On March 23, 2025, pilgrims carry the Jubilee of Hope cross while walking in a procession to the holy doors at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. ELIZABETH WONG BARNSTEAD | WKC
Eucharistic people of hope: From revival to jubilee
BY DCN. JAY W. VANHOOSIER, OFFICE OF FAITH FORMATION
As the United States Church concludes its National Eucharistic Revival and the global Church continues through the Jubilee Year of Hope in 2025, we find ourselves at a remarkable intersection of grace. The Spirit is clearly stirring something deep within the Body of Christ – calling us to rediscover who we are and how we are to live: as Eucharistic people of hope.
The Eucharistic Revival invited us to rekindle our love for the Real Presence of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. Through processions, adoration, catechesis, and personal encounter, Catholics across the country were drawn closer to Christ in the Eucharist. This wasn’t just a moment of spiritual renewal – it was a movement of identity. In the Eucharist, we encounter Jesus who gives Himself totally for us, not as a distant memory, but as a living, saving reality.
Now, as we turn toward the Jubilee Year of Hope, declared by Pope Francis, we are reminded that hope is not a vague optimism. It is the confident assurance that God is with us, especially in times of uncertainty. The Eucharist and hope are intimately linked. In every celebration of the Mass, we proclaim the death of the Lord “until he comes.” We look backward to the Cross and forward to the Kingdom. We live, in every Eucharist, the tension between what has already been fulfilled and what is still to come.
To be a Eucharistic people is to be a hopeful people. We are nourished not only to be comforted, but to be sent. The Eucharist is both an encounter and a mission. In receiving Christ, we are strengthened to become Christ for the world – witnesses to a hope that does not disappoint.
The theme of the Jubilee – “Pilgrims of Hope”—echoes this mission. Just as the Revival reminded us of the centrality of the Eucharist, the Jubilee calls us to carry that presence into the world. The Church, always on pilgrimage, walks with humanity through its trials and joys. In the face of war, division, despair, and doubt, the world is hungry for a witness to hope. And it is precisely the Eucharistic people – those who know the presence of Christ in the breaking of the bread – who are best equipped to offer it.
We are called to be signs of unity in a fractured world, agents of reconciliation in divided communities, and bearers of joy where sorrow lingers. The Eucharist forms us for this mission. It shapes our hearts in gratitude, teaches us to lay down our lives in love, and roots us in the unshakable promise that God is faithful.
As we move from revival into jubilee, from renewal into hope, let us not leave behind what we’ve received. Let us deepen it. Let every parish be a sanctuary of hope, every household a place of Eucharistic love, and every Catholic a living sign that Christ is alive and still giving Himself for the life of the world.
We are, and must continue to become, Eucharistic people of hope – at all times, in all places. The world needs this witness now more than ever.
Dcn. Jay W. VanHoosier is the Director of Faith Formation for the Diocese of Owensboro. For more information visit owensborodiocese.org/faith-formation, email [email protected] or call (270) 852-8324.
Originally printed in the May 2025 issue of The Western Kentucky Catholic.
