We first prayed this novena as a group 7/14 - 7/22/2022, and it continues to be a powerful and fruitful experience.

This novena intends to seek St. Mary Magdalene’s intercession for a return to reverence for our God and Savior, Jesus Christ, in the Eucharist within every Catholic Church on earth. We call upon for her intercession under the title of Prophetess of Eucharistic love. In the Church today, there is a great desire for a Eucharistic Revival. I am hopeful that people will do more than just talk about Jesus as truly present. It’s a bit unhelpful to continue to tell us that the Eucharist is not a symbol and that we should be excited about going to mass to be with Jesus. Words. Conventions with talks. More words. I do truly hope there are some people out there calling for — and acting upon — sacrifices, as Jesus says somