GREENFIELD — The rising and falling notes of a hymn drifted down Jefferson Boulevard. The singing of people, and an occasional bird, were among the few sounds.
Sunday, a pilgrimage headed for the National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis passed through the streets of Greenfield.
A Eucharistic Procession, with a priest carrying a monstrance — a golden vessel with a sacramental wafer visible inside it — set out from St. Michael Catholic Church after the 8:30 a.m. Mass. Nearly 300 people followed, walking along Jefferson Boulevard, Winfield Street and Madison Drive before returning to the church.
People at the procession spoke of the journey as a treasured time to experience Jesus’ presence through the sacrament they believe to be his true body and blood.
For about 20 years, Emily Baker has spent weekly time at St. Michael in Eucharistic adoration, when the sacrament is set out in the monstrance and worshipers can come spend time in prayer, meditation and communing with Jesus.
“The Eucharist, the body and blood of Christ, means everything to us. We just feel so fortunate that every week we can receive him in Communion,” she said as she and husband Martin waited for the procession to begin. “… We’re just thrilled to death that we get to walk with Jesus through Greenfield.”
Eran McCarty, part of St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church in Fortville, took pictures of four Knights of Columbus members from St. Thomas. Each man held a pole of a canopy that would shield the priest carrying the monstrance when he exited the church as the procession started.
“Anytime you can be in the presence of Jesus is a special time,” McCarty said, “but to actually take him out in the community and show faith in such a very real manner, it’s always very special.”
Minutes later, the Rev. Roger Landry came out the doors with the monstrance. The procession turned left, toward a sidewalk between the church and school, and then onto Jefferson Boulevard.
“This is the greatest joy of our lives,” said Samantha Duncan, a youth minister in the Holy Spirit Parish at Geist. “This is Jesus present right with us as we walk. This is our whole heart.” Soon after she said that, people began singing a hymn.
Some carried small children or pushed them in strollers. A few women wore veils. Many people looked down at bulletins to see hymn lyrics. One man walked with his bicycle beside him; his wife had invited him to the procession, and he had ridden from New Palestine in time to meet up with her and walk in it.
Some people wore hats or carried an umbrella, on a sunny day with morning temperatures in the eighties.
Even Landry, the priest traveling on the Seton route, pulled out a hat after he handed off the monstrance and walked out from under the canopy. The Rev. Aaron Jenkins, priest of Hancock County’s St. Michael and St. Thomas parishes, received the monstrance about halfway through the procession.
As the procession approached the Greenfield water tower near the St. Michael campus, Jerry Hebert of Greenfield was parked at a curb with a good view to see it pass.
He said he can’t walk but had followed the procession for a while and returned to his car.
“There’s a lady … who’s had a stroke and uses a cane, and she’s walking,” he said. “… I’m just edified by her. She’s such a faithful person.”
Though he couldn’t walk the whole route, Hebert said it was important to him to be there.
“I believe the eucharist is the true body and blood of Christ,” he said. “If he gave his life for us, we can do what little we can do.”
As the procession returned to the parking lot, Amayrani Higueldo paused to reflect on a journey that she and other “perpetual pilgrims” — young adults chosen for the journey — began in New Haven, Connecticut, in May.
“I’m very grateful to have the opportunity to walk with Jesus for almost 60 days now,” she said. “… It’s been such a great blessing just to be a witness to my faith, to Jesus Christ’s real presence in the Eucharist …
“I had a powerful encounter with our Lord in the Eucharist, and just to being able to share in that and invite people to have Eucharistic encounters during this revival time in our country, it’s a great gift and a great grace to be able to be part of that.”
The caravan also included four sisters from a religious community in New Hampshire — Daughters of Mary, Mother of Healing Love (DMMHL). Excited about the pilgrimage, but not all age-eligible to be perpetual pilgrims, they journeyed in an Airstream trailer. It was pulled by a donated truck with a volunteer driver, a retired U.S. Navy veteran with her dog. Someone else donated money for the sisters to buy good walking shoes.
“We go before the Eucharistic Procession in the street, and we find people walking on the side of the street, and we tell them about Jesus and that he’s passing by,” said Sister Theresa Marie of DMMHL. The sisters would offer to pray with people or invite them to walk with the procession.
She said the journey has been one of thanksgiving. Even after the National Eucharistic Congress wraps up Sunday, she’ll see this summer of pilgrimage, and her formation as a sister, as an expression of gratitude.
“Because I’m young, I like to do crazy things. I like to say I’m that I’m doing something crazy, something wild for Jesus — because he deserves all of what we can give him.
“… I can’t thank God enough, so I want to thank him with my entire life for this beautiful journey that he’s called me on.”
ABOUT THE PILGRIMAGE
The journey that passed through Greenfield was one of four routes — starting in the north, south, east and west — that converged Tuesday in Indianapolis. The St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Route left New Haven, Connecticut, in May. The route passed through New York; New Jersey; Maryland; Washington, D.C.; Pennsylvania; West Virginia; and Ohio before pilgrims arrived in Greenfield. Learn more at eucharisticpilgrimage.org.
NATIONAL EUCHARISTIC CONGRESS
This national meeting of Catholics started Wednesday and runs through Sunday at the Indiana Convention Center and Lucas Oil Stadium. It’s meant to be a catalyst in what the event’s website describes as a season of revival. The session Sunday morning is a commissioning for a Year of Mission. Learn more at eucharisticcongress.org.
