INDIANAPOLIS, July 19 — The Seton Pilgrims began their participation in the third day of the National Eucharistic Congress and the 63rd day of their interior pilgrimage with a Mass at the Napa Institute Chapel at the Omni Severin Hotel.
Seton Chaplain Father Roger Landry celebrated the Votive Mass of the Holy Eucharist and preached the homily. The Gospel of the day focused on how Jesus, in response to the criticism of the Pharisees over the apostles' doing the minimal work of plucking and threshing the heads of grain in the fields and eating the raw grain — it shows how hungry they must have been — told the Pharisees not only that he was Lord of the Sabbath (basically a divine claim) but that God desires mercy not sacrifice.
Father Landry discussed how Jesus was bring all of the Old Testament to fulfillment: the law of the Sabbath, all the Old Testament sacrifices, the law and the prophets in his own life and in particular in the one and eternal sacrifice of the New Covenant. Everything is ultimately an expression of God's merciful love toward us and the human race.
And as we offer to God our sacrifice united to his, we are meant to do it as recipients and missionaries of his mercy. The sacrifice of the Mass is the sacrifice of mercy, in which Jesus gives himself in remission of our sins. The sacrifice we're called to bring to the altar is above all a sacrifice of mercy, in which we have forgiven others, in which we have served them physically and spiritually and more. And if we come to the altar with our gift and recognize that our brother or sister has a claim on our mercy, Landry said referring to the words of the Lord from the Sermon on the Mount, we're supposed to leave our gift and go reconcile before offering the gift. This Eucharistic Revival, in which one of the pillars is meant to focus on the sacrifice of the Mass, is meant to spur us to live a Eucharistic life, which is one in which we sacrifice ourselves out of mercy.
During the rest of the day, pilgrims attended various of the major sessions, breakouts and other offerings.
