HI LITE
A Publication of the
Center for Eucharistic Evangelizing

Director's Report

As I write this message, the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament is preparing for an all-important meeting of its priests and brothers throughout the United States called a Provincial Chapter. This convening of religious happens every four years, and it is during this same meeting that the new leadership is elected for the next four years. Several months of planning have already gone into the preparation for this gathering which will be held this June 2002 in Esopus, New York. We ask that you remember all of those who will attend this Chapter so that the Spirit of God may be present and alive within the hearts of all. One of the purposes of a Provincial Chapter – this being number 21 in the history of the Province of St. Ann – is to set the direction for the ministries and life of the province for the next four years. Chapter is surely a moment of grace in the life of the Congregation — a moment wherein we want to rekindle in our hearts the Eucharistic flame that has been entrusted to us by our saintly Founder, Peter Julian Eymard. So, please mark June 19-28, 2002 on your calendars and remember all of us in prayer.
The days of the 4th International Life in the Eucharist Congress are quickly approaching. This year’s Congress will be held in Madrid, Spain from June 28-30 and will bring together SSS religious and dedicated lay people from around the globe to participate in prayer, reflection and celebration around the Congress theme — “Bread Broken and Wine Shared”. We are hoping that the Life in the Eucharist members in the U.S.A. will make a good showing at the Congress, testifying to the fact that the movement is firmly implanted within our land.
In this issue we are happy to share with you the excellent and very appropriate reflections that Fr. Anthony Schueller, sss offered to the LITE administrators at their annual meeting in Houston. We are sure that you will agree that he has grounded us and the LITE movement within the charism and mission of the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament.
A grace-filled and blessed Lent and a joyous Easter to all!

Fr. Thomas A. Wiese, sss
Director of the Center for Eucharistic Evangelizing

Life in the Eucharist and the Charism of the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament

Peter Julian Eymard, the founder of the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament (1856) and the Servants of the Blessed Sacrament (1858), was born in La Mure d’Isère, in the south of France on February 4, 1811. He was baptized the following day. His father was a merchant; he pressed oil from walnuts and sharpened cutlery on the side. From his youth, Peter Julian wished to become a priest. His father, a devout Catholic and a member of one of the penitential societies popular in the area, vehemently opposed the idea; he wanted his sole surviving son to inherit the family business and continue the family name.

Following his father’s death, Peter Julian entered the Diocesan seminary at Grenoble and was ordained a priest in 1834, at the age of 23. For the next three years, he served as curate at the parish church in Chatte. Then, in 1837, he was assigned to Monteynard, where he committed himself to revitalizing the spiritual life of the townsfolk. Two years later, he left Monteynard to join the Society of Mary (the Marists), fulfilling a life-long dream of serving in an order dedicated to Mary.

Pope John Paul II has called Saint Peter Julian Eymard a model of Eucharistic faith and living for all the baptized.
Father Eymard held many positions of responsibility as a Marist, including Provincial Superior and Director of the college sodality. As the years passed, he felt a growing attraction to the Blessed Sacrament and wanted to give the sodality a strong Eucharistic orientation. He appealed to his superiors for permission to do so, only to be told that this wasn’t the Society’s charism. An ultimatum was issued: either abandon the project or leave. In 1856, after much soul-searching, Father Eymard asked for dispensation from his vows in order to found the Society of the Blessed Sacrament in Paris. Looking back, he said, “Mary has led me to the Eucharist.”
Until the time of his death a dozen years later, Father Eymard devoted himself tirelessly to propagating love of Christ in the Eucharist and to laying the foundation of the new community. He died on August 1, 1868, and was buried the following day from the church in which he had been baptized. He was beatified in 1925 and canonized on December 9, 1962, at the end of the first session of the Second Vatican Council. In 1995, his feast was transferred to August 2 and added to the universal Roman calendar. Pope John Paul II has
called Saint Peter Julian Eymard a model of Eucharistic faith and living for all the baptized.

Charism
A charism is a gift. In New Testament usage, it refers to the gifts of the Holy Spirit, bestowed by the one Spirit for the up-building of the Church in its life and mission. These gifts come through persons, but are not possessed by them. The individual believer is simply the instrument through which the Spirit imparts the gift to the wider community. Prophecy, preaching, and healing are among the Spirit’s gifts. The Church is a diversely gifted community.
Each religious order, too, has a charism, a specific gift to be shared. This core inspiration, as lived and taught by the founder or foundress, is the source of its mission and witness. For Francis of Assisi, it was the call to embrace the Gospel, with all of its radical demands, as the pattern of imitating the poor, chaste, and obedient Christ. For Dominic, it was the challenge of living and proclaiming God’s word, with its power to save and to sanctify. For Angela Merici, it was education in Christian virtue as the means to living a committed and moral Christian life. For Peter Julian Eymard, it was the Eucharist, the fullest expression of God’s love and the source and center of the Church’s life and mission.
The Rule of Life of the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament, approved by the Holy See in 1984, sums up the charism of Saint Peter Julian Eymard in the following paragraph:
The Life in the Eucharist movement shares this same breadth of vision, in its emphasis upon the Eucharist celebrated, contemplated, and lived in communion with the poor and the suffering.
Challenged by the religious ignorance and indifference of his time, Saint Peter Julian Eymard searched for the answer to its needs. He found it in the love of God manifested in a special way in the gift of Christ in his Eucharist. Captivated by this love, he made it known to his contemporaries. For this purpose, he traced out for his companions a new form of life in the Church, to provide for Christ the Lord, present in the Eucharist, true and perpetual adorers and zealous promoters of his love. Convinced that a life cannot be fully Eucharistic unless it is consecrated to both God and our fellow human beings, he left us an example of contemplation and apostolic activity. (2)
The Eymardian charism continues to inspire a century and a half later. It remains as a enduring challenge for those who share Peter Julian Eymard’s passionate love for Jesus Christ in the Eucharist.
At the Congregation’s 1999 General Chapter in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the Life in the Eucharist movement (LITE) was affirmed as an excellent embodiment of the Eymardian charism today. Here, I will touch on four areas of overlap between the Congregation’s charism and Life in the Eucharist.
1. Proclaiming the whole Eucharistic mystery.
On March 31, 1856, Father Eymard wrote to his first companion, Father Raymond De Cuers: “I told him [Father Colin, the founder of the Marists] clearly . . . that we wish to embrace the Eucharist in all its dimensions.” He reiterated this in a letter to Virginie Danion, from Mauron, 17 months later, “We take the whole Eucharist.”
Father Eymard was part of a Eucharistic movement sweeping Europe in the nineteenth century. He was in constant contact with others, in France, Belgium, and elsewhere, who were interested in propagating devotion to the Blessed Sacrament. The focus of many of these men and women was principally or exclusively on reparation for various social and ecclesial sins. Eucharistic adoration was, in their view, a means toward making amends for the excesses of the French revolution or for sacrileges committed against the Church and the sacrament itself. This was the extent of their understanding of the Eucharist.
Initially, Father Eymard shared this focus. But his vision of the Eucharist evolved and grew beyond reparation. Even at the time of his death, he was discovering and integrating new insights into the Eucharistic mystery in his living and preaching. He spoke, for example, of the “four ends of the sacrifice of the Mass” (adoration, reparation, thanksgiving, and intercession), and he was himself a man of Eucharistic action as well as contemplation. His understanding of the Eucharist was broad and inclusive.
The Life in the Eucharist movement shares this same breadth of vision, in its emphasis upon the Eucharist celebrated, contemplated, and lived in communion with the poor and the suffering.
There are some today, as in Father Eymard’s day, who take part of the Eucharist and emphasize it, at the cost of other aspects of this richest of mysteries. There are some in the Church who see Eucharistic adoration as a necessary “corrective” to certain deficiencies or inadequacies of the renovated liturgy of Vatican II, or who would use the Eucharist for their own ideological purposes. This was not the vision of Father Eymard or of the Church, nor is it the vision of the Life in the Eucharist movement.
The starting point of any authentic Eucharistic spirituality is the celebration itself. What is experienced at the Lord’s table is then interiorized and deepened in a prayer of contemplation and lived out in an attitude of generous service of God and others.
2. In collaboration with committed priests and laity.
With regard to the Eucharist and to his desire to draw all people to Christ in the sacrament of love, Father Eymard was not a “Lone Ranger.” He worked closely with others in promoting awareness of the sacrament, recognizing that the work was greater than his own energy and resources. Everyone was needed!
