RGV missionaries ready to share love of the Eucharist
By BRENDA NETTLES RIOJAS 

“Go! Go! Go! And what you have heard, touched, and tasted, you must share with others,” Cardinal Luis Tagle urged the faithful, as he spoke at the closing Mass of the 10th National Eucharist Congress July 21 in Indianapolis.

“We have received the gift of Jesus,” he said. “Let us go to proclaim Jesus zealously and joyfully for the life of the world.”

By PAUL BINZ

Pentecost Sunday was even more special than usual this year for Catholics in the Rio Grande Valley – residents and visitors alike. The San Juan Diego Route of the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage began in Brownsville with hundreds of people setting out together from the Immaculate Conception Cathedral after Mass to accompany the Blessed Sacrament in procession. 

“Today is the great day of the pouring out of the Holy Spirit upon the Body of the Church,” said Bishop Daniel E. Flores as the special 8 a.m. Mass began. “It is a good day to be sent out, especially as pilgrims, for the Spirit sends us forth to give witness to Christ our Savior.” 

“That was beautiful,” one man exclaimed with a smile after the Mass. “I’ve never seen the Cathedral so full!”

“We know it plainly: Being nourished by the Eucharist at Mass sends us in mission,” Angel Barrera, coordinator for the National Eucharistic Revival activities for the Diocese of Brownsville, said before the procession. “It sends us in mission to serve those most in need. So we’re excited that this is a way that we are able to take those first steps.” 

The pilgrimage, one of four in the United States, continued through southeast Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee and Kentucky on its way to the National Eucharistic Conference in Indianapolis in July. 

This first leg of the pilgrimage was a nine-block walk to Sacred Heart Catholic Church on the west side of downtown Brownsville. Assembling in front of the cathedral, the crowd moved up 12th Street and then turned west onto Washington. Sometime later, Sacred Heart Church also filled quickly as the procession arrived for Benediction and Adoration. 

The weather in Brownsville at the outset of the procession was humid with temperatures in the high 80s. Although the humidity went down during the course of Sunday’s walk, the mercury rose into the high 90s by late afternoon, and bottled water was a popular item at every break. 

The Parish of the Lord of Divine Mercy on Brownsville’s north side was not a scheduled stop for the pilgrimage. But a contingent of volunteers from the parish set up a refreshment booth on the procession route and waited hours in the heat for the procession to pass by on its way up Military Highway to San Pedro. 

“We’ve got our mission,” said Santiago Hernandez, sporting an olive-drab T-shirt reading “Lord of Divine Mercy Parish - Soldier of Christ.” He said, “We're here to support the Eucharistic Revival – the Real Presence of Christ in the Holy Eucharist. And it is a great pleasure to participate and grow!”

Another young man employing the shade of the tent was Anthony Rodriguez, who said he is involved in youth ministry at his parish.

“We’ve been trying to roll with the Youth Ministry, and this is one of the events that Father Leo (Rev. Leonel Rodriguez) asked us if we could do,” Rodriguez said. “And we’re like, ‘Yeah, we’ll definitely volunteer and help out in this.’ Especially since a lot of what we’re hearing is these teenagers and young adults are going to be traveling to Indianapolis. So it’s an awesome thing, and we love to see our community get together like this. It’s an awesome experience.” 

Among those on the journey is a group of young people planning to make the entire journey from Brownsville to Indianapolis – the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage (NEP) Perpetual Pilgrims. 

“A Perpetual Pilgrim is one of the pilgrims who will be doing the entire route,” said MacKenzie Warrens, a graduate student studying atomic physics at Rice University in Houston. 

Warrens said she first heard about the National Eucharistic Revival and Pilgrimage from her father in Kansas City. 

“When I found out more about it, I was like, ‘This is so cool! I want to be a Perpetual Pilgrim!’ So I took it to prayer, discerned, applied. Here I am!”

Another Perpetual Pilgrim, Camille Anigbogu of Florida, said, “I had never heard of something like this happening in the history of the Church before. From what I’ve heard, this is the longest accompanying walk with Jesus since the disciples. When I heard that, I said I would love to be a part of this! So being a part of the team has been like the coolest thing.” 

“Everyone here is so generous, and so nice,” Anigbogu said. “And the food!”

The San Juan Diego Route of the procession resumed Monday in San Benito, and made its way through Harlingen, La Feria, Mercedes, and Weslaco Monday and Tuesday; on Wednesday, the procession was set to reach the Basilica of Our Lady of San Juan del Valle-National Shrine for a concluding Mass before the pilgrimage left the Valley for Kingsville, Corpus Christi and the Houston area.

The Perpetual Pilgrims’ faith and enthusiasm has made an impression on their new Valley friends. One small Brownsville group that started the pilgrimage on Sunday were also present Wednesday for the final leg, the one-mile walk from the San Juan Library to the basilica. Patricia Galindo and Scott and Irma Sherman, who usually attend Mary, Mother of the Church, recalled almost word for word certain remarks from the previous night’s post-walk social at Our Lady of Mercy in Mercedes.

Galindo recounted, “Last night’s pilgrim, the tall, slender man, said at the dinner, ‘He (Jesus) came here for us. Because as I’m walking, I’m thinking of the people in the houses – if they’re not happy, their happiness is going to be with the Lord. Lord, go to them. Help them see what we see, and what we have in you. And the graces you’ve given us, to make them happy.’ 

“He said, ‘And it’s for us, too.’ ”  

Scott Sherman added, “And the other young man – he’s (also) one of the Perpetuals – said, ‘I love Brownsville. The Holy Spirit is all over.’ He was just amazed by the spirit.’ He’s from Maryland, and he just thought it was amazing here, just amazing.”  

