Angie Burnes, a parishioner of St. Patrick in Oak Grove, is a cradle Catholic and a mother of five. She also recently attended the National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis. At the Congress, Burnes said she encountered many awe-inspiring moments.
Burnes told “Practicing Catholic” host Patrick Conley on the program on Relevant Radio 1330 AM, “For such a big city, it was almost as if God had just put a bubble around it and said, ‘I’m going to bring everybody here and just make it really meaningful for everybody.’ I just really couldn’t get over the peace and quiet of a normally big city.”
During the procession of all the religious into Lucas Oil Stadium, Burnes was struck by how much these men and women dedicate to their lives of faith.
“What a sacrifice that is,” Burnes said. “It was just very overwhelming. I get overwhelmed thinking about it now. Just the power that they’ve been given by God or the gift, as most of them say, to be able to just really give us a deeper meaning in our faith and be able to give us the Eucharist, like priests on a weekly, daily basis. … I know it was important before, but for some reason seeing all of them there was like, ‘Wow, there’s this many people (who) are really dedicated to bringing us our faith in the Eucharist.’”
In another instance, Burnes said a picture of the Virgin Mary receiving the Eucharist was shown on the screens during a lecture. The picture had a stained-glass style.
“Everything in me just went haywire,” Burnes said. “What an amazing concept that our Blessed Mother would have carried Jesus and then to receive him. … That was really the biggest moment. … Other religions are wonderful and do wonderful things. But how very unique this Eucharist is to the Catholic faith.”
The importance of events like the Congress, Burnes said, is getting out of your comfort zone and listening to the promptings of the Holy Spirit. She encourages others to take a chance if something is nudging them to step out. Burnes said she felt like people at the Congress in Indianapolis were on fire.
“When they see how alive someone is with their faith and just Jesus within them, they want to be like that,” Burnes said. “That’s what we all want to be. (We) want to be like that person who’s just radiating joy and Jesus.”
To hear more from Burnes about her experience at the National Eucharistic Congress, tune into “Practicing Catholic,” which repeats at 1 p.m. Dec. 14 and 2 p.m. Dec. 15.
The program also includes a discussion with Zach Jansen, the digital content producer for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis on how the movie “Elf” offers lessons about faith, love and the true meaning of Christmas. Also, the program includes a rerun of a “Practicing Catholic” episode featuring Kendra Tierney on living liturgically during the Advent season.
Produced by Relevant Radio and the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, the program can also be heard after it has aired at archspm.org/faith-and-discipleship/practicing-catholic or choose a streaming platform at Spotify for Podcasters.