From the origins of the Congregations he founded, we see a concern to associate non-religious — lay faithful as well as priests. His vision was always inclusive, arising from long years of close collaboration with others throughout Europe in promoting love of the Eucharist. One of Father Eymard’s biographers, Father André Guitton, sss, writes: “In the memorandum he addressed in October 1857 to Cardinal Morlot, Archbishop of Paris, [Father Eymard] listed among the members of the Society: 3. The lay Associates. . . . The aggregation of priests . . . the lay aggregation composed of faithful living in the world and who wish to be united with the Society in a fraternal bond and share its goal” (Peter Julian Eymard, 164).
This collaboration was facilitated and made fruitful because all were united by a common vision. On August 24, 1857, Father Eymard said in a letter to Virginie Danion: “I am completely ready to work with you for the love and glory of our Lord Jesus Christ in his divine sacrament. Your thoughts are my thoughts; your desires are my desires. It is for the service and reign of the Holy Eucharist that I made so many sacrifices and that, with his divine grace, I am ready to make even greater ones” (ibid., 291).
The involvement of committed laity derives from their own baptism and from the baptismal call to partake in the life and mission of the Church; it is not simply a sharing in the ministry of the ordained. It is based on a genuine mutuality between the ordained and the non-ordained, between religious and lay, and a willingness to enter into relationships which are open and life-giving.
The Rule of Life of the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament states in number 47: “Following in the steps of Father Eymard, we invite all whom the Spirit directs to the Eucharist, both priests and lay people, to become associated with our family and share in its mission. We offer them our continuing support so that they may find in the Eucharist the inspiration for their whole life and commitments.”
The Life in the Eucharist movement witnesses to collaborative ministry in its formation of teams whose members freely share their gifts.
3. Building communities whose center of life is the Eucharist, proclamation of the Lord’s death and resurrection and source of liberation and communion.
This is a paraphrase of the 1993 Mission Project of the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament, which was reaffirmed at the General Chapter of 1999. It situates the building of Eucharist-centered communities at the heart of the Congregation’s mission.
The Mission Project presents the Eucharist as (1) the “proclamation of the Lord’s death and resurrection” and (2) the “source of liberation and communion.” The first statement echoes Paul’s teaching in 1 Corinthians 11:26: “For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes.” The second refers to two principal fruits of the Eucharist — liberation from sin (both personal and social) and communion with God and others.
The Life in the Eucharist movement clearly forms “communities of faith whose center of life is the Eucharist.” The LITE teams are themselves such communities, and the seminar seeks to place the Eucharist at the center of the life of the participants, i.e., to bring them to a more active, full, and loving participation in the Lord’s supper and make them more aware of its implications and demands.
The Rule of Life of the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament states in number 47: “Following in the steps of Father Eymard, we invite all whom the Spirit directs to the Eucharist, both priests and lay people, to become associated with our family and share in its mission. We offer them our continuing support so that they may find in the Eucharist the inspiration for their whole life and commitments.”
A Jesuit professor in the major seminary I attended, once said, “The Eucharist is not only about Christ’s presence to us; it is also about our presence to one another. Through 2,000 years, the Eucharist has kept us together.”
4. Inserted in local Churches.
In the Congregation at one time, the ideal was to replicate a single model of life and ministry wherever we went. Based on a monastic form of life, its goal was perpetual adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. Thus, whether one was assigned to New York City, Chicago, or Albuquerque, the style and rhythm of our religious Eucharistic life were largely the same. It was as if the Congregation’s life and mission entirely transcended the local reality. To borrow from Saint John’s characterization of the first disciples’ relationship to the world, we were in the local Church (Diocese/parish), but not of it.
Number 35 of the Rule of Life articulates a very different vision for the Congregation today, saying: “While our mission extends to the whole Church, it is carried out within the pastoral program of a Diocese of Region.” Consequently, we see a great diversity in our communities and ministries across the country, determined both by our Congregational charism and by the needs of the local Church. The goal is implanting the Congregation’s charism locally and allowing it to engage the real needs of the people.
I have noticed that the Life in the Eucharist movement does the same. For example, time is spent dialoguing about the situation of the local Church as the Seminar is being planned. Freedom is given to find stories and images which best reflect cultural needs and sensibilities (while respecting, of course, the integrity of the five Seminar themes). There is a clear desire to support the continued growth of what is happening in the Diocese or the parish — i.e., to encourage fuller participation in the Mass, the development of liturgical ministries, and to support programs of Eucharistic adoration where they exist or are envisioned.Conclusion
In these ways, and others, the Life in the Eucharist movement embodies the charism of the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament in the Church. This was recognized by the General Chapter; today, I simply affirm that fact and urge you to continue the wonderful work you are doing as disciples of Saint Peter Julian Eymard.

