I was sitting in the speaker/bishop section of Lucas Oil Stadium, debating what to do. I had just watched Fr. Mike Schmitz and a small powerhouse nun, Mother Olga of the Sacred Heart, explode with Eucharistic faith and zeal all over the stage. Adoration was going to be next, but I had already done some adoration earlier in the day. I was tempted to leave because I had to prepare for my speaking engagement the next day.
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I told the Lord, “I know you love me whether I stay for Adoration or leave to prepare my talk, but what would you prefer that I do?”
I looked to my right and left. I was sitting in the midst of bishops. None of them were leaving.
I felt a soft invitation in my heart, “You stay too. I’ll take care of everything with your talk.”
Minutes later, the spotlights blazed down onto the monstrance entering the stadium. The sacred music began: “O Salutaris Hostia…” 50,000 people in the stadium dropped to their knees on the concrete floor. The bishop next to me went to his knees just as fast, along with all the others. Kneeling between the stadium seats required awkward angles with our legs and feet. But there we were, mesmerized by the huge monstrance that we knew by faith was the real presence of Jesus.
We knew it by faith—but this was a different sensation of faith than you have when you are alone in a chapel. This was a palpable faith, woven together with 50,000 individual strands of faith, covering you like a blanket. This was a foretaste of heaven. Throngs of disciples, together, adoring the Lamb who has been slain for us—the Alpha and Omega.
After a while, my knees were killing me, and I looked around. The bishops were still on their knees. I was proud to have such zealous shepherds in the American Church. The bishop next to me was serene, his eyes pressed closed, his hands held open in front of him, softly singing, “Let all mortal flesh keep silence…”
I stared back down at the real presence of Jesus in the monstrance and blended my voice with the bishop beside me for the rest of that haunting, beautiful song.
I am sure that many in that stadium vehemently disagree with each other on a host of issues; but as we all knelt in adoration, soaking in the closeness of Jesus, nothing mattered but him. We were united, worshiping him in sacrament, becoming one body of Christ for the life of the world, bonded in spirit and truth. I prayed that, after this gathering was long over, the Holy Spirit would continue unifying the Church to renew every strata of society through the Good News of Jesus.
Jason Simon is the President of the Evangelical Catholic. The Evangelical Catholic’s mission is to equip Catholics to live out the Great Commission. Learn more.