“I really like what the pilgrims and the priests and the bishop all say because all of that is true,” Galindo said.

Galindo started the pilgrimage with faith and inspiration of her own. When she first heard about the pilgrimage, she recalled “praying and thinking to myself, this is calling me, because the Lord is my strength, period. The Lord is in the Eucharist.”

“I am just moved by the Holy Spirit. And I always call on my guardian angel every day to be with me, to guide me,” she said. “I pray the same thing for my family, and for all my friends, and for everybody among the strangers.”

Galindo described how the Real Presence with the procession has been felt by herself and others.

“It’s a feeling you have, right? – when you go somewhere and you just feel that overwhelming. Some of these people – they told me they’re going to Communion, and they start crying. They feel the strong presence. They’re always in church. But this is going beyond. So I cannot put in words what I feel. It’s just coming out – I tell people, there’s two people inside me!”

Just before the faithful set out on final local walk, Mackenzie Warrens summed up her own experience.

“This entire diocese has been a huge gift, a huge blessing. Everyone here is incredibly welcoming, hospitable and generous. We are quite frankly, overwhelmed by the generosity of everyone here,” she said. “It’s been an absolutely beautiful start to this pilgrimage, and I’m super-excited to let the Lord has in store, watching him move and work in people’s hearts so far. 

“We’re only on Day Four, and the Lord is already changing hearts. He’s left an impact on this diocese, and he’ll continue to change the world and the country.”  

 A question often asked: “Where is the young Church?”

“We are here!” they answered. They answered with their smiles, their dancing, their prayers, and their presence.

The voices came first from an assembly of 150 middle school students during a “Radiant Joy” gathering in Harlingen, and then resoundingly from more than 600 high school students at a second gathering in Weslaco. The students came from different parishes throughout the Rio Grande Valley to share their radiant joy for Christ. They came to learn, and to grow spiritually.

Yolanda Rodriguez, a junior at Edcouch-Elsa High School, said she shares her faith by getting involved in programs like youth ministry offered in at her parish. 

“I want to help bring in the youth and invite them to form a stronger relationship alongside Jesus,” she said.

“The young church is HERE, although the youth may not be as involved or some may be struggling to feel Jesus’s presence on earth,” she said. “It doesn’t mean we have stopped following in our faith. We just need that extra push and support from the older generation.”

“These gatherings are a celebration of faith in Jesus, a demonstration of community, and a vibrant future for our Church,” said Angel Barrera, director of the new Office of Parish Engagement. “Our young people are not just the future of the Church; they are the Church now.”

“These events are a testament to the spiritual faith and enthusiasm of our youth,” Barrera said.

This new office of ministry is a move by Bishop Daniel E. Flores to strengthen parish life. Announced on the Feast of St. John Bosco, the initiative represents a strategic restructuring to enhance the support to parishes and the diocese’s outreach to youth and young adults.

Bishop Flores spoke to the high school students Feb. 24 about being missionaries of the Lord’s goodness in the world. Reflecting on the Gospel about the multiplication of the loaves and fishes, Bishop Flores said that just as the disciples felt unprepared to feed the hungry crowd, we too can feel unprepared. However, the Lord’s admonition to his disciples, “Give them something to eat yourselves,” are instructions for all Christians. 

“That is to say, ‘I want you to do something, but I’m going to help you do something,’” Bishop Flores said of Christ’s instructions.

“The Lord is talking to us,” Bishop Flores said. “He is telling us, ‘I can help you give them something to eat.’”

“You have to open your eyes to how you can give somebody something to eat,” he said. “It is not necessarily material food, but food for their heart to encourage them. 

“We can’t fix the whole world, but you can do something for somebody.”

“People are hungry for a word of encouragement – a hunger for somebody to say good morning, a hunger to be accepted, or included, or to hear, ‘God loves you.’”

Bishop Flores emphasized you don’t have to wait to become a saint. What you need to do is look around you. “There’s a hunger,” he said. “We can’t respond by saying (as the apostles did), ‘I can’t do anything. Send them away.’”

The key is to remember the Lord will help you, he said. “You are not alone. Don’t wait to respond. The Church needs you now! Through us he can reach places he cannot be.” 

Just as Jesus asked the disciples to bring him what they had to feed the multitude, he asks us to give him what we have, Bishop Flores said. “Our response may be we don’t have much. Maybe it’s a smile. Lo que tengo aquí te lo doy. And he says, ‘I will make it more.’”

“The Lord can take what little we have, but he can make it more, as long as you are willing to share it  with someone else. … If he gives us something, a gift, it’s not just so that we can have more, but so that we have something to share with somebody else. 

“To be a follower of Jesus it to take what he gives us and share it.”

Recognizing her own gifts of patience and fortitude, Yolanda Rodriguez said she can integrate these to help those who need Jesus. 

“I am a very patient person, and I don’t mind doing what it takes to defend my faith and spread the word of the Lord to everyone who seeks to learn more about him,” she said.

Genesis Almanzar, a sophomore at the IDEA School in San Juan, said her faith is growing every day. She serves in her parish choir and helps where needed, sharing her faith by inviting friends to church activities.

Bishop Flores affirmed that such gestures may be just what is needed.

“It could be helping somebody who is going through a difficult time. You may not have the right words, but you can say, ‘I’m with you,’” he said. “When we respond to someone around us who is struggling, we respond to Jesus.”

“Love is what changes the world. Love responds,” Bishop Flores told those assembled. “Even if it’s very simple and it’s very humble, love responds, love acts.”