Father Anthony Schueller, S.S.S.
Provincial — Highland Heights (Cleveland), OH

To All Members of the Secular Institute “Servitium Christi”on the Occasion of its 50th Year Celebration

The following letter is written by Maria Angelica Nuñez on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the secular institute Servitium Christi, which was founded by the late Father Godfrey Spiekman, sss, when he was Superior General of the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament. Servitium Christi is faithful to Saint Peter Julian’s dream of associating committed laity with our Eucharistic charism and mission. Members can be found today in Holland, Brazil, Chile, Vietnam, the United States, Australia, Great Britain and Ireland. We share this inspiring letter with all LITES members because we feel that Servitium Christi is about much the same thing that we as LITE enthusiasts are. Olympia Panagatos is the contact person for Servitium Christi in the United States. If you would like more information about this secular institute and how you can become a member, please write to Olympia Panagatos: 1540 York Avenue; Apt. 16R; New York, NY 10028.
The celebration of 50 years of life of our Institute invites us to say a great Thanksgiving Prayer to the Lord for all the gifts received along these years. Let us thank the Lord for inspiring Fr. Eymard to associate lay people to his great Eucharistic work.
With emotion and gratitude we recall Fr. Godfried Spiekman who made something concrete of his ideal by founding the Institute, and Antoinette Golsteijn, his collaborator and first General Directress.
We are grateful to all the members who have given generously of themselves to make this small seed grow in the world, as well as the Fathers of the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament, who have guided and helped us in our journey, with special concern and care. Certainly, the graces that we have received from the Lord are enormous and the good that our members have been able to do with these graces has been considerable as well.
Fifty years in the life of a person is a time of fullness and maturity. In Institutes, however, such a period is just the starting point. This is the reason why it is important to look back on the past, a past that is not so distant from us. After doing so, and encouraged by the example of the first members, we should look for new ways to answer in fidelity to the challenges that the world and the Church present to us in the present.
This can be considered as a great opportunity which the Lord is offering us to review our capacity to communicate our ideals, love each other, share our hopes, offer mutual support in our sorrows and failures, and renew our generous gift to the “Servitium Christi” community avoiding retreating inside ourselves, confined to our own small individual space.
We have been entrusted with a Charism which we must keep intact for future generations. “The Spirit of Christ is the force that gives us life, and is the source of the power to live together the Charism proper to our Institute.” (ROL 22)
In fact, the challenges we are facing are huge. At an inner level, there is a lack of vocations, insufficient leaders, and an imbalance in certain cases between the community vocational identity and the personal vocation. These are realities that worry us and which have been present in our recent General Assembly demanding from all of us a creative and realistic response.
On the other hand, the world in which we live pleads with us every minute through its multiple challenges in all settings: in broken families, in job shortages, in abandoned children, in youth without a future, in abused women, in nature devastated by man, in wars that threaten all humankind, and many other miseries that surround us.
To answer the hopes of the world, the Church is calling us to put our efforts into living the spirituality of communion which is so proper of our Eucharistic Charism. Indeed, “The heart’s contemplation of the mystery of the Trinity dwelling in us” is nothing other than living an interior life of adoration, the “Inner Cenacle” that St. Peter Julian Eymard described.
Adoration each day offers us an opportunity to have a moment of intense contemplation in which we discover the richness that God offers us in the Eucharist. The consequences of that life shall be, beyond any doubt, a growth of our capacities:
• to think of our brothers and sisters in faith within the profound unity of the Mystical Body and, therefore, as “Those who are part of me.” This makes us able to share their joys and sufferings, to sense their desires and to attend to their needs, to offer them deep and genuine friendship;
• to see what is positive in others to welcome it and value it as a gift from God, not only as a gift for the brother or sister who has received it directly, but also as a “gift for me”;
• to know how “to make room” for our brothers and sisters, “bearing each others burdens” (Gal. 6,2) and resisting the selfish temptations which constantly beset us and provoke competitions, careerism, distrust and jealousy (NM 43).
Dear members, on the 6th of January in 1857, Fr. Eymard inaugurated the solemn cult of the Blessed Sacrament in the chapel in Paris. Soon afterwards, he wrote to Marguerite Guillot: “When I think about the way Jesus led us to this point, making us pass through so many difficulties unknown even to ourselves! Now that I see these difficulties behind us, I am like someone who has gone through the greatest dangers unknowingly. What happened is that Jesus was in the boat, and we were asleep at His feet. Oh yes, God wants this Eucharistic work! Every day, we see the proof of it. We should at least cooperate fully with such a great grace!”
Like him, we can also say: “God wants Servitium Christi!” Let us renew then, in our spirit the force and transparency of the first love. If we deeply live our ideal, we will radiate the light of Christ and be authentic signs of His love in the world, a true Epiphany.
With these thoughts, I wish each of you a happy, holy and fruitful jubilee year 2002.

