INDIANAPOLIS, July 18 — For the pilgrims of the Seton Route of the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage, the days of the National Eucharistic Congress have been a time of giving witness to the witness they sought to give over the previous two months.
Their mission, as they brought the Eucharistic Lord Jesus from New Haven, Connecticut to Indianapolis, was to give witness to the awesome gift of the Real Presence of God-with-us in our midst. Having completed that two-month, life-changing mission, their task now is to give witness to what they saw along the way: the huge crowds, individual people, faith, tears, prayers offered and answered, and much more encountered along the way.
They had a chance to do it as a team on Thursday morning as they were invited to appear on EWTN's live coverage of the Congress with Catherine Hadro, Fr. Aquinas Guilbeau, OP, and Pete Burak.
Seton Chaplain Father Roger Landry, who was part of EWTN's on-site coverage of the 2013 papal conclave that elected Pope Francis as well as of the funeral of Pope Benedict XVI together with Catherine Hadro, spent several minutes on set describing his experience before the other members of the Seton Route team joined. Landry introduced each member of the Seton team and each was able to share a personal summary of the graces of the journey in response to questions from the panel.
The Seton Route pilgrims began the day with Morning Prayer in which Father Landry gave a brief homily framing his remarks based on the readings of the day at Mass, the brief reading during Morning Prayer and the liturgical memorial of St. Camillus de Lellis. The Gospel passage for the Mass was Jesus' invitation to come to him with our labors and burdens to be refreshed, something he makes to us each day day in the Eucharist. St. Camillus shows us how to help others bring their own burdens and sufferings to Jesus, especially in their illnesses.
Later in the morning, after their EWTN appearance, pilgrims attended Mass celebrated by Cardinal Timothy Dolan within Lucas Oil Stadium. Cardinal Dolan dedicated his homily to the banquet of the Mass and how blessed we are to be called to the Supper of the Lamb.
Throughout the rest of the day Pilgrims attended various sessions and served as volunteers.
For dinner, they were special guests of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and Archbishop Nelson Perez for an event with pilgrims from the Archdiocese.
