CV NEWS FEED // The 2024 National Eucharistic Pilgrimage has begun, and pilgrims are sharing their experience of personal discovery as they each make their way along one of the four 6,500 mile routes.
“It is a historic moment, and not just because of the length of the pilgrimage,” wrote Sr Kathryn J. Hermes in a recent blog published by the National Eucharistic Revival. “It is the reason for this collective act of belief in the presence and power of Jesus to change history that is breathing new life into our faith.”
As CatholicVote previously reported, the 2024 National Eucharistic Pilgrimage launched on the Feast of the Pentecost, with Catholics embarking on four different routes across the country.
The four routes include the northern Marian Route, which started fromLake Itasca in Minnesota, the eastern St Elizabeth Anne Seton Route from New Haven, the southern St Juan Diego Route from Brownsville, Texas, and the western St Junipero Serra Route from San Francisco.
“Pilgrimages are this living of the faith publicly,” Sr Kathryn stated: “It isn’t timid. It isn’t hidden. It’s not kept in secret. It is visibly displayed.”
One pilgrim, a high school theology teacher from Kansas City named Natalie Garza said she is excited to live the “real expression and experience of discipleship,” and “to witness with my body the truth that I have professed with my words many times, that Jesus Christ is really present in the Eucharist,” while making her way along the St Elizabeth Anne Seton Route.
“All who join the Eucharistic pilgrimage, even if just for a few miles, have the opportunity to receive what every pilgrim has discovered,” Sr Kathryn wrote, citing the words of Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco: “Christ breathes new life into us, his church.”