Maria Angelica
San Bernardo, Chile
December, 2001

LITE Administrators’ Meeting – November 2001
Houston, Texas

LITE (Life in the Eucharist) administrators representing six of the teams in the United States gathered the weekend of November 9-11, 2001 at Corpus Christi Church in Houston, Texas for their annual meeting. Following dinner at an Italian restaurant, the group convened for the first of the weekend’s sessions. As the Administrators now serve as the Board of Directors for the Center for Eucharistic Evangelizing (CEE), they will help determine the direction of the LITE movement and act as the liaison between the CEE and the teams throughout the country. Everyone wished more teams had been represented but felt the events of September 11th had an impact on people’s decision to travel at this time.
Following the Liturgy of the Eucharist on Saturday morning, the group was privileged to hear Father Anthony Schueller, sss speak on the connection between the LITE movement, the Blessed Sacrament Congregation and their founder, St. Peter Julian Eymard. Father Schueller’s talk was overwhelmingly well received and his audience encouraged him to make the information available to more people. The text of Father Schueller’s excellent presentation can be found in this edition of HI-LITE.
A report was given on the First International Meeting of LITE Directors and Lay Leaders held in Dublin, Ireland last June. This important gathering of people committed to the LITE movement was a wonderful opportunity to share experiences from all over the world. Representatives attended from Australia, Austria, Brazil, Great Britain and Ireland, France, Germany, the Philippines, Spain, and the United States. A complete report was made on this meeting in the last issue of HI LITE.
In the afternoon, the administrators, working in small groups, discussed both positive and negative experiences of their individual teams. Some of the positive suggestions were to have more frequent meetings, both business and social; to share leadership during these meetings; to investigate having the “enneagram” for all team members wherever possible; and to use the Manna Series for additional religious educational events. Negative responses included difficulties handling new team members; getting all members to attend meetings regularly; being more flexible in the ability to present more than one topic at a seminar; and a willingness on the part of all members to share responsibilities and work. All expressed a desire for help in marketing the program. Personal contact with pastors, Directors of Religious Education or through Diocesan mailings were suggested. The LITE Seminar is promoted on the Blessed Sacrament web site and teams were encouraged to send their scheduled seminars to the CEE so they could be included. The Center has budgeted funds for advertising in national periodicals in 2002. There was a consensus that the seminar needs to be focused toward young people and the suggestion was made to invite Father Bob Rousseau, sss, initiator of the LITE Movement to attend next year’s administrators’ meeting to discuss this possibility and to help with any changes that might be necessary. Some felt the term “seminar” is misleading and discussed using other possible terms such as “experience”, “program”, or “retreat”.
The date for the Administrators’ Meeting for 2002 was not decided at this time because Father Thomas Wiese will be on sabbatical out of the country at the end of the year. The attendees were asked to suggest dates for the next meeting. The weekend closed with a wonderful celebration at the home of Mike and Sally Switek with food and drinks provided by the Houston LITE teams.

