National congress' second night of Eucharistic revival: 'Only love can make a saint'

INDIANAPOLIS (OSV News) -- On the second night of the National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis July 18, close to 50,000 Catholics prayed together, listened to touching personal testimonies and were invited to reflect on how to turn away from those obstacles dampening the fire of their love for Jesus Christ.

But while Father Mike Schmitz and Mother Mary Olga of the Sacred Heart moved participants with their inspiring keynote exhortations -- the last word was given to the Eucharistic Lord. In the darkness of the stadium, with only beams of white light illuminating the Blessed Sacrament, people prayed and contemplated before Jesus, while the air resonated with Latin chants set to Eastern-styled melodies.

The keynotes given by Father Schmitz and Mother Mary Olga helped prepare congress-goers for this transcendent night of revival centered around Eucharistic adoration.

"Knowledge can make us great, but only love can make a saint," Father Schmitz said. Father Schmitz, director of youth and young adult ministry for the Diocese of Duluth, Minnesota, who also hosts chart-topping podcasts "The Bible in a Year" and "The Catechism in a Year," was a much-anticipated speaker, with several attendees telling OSV News earlier in the week that they were especially eager to see him in person. As Patrick Kelly, Supreme Knight of the Knights of Columbus, introduced him the audience stood and cheered.

"You know this love story already, but what if you didn't?" asked Father Schmitz, as he began what can only be called a Scripture studies class. Opening a worn Bible, he read from Luke 24 about the two travelers on the road to Emmaus who did not recognize Jesus and were mourning his loss in Jerusalem. He recounted how Jesus explained the ways Scripture pointed to him as the Messiah, beginning with God making the world good, and human beings breaking their bond with God through sin, and their need to somehow restore that relationship.

Jesus' sacrifice on the cross reconciled humankind and God, Father Schmitz said, and at Mass, Catholics participate in that moment on Calvary.

While one aim of the National Eucharistic Revival is to bring people from ignorance to knowledge, Father Schmitz suggested that the deeper problem is indifference -- and the remedy required repentance.

"Too often we say, 'We have the real presence,' but our hearts are far from him. Too often, we just don't care," Father Schmitz said, speaking rapidly and with characteristic energy.

The remedy to indifference is love, he said, and the road to love is repentance.

For her part, Mother Olga of the Sacred Heart, the founder and servant mother of the Daughters of Mary of Nazareth in the Archdiocese of Boston, moved people to tears with her touching keynote as she shared stories of Eucharistic miracles of love and healing amid suffering.

She began by sharing her own experience of being healed by Jesus in her own suffering as a survivor of four wars in the Middle East. She experienced abuse in her home and recalled as a teenager having to bury people slain by war.

"All these years of suffering led me to the foot of the cross, because I thought the one who had suffered so much will understand my suffering," she said. "As I was kneeling at the foot of the cross, crying my heart to Jesus to help me bear the crosses of my own life, I encountered the pierced heart of Jesus -- and that's what I heard in my heart on that day: That even on the cross and through the cross, we can still choose to love."

Mother Olga shared the story of a little boy named Quinn who was fighting cancer when she met him in her ministry at age 4. She felt Jesus say to her "give me to him" with such intensity that she received special permission for Quinn to receive his first holy Communion despite his young age. The doctors were surprised when he suffered few side effects during his radiation treatment, but Mother Olga knew that the Lord was with Quinn amid the treatment.

"His whole life became around the Eucharist," she said, adding today he is free from cancer.

She concluded by reminding those gathered that Jesus is always with them "whether in big processions like we have encountered here" or "in hospitals, NICUs, nursing homes, prisons, recovery centers."

The two keynote speakers were preceded by two testimonials, the first from pro-life activist Lila Rose, founder and president of Live Action, who shared how her life was transformed after an encounter with Jesus in the Eucharist. After becoming Catholic and asking the Lord for him to "use (her) to do something to save lives," Rose started the pro-life organization Live Action at age 15, which reaches millions of people each month, according to its website.

After marrying her husband six years ago and having three children -- one of whom was sleeping backstage -- the mission of life has become her family mission, Rose said.

"We pray together, not just for an end to abortion, but we pray for our children, that they may grow big and strong and healthy, that they may become saints, and that they may help lead many souls to heaven," she said.

Also present were Ken and Mary Ann Duppong, who raised six children with faith as the core of their lives.

They shared their love story with the audience, explaining how they felt called to move back to their home state of North Dakota for the sake of their family and began deepening their faith. Mary Ann Duppong talked about how they started praying the family rosary when Ken Duppong's mother got sick, developed a devotion to Our Lady of Fatima and consecrated their family to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

The love for Jesus they instilled in their children had a great impact on their daughter, Michelle Christine Duppong, who loved the Eucharist immensely and became a FOCUS missionary. Before passing away in 2014 amid a battle with cancer, she "consecrated her suffering to those who needed to encounter the love in the Eucharist," shared emcee Montse Alvarado of EWTN. In June 2022, Bishop David Kagan of Bismark, North Dakota, announced his intention to formally open the diocesan phase of investigation into Michelle Duppong's life, a preliminary step toward her potential canonization.

When asked for advice for families who want to raise their children in the faith, Ken and Mary Ann Duppong encouraged them to pray a lot and remember that children watch everything their parents do.

"I tell people that your example for your children is a real big influence," Ken Duppong said. "If you use bad language, they will use bad language. If you go to Mass, they see you do that. They will do that in the future. ... And that is probably the best thing you can do is give them a good example of what to do."

The words certainly resonated with the many parents in the stadium that night, who were recognized that night for the sacrifice and dedication it took to bring their families to the congress in Indianapolis.

Daniel Cabrera of Camby, Indiana, told OSV News the revival evening's speakers were good -- but the experience of Eucharistic adoration was "totally awesome." So much so, he said, that he wept.

"I'm not even considering myself worthy of being here," he said. "It's totally a privilege to be here."

Cabrera and his wife, Maria Hernandez, are attending the July 17-21 congress with their six children, ages 3 to 17.

Cabrera said he experienced "that silence that only allows you to be with God on a personal level, like no other silence in the world."

He said, "That silence says a lot, because it's a direct communication to your soul."

Lauretta Brown, Maria-Pia Negro Chin and Maria Wiering contributed to this report.