humanity from this pulpit the voice of the ark arc pastors the voice of this movingly washed congregation humbly and joyfully seeks to address the hearts of the peoples of europe and beyond of all to the ends of the earth our voice is weak but it echoes the voices of centuries and is made alive by the shed blood of the martyrs we say to all who hear us now that our joy is greater than all jesus christ himself humanity yearns for the eternal it wanders towards the light with today's mass we say that despite all our weaknesses and sins in the church there shines the light of christ the voice of the believers is amplified by the holy spirit who speaks to modern man you are not alone in the midst of a hostile universe you are not alone in the face of the wonderful mystery of life you're not alone in your thirst for freedom and eternity wherever you are you are not invisible god looks upon you with love you are not an orphan god is your father the prize of your life is the blood of christ he is the savior of the world and the bread of eternal life do not be afraid god is not dead the eucharist transcends all loneliness all distance all indifference dear brothers and sisters the church cannot be silent cannot allow herself to be swallowed by up by silence her mission is to reflect the light of the rising christ on the face of every man dear first communicants many of you came here today you are the spring of the church we adults bring you the message of love because you remind us of the importance of simplicity of heart will be touched when we see you receive jesus in the sacrament of the altar you know that the lord will enter into the dwelling place of your heart and remain with you a friend who will never betray you i greet your families from here through them you have received life and faith from god there young people attending catholic school you have the opportunity to absorb christian culture you can learn in a school environment that shapes the whole person [Music] and doesn't harbor prejudices against religion and christianity god is not jealous of man but he is the secret of success in life god is not an enemy of freedom and faith is not a series of prohibitions but a powerful yes to joy even if it's it requires commitment because love is a serious thing nowadays we talk about the weakness of thinking and it is from this weakness that the difficulties of faith arise faith is not the enemy of reason but seeks to make sense of things reason also needs faith in order to be itself dear children dear young people we want to catch up with you we adults are watching you with love and concern to see if you find your way in life are you on the path of truth and good your life will be beautiful not if it's free of trials difficulties and mistakes nor if it is full of successes if you are important people but you but if you are useful remember the church needs you your youth your enthusiasm and you need jesus things wear out quickly people grow old god alone remains young forever the church is the true youth of the world because she preserves the holiness of the body of christ let the eucharist be the center of your days of every day with love and gratitude i think our priests they are the guardians of the dawn the living presence of our teacher the church of the father they are everywhere in all the frontiers of life in towns in villages in mountains and islands in plains and deserts scattered through the world they carry the words of jesus the good shepherd the light of the gospel the power of the eucharist the unity of the church dear brothers and sisters my friends the bishops together with the holy father express their gratitude to you you are the messengers of god's love the prophets of the spirit in the world of materialism the hairs of the living tradition and the messengers of the future in a lost world the church cannot give you a quiet life but she says with christ do not be afraid now our community lifts its eyes and its visionary boundaries to the divine eucharist and the heart of christ on our knees say the last words and this is nothing other than a repeated encouraging exhortation [Music] all of you who feel the the way of the cross who weep who are who are persecuted for the truth who have no voice and no home whose pain is unknown to others be strengthened the lord is near knocking at the door of every heart that opens to him he came into the world not only to share the human human destiny but above all to lift us up to the trinity it is a great mystery but it is present here on this altar and will remain with us every day until the end of the world [Music] the church doesn't proclaim worship and other name but that of jesus christ remember him his face is the gospel his presence is the eucharist amen amen foreign to stand up and respond to the questions that i raised to you on behalf of the church so today is the very day of your first communion in this holy mass now you can renew your baptism and promises that back in the past were made um by your parents and your godparents on behalf of you to god when you were baptized because back then you were unable to speak for this reason instead of you they promised uh that you would reject satan and all his works and they promised to serve god in the catholic church well it is time uh to state yourself on behalf of yourselves that you undertake your baptismal promises so now i ask you do you reject satan i do and all his works i do and all his empty promises i too do you believe in god the father almighty the creator of heaven and earth i do do you believe in jesus christ his only son our lord who was born of the virgin mary was crucified died and was buried rose from the dead and is now seated at the right hand of the father i do do you believe in the holy spirit the holy catholic church the communion