What are YOU doing on the 2nd ?
What are you doing on the second of this month? On the second day of every month? Last June, LITE Directors and Lay Leaders from all over the world gathered in Dublin, Ireland for the first time. The purpose of this meeting was to enable people involved in the LITE Movement to get to know one another and to share experiences. During one discussion, Father Periko Nuñez, SSS, from Spain had a wonderful suggestion. He suggested a way of bringing all people involved in the LITE movement together, setting aside one day each month as a time when all LITE members could offer prayers for the success of this Movement of Eucharistic Evangelization. At this year’s United States Administrators’ Meeting, Father Nuñez’ suggestion was very warmly received and the “2nd of the month” was selected because this is the liturgical memorial of St. Peter Julian Eymard, the founder of the Blessed Sacrament Congregation and Apostle of the Eucharist.
Please find your calendars for this year — both at home and at work and make a nice red circle around the 2nd of every month. When you see these red marks, you’ll know it’s “LITE Day!” So, you ask, what do I do? Some suggestions include spending some time in adoration if possible, quietly saying five Our Fathers or a decade of the rosary, talking to someone new about the LITE seminar, performing a particular work of mercy in honor of St. Peter Julian Eymard, or offering prayers of glory and honor to the Lord for the continued success of the LITE Movement. Maybe you have a good idea you’d like to suggest to others. We’d love to hear. So, what are you doing on the 2nd?

L.I.T.E. – Alive and Well in Vista, California

Florence Crull, an original member of the LITE team in Vista, California was invited to speak to sixty people at an RCIA meeting in January. She wrote with excitement of recalling all her training and seminar experiences in preparing her talk. Although her team has been inactive for a number of years, Florence proved herself up to the task and briefly presented the LITE program all at once, all by herself. Good for you, Florence! We include excerpts from her talk for your enrichment.
In Nourishment, God comes to each one of us in the miracle that is Eucharist. During the liturgy, Jesus becomes present in the midst of those gathered for worship and demonstrates his divinity. He does this to fulfill the promise He made after his resurrection to “be with us always” and because He loves us. He gives us the gift of himself and out of this love, Jesus returns to us, God and Man, divinely and in physical substance.
When we stand around the altar at the Eucharist as a community and sincerely pray the Lord’s Prayer, our sins are forgiven. The Eucharist is the ultimate sacrament of reconciliation. It is the ancient water of cleansing, now turned into new wine of reconciliation that purifies us so that we can enter the house of the Lord and celebrate.
The celebration of the Eucharist is a Celebration of Transformations. We are each called to be a new creation, to share ourselves unselfishly as food for one another. “Through Him, with Him, and in Him” we begin the work of salvation reconciling all things to Himself.
Prayer in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament recalls our past celebrations of the Eucharist as well as heightens our anticipation to come to the Lord’s table. Prayer in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament can also be the gateway to mystical contemplation. Such prayer leads to being consumed by the glory of Jesus Christ. He leads us to the Father as one people joined in love. This expresses all that Eucharist is and all that prayer in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament is meant to be.
Eucharist as Liberation is essentially action-oriented. It is Jesus asking us to proclaim our faith not only by prayer but also by action. Eucharist as Liberation is about our finding ways to act in response to the sufferings of our time and not to ignore the cries of the poor. It is putting ourselves, as much as possible, in the place where Jesus put himself, as one who made himself servant to all by actively struggling for and striving for peace and justice for all humanity.
Florence Crull
Vista, California

Diary of a L.I.T.E. Seminar
The St. Paschal Baylon Life In The Eucharist (LITE) team welcomed 45 enthusiastic participants on Saturday morning, January 19, 2002. The weekend would be an invitation to journey and reflect on eucharistic spirituality. The group met in the recently completed Family Life Center located adjacent to St. Paschal Baylon Church and school in Highland Heights, Ohio. This beautiful and new meeting facility and kitchen greatly enhanced the environment for the two day Eucharistic experience.
The participants varied in age and life experiences which added to the rich group discussions held on both days. College students, young adults, teachers, Eucharistic ministers, married couples, single professionals and even an 18 year-old daughter who encouraged her mother to attend with her were ready and eager to learn more about this greatest of all Sacraments — the Eucharist. One teacher from the school was so elated by all she had learned that she highly recommends we get it accredited with the Cleveland Diocese and offer it as a program to all Catholic school teachers who must renew their religious teaching certificates every year.
The LITE team, which has been in existence over ten years, worked together seamlessly. They made some changes to their mini-teams and gave some new presentations, which flowed very well. They were assisted by a generous group of past participants who volunteered to attend to the hospitality details, providing meals for the event. Many of the Blessed Sacrament community also dropped in during the two days to attend sessions and generally lend their support. Based on comments from the attendees, the week-end was a great spiritual event and hopefully the good news message of Eucharist will be shared on their continued faith journey.
Frank V. Zalar
Novelty, Ohio

4th International Life in the Eucharist Congress — Madrid, Spain
Friday, June 28 — Sunday, June 30, 2002

Most of the LITE team members have already received the descriptive brochure for the 4th International LITE Congress in Madrid, Spain and the tour possibilities following the Congress. For those who might not have received this information, we include it in this issue of HI LITE, however please refer to the Congress brochure for the most accurate information.
Plan One: Round trip air fare (U.S.A. to Madrid, Spain) / LITE Congress
• Leave U.S. June 26th – Arrive Madrid Thursday, June 27th
• LITE Congress to be held from Friday, June 28th – Saturday, June 30th
• Return from Madrid to U.S. Monday, July 1st
• Approximate Cost: $1,500 (includes airfare – round trip price will vary depending on city of departure, baggage handling and most meals)
Plan Two: Round trip air fare (U.S.A. to Madrid, Spain) / LITE Congress / Land Tour — Cities in Northern Spain and Lourdes in Southern France (as specified below):
• Leave U.S. June 26 – Arrive Madrid, Spain on Thursday, June 27
• LITE Congress to be held from Friday, June 28 – Sunday, June 30
• From July 2nd – July 10th, visit the following cities: Santiago de Compostello, Astorga, Leon, Burgos, Bilbao, Loyola (home of St. Ignatius), San Sebastian (Spanish Riviera), Lourdes (France), Andorra, Montserrat and Barcelona, with Fr. Periko Nuñez, sss as overall guide. Local guides will enhance the program where needed.
• Return to the U.S.A. on July 10th.
• Approximate Cost: $3,000 (includes airfare – round trip price will vary depending on city of departure, baggage handling, complete tour itinerary except for optional side trips and most meals)
Four major presenters at the Congress:
Jose Antonio Maldonado, Professor of Church history, Major Seminary of Madrid will speak on the topic of Eucharist as Nourishment.
Sister Delores Alexandre, Religious Sister and Author. Her topic will be Eucharistic as Reconcilation.
Father Anthony McSweeney, sss - Former Superior General of the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament, and currently Director of the Center Eucharistia in Rome. He will speak of Eucharist as Abiding Presence.
Loli Asua - head of the diocesan office of Pastoral Ministry for the diocese of Bilbao, Spain will speak to us about Eucharist as Liberation.
Please refer to the Congress brochure for more complete itineraries and descriptions. To receive the complete informative brochure, please contact Louise Borgione (Cleveland LITE team administrator) who is handling all the travel arrangements through Kollander WorldTravel Agency, Cleveland, Ohio. Louise can be reached at:
Louise Borgione
657 Jefferson Drive
Highland Heights, OH 44143
Tel: 440-449-1198
e-mail: louise.borgione@core.com
If you are making your own flight arrangements and will attend the CONGRESS ONLY, notify Louise and she will take care of your Congress registration and make your hotel arrangmeents according to your needs.
This is a unique opportunity to meet, pray and socialize with religious and lay people of various cultures who are of the same heart and mind in the Eucharist. Plan to join us for this unique experience of gathering with people committed to Life in the Eucharist from all over the world. An interesting, inspiring and enthusiastic Congress has been planned for us. Come and join us as we celebrate our faith in the Eucharist.