of saints the forgiveness of sins the resurrection of the body and life everlasting i thing god the all-powerful father of our lord jesus christ has given us a new birth by water and the holy spirit and forgiven all our sins may he also keep us faithful to our lord jesus christ forever and ever amen maybe always listen uh brothers and sisters let us turn to a loving god so that our prayers may always be in accordance with his will for our holy father pope francis and all the clergy that they may proclaim your word convincingly in the modern world let us pray to the lord that the ears of all people may be attentive to the gospel let us pray to the lord [Music] for your faithful to take your teachings to heart and live it with their lives let us pray to the lord [Music] for those receiving first communion that they may be united with christ in their hearts and that the holy eucharist may become first to sustain them in their whole life from this day towards let us pray to the lord [Music] for our sick and abundant brothers and sisters to never have to give to go without our merciful brotherly help and for our departed brothers and sisters that you may welcome them into your heavenly kingdom let us pray to the lord [Music] signorinos maybe always listen to your teachings faithfully and proclaim your good deeds in a loud one we ask this through christ our lord amen [Music] so [Music] see [Music] so [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] easy [Music] uh [Music] oh [Music] me [Applause] is [Music] [Applause] please [Music] uh [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] sacrificing is a foreign [Music] [Music] is okay no experience [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] is foreign foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] i [Music] [Music] is [Music] is [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] be who turns to christianity 500 years ago so this first communion is going to be or should be the start of your communions so please welcome our lord jesus christ with grace and love [Music] is [Music] is [Music] right oh [Music] foreign [Music] oh [Music] is [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] yes [Music] is [Music] you are watching the 52nd international eucharistic congress from budapest i'm matthew bunson here with uh father john paul mary zeller father would you give us a spiritual communion my jesus i believe that you are present in the most holy sacrament i love you above all things and i desire to receive you into my soul since i cannot at this moment receive you sacramentally come at me spiritually into my heart i embraced you as if you were already there and unite myself holy to you never permit me to be separated from you amen amen well as we saw at the very beginning of this opening ceremony and opening mass for the international eucharistic congress over a thousand young children received their first communion and we are watching some of them receive their communion right now father again on the significance of the first communion for young people you mentioned that yours was one of the most memorable of your life i certainly can remember mine i'm pretty sure these little children are going to remember this yes matthew for many of his young children it's a moment of encountering the lord sacramentally present in the eucharist for the first time now obviously these children were baptized they were raised in the faith nurtured in the faith they were brought to church and i'm sure they saw their parents going up to receive holy communion but when a child starts to get to the age of four five six they start to notice and they start to yearn for what their mom and dad are going up for that is the lord and finally for these children to be receiving holy communion you know i myself was during the consecration i was downstairs and i was kneeling down and i was asking the lord to renew myself renew within myself a greater awareness of the lord's presence as a priest you know because i i i handle him every day in my hands i distribute holy communion i distribute the lord to many people and have given first communion to many people and it's very special for me as a priest to give somebody their first holy communion and i can tell you it is it's it's fantastic well as i mentioned this is the opening ceremony and opening mass for this 52nd international eucharistic congress next sunday pope francis will be coming to budapest as part of a trip to hungary and slovakia and today during his angeles in saint peter's square he made a reference to that upcoming journey why don't you read it for us next sunday i will travel to budapest for the conclusion of the international eucharistic congress my pilgrimage will continue after the mass for a few days into slovakia and will conclude the following wednesday with a great popular celebration of our lady of sorrows patroness of that country these will be days marked by adoration and prayer in the heart of europe while i greet you affectionately those who have prepared this journey and i thank you to those who await me and whom i myself wholeheartedly wish to meet i ask everyone to accompany me in prayer and i entrust the visits i will undertake to the intercession of so many heroic confessors of the faith who in those places bore witness to the gospel amid hostility and persecution may they help europe to bear witness today also not so much in words but above all in deeds with works of mercy and hospitality the good news of the lord who loves us and saves us thank you all right we're going to talk eventually about the homily that we heard today but let's continue to drink in what we're watching here this is the 52nd international eucharistic congress from budapest let's go back to magnificent music of this thousand voice choir [Music] [Music] [Music] oh [Music] foreign [Music] um [Music] [Music] fear [Music] is [Music] so [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music] [Music] my [Music] [Music] [Music] yes foreign [Music] [Music] is [Music] is [Music] oh [Music] [Music] he's [Music] is [Music] [Music] please [Music] [Music] is [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] is [Music] me [Music] is [Music] is [Music] is [Music] is [Music] is [Music] is [Music] is [Music] is [Music] [Music] my [Music] [Music] [Music] amen secular domino's bobby school [Music] foreign [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Laughter] [Music] [Laughter] [Music] [Music] this [Music] [Music] so so [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] uh [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] you are watching the 52nd international eucharistic congress from here in budapest i'm matthew bunson here with father john paul mary zeller we have just seen and enjoyed and been rather moved by the opening ceremony and the opening mass father the homily by cardinal angelo banyasko who's the president of the european bishops conferences was what we would expect from an eminent thinker like cardinal banasko but what were some of your takeaways well one of the he made several key points in his homily um it says an important moment it's an important moment for all of us but i was thinking every moment is an important moment because we exist in god's mind but we're gathered around the sacrament of the altar the sacrifice of christ that is represented that is given to us the salvation of the world of course that's important whenever christ is made present in the eucharist that is an important moment on the face of the earth our voices are weak i thought that that was a very interesting point that without the foundation without the foundation has been laid before us our voices are weak i feel like even as a priest like i don't have much good to say without what jesus first proclaimed you know his mess his message is what is strong my message is you know compared to his nothing yeah the uh message in there too for the first communicant so there were over a thousand of them today he says you are the springtime of the church but then to borrow a line from i think it was george rothsinger joseph ratzinger now pope emeritus benedict the 16th that the church doesn't promise promise you a happiness joy and pancakes for the rest of your life he talked about suffering he talked about the challenges but then there's the hope and promise of faith and and just to talk about the lord he wants people to be joyful he talked about being joyful in the lord that is what we have to present to you that is what we had to present and hand on and that's what the word catechesis ultimately means is to echo down to pass on to pass on the message of truth the gospel joy ultimately the lord jesus and the echoing of the martyrs the witness the challenges in culture we talked earlier today with peter heltai who is the dr communications manager for this international eucharistic congress and one of the things that he came back to was the the challenges of relativism and the idea that somehow faith is unreasonable that faith is not freedom well cardinal banava would have none of that in his talk today i would say faith is the crown of reason no we're here in the land of crowns speaking of crowns saying stephen faith is really that crown of reason which brings reason to its fulfillment even to its purpose he said too that um faith is not the enemy of reason but searches for the meaning of things reason needs faith for it to be itself i mean he's certainly echoing pope john paul the second with fide serazio he's echoing pope benedict the 16th he's echoing the great tradition in the history of the church thomas aquinas but the other aspect too is asking that question especially the young people will you start forward he asks on the path of truth and goodness that combination those two have to go together truth and goodness faith yeah faith and reason go together they're like the two wings of a bird that fly that's sore yeah together well this is the start just the opening event of what is going to be a week filled uh with events yes starting tomorrow the shift moves uh we move to the hung expo for what will be a series of talks catechesis of testimonials and then of workshops ewtn is going to be there every step of the way throughout all the way to pope francis's visit a week from today when he comes to budapest hungary to close this eucharistic congress in what is called the statio orbis we'll have a lot more to say about that as the week progresses especially as we come to sunday and the holy father visits this magnificent capital for all of us this is a great privilege to be here and we certainly hope that you will remain here with us if you'd like a lot more information on where to go please visit ewtn.com forward slash iec that's ewtn.com forward slash iec father any final thoughts for uh everyone just to pray for a eucharistic revival within your own heart i think for the people at home for what they've experienced here to pray for that own renewal of your own faith and even if you are struggling with your faith there's people that struggle with faith ask for the lord for an increase of faith and especially in the lord's real presence in the eucharist we have begun today a journey it is a eucharistic journey that's going to stretch across this week and we hope will echo into eternity we hope that you will stay with us as our coverage continues on behalf of everyone at ewtn i'm matthew bunson until tomorrow please take care and god bless [Music] you

Channel: EWTN

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Length: 223min 7sec (13387 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 07 2021