. . . . NEWS HIGHLIGHTS . . . .

Fr. Paul Bernier, sss offers reflections in Houston — Fr. Paul Bernier, sss of the Blessed Sacrament Community of St. Jean Baptiste in New York City will address the members of the Houston LITES teams as well as Corpus Christi parishioners on Saturday, March 23, 2002. Fr. Bernier is well known for several books that he has written on the Eucharist and Ministry. At the present time he is completing his doctoral studies at Fordham University in New York. The day of reflection will run from 12noon until 4pm and be held in Corpus Christi Church.

Cleveland Mission — Last year, several members of the St. Paschal Baylon LITE team joined together with three Blessed Sacrament priests to offer the parish mission in their own parish. This year those same team members have been working with the parishioners of Divine Word Parish, helping them to lead a similar mission in their own parish. Once again, three SSS priests will be part of the collaborative effort.
Two Lenten Missions in Houston — The two English-speaking LITE teams and the Spanish team of Corpus Christi parish will be leading parish missions in diocesan parishes during the course of Lent. Having done a parish mission several years ago, these team members have launched out to provide a similar experience to other parishes. Eucharistic evangelizing can take so many different and exciting forms. Of course, the missions will focus on the EUCHARIST.

San Antonio Workshop — Fr. Tom Wiese, Director of the Center for Eucharistic Evangelizing, was invited in February to address a group of catechists at the Center for Spirituality and the Arts of Incarnate Word College in San Antonio, Texas. He used the one day program on the Eucharist entitled “Liturgy of the Word – Liturgy of the Eucharist – Liturgy of the Neighbor”.

Emmanuel Magazine Advertisement — Have you received your March issue of Emmanuel magazine? Inside the front cover is a wonderful advertisement for the LITE program. Thanks to the magazine’s editor, Fr. Norman Pelletier, sss, for providing the space and, more importantly, endorsing LITE in his March editorial. The Center has already received an inquiry in answer to the ad!

Provincial Chapter of SSS — If you would like to join with the Fathers and Brothers of the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament and pray for the success of their upcomingProvincial Chapter XXI in June 2002, we include here the prayer that they will be saying during this time of preparation. Please join with us in prayer:
Ever-faithful God, in your goodness,
you have blessed the Eucharistic mission
of our Congregation in the United States for the past century.
Guide us to know your will at this time in our history,
so that your kingdom may come and Christ may be glorified.
May Mary, Our Lady of the Cenacle, and our Holy Founder
intercede for us always. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Fr. Bob Rousseau, sss — Where in the world is Father Bob Rousseau, sss? This might be a question that runs through your mind. Because of his busy travel schedule, he was not able to get us his normal article, however, we promise it will appear in upcoming issues. Recently, Father Bob has spent some time in January in France helping the existing LITE team and training new members for this team. Then he was off to Spain to put the finishing touches on the Madrid Congress and give a LITE II seminar in Pamplona — watch out for those bulls! In his future is another trip to Brazil. Happy trails, Fr. Bob!

Joyous Easter — The staff of HI LITE and the C.E.E. wants to wish all of our readers a very joyous and faith-filled Easter celebration. Like the two disciples of Emmaus, may we who are engaged in the ministry of eucharistic evangelizing, always find the Lord Jesus in the breaking of the bread and the stranger that crosses our path. He is truly risen, ALLELUIA!

© Copyright 2002
Rev. Thomas A. Wiese, SSS, Director
Mrs. Nancy MacRoberts, Administrator
Center for Eucharistic Evangelizing
9900 Stella Link Road
Houston, TX 77025
Telephone: (713) 661-3958 + Fax: (713) 662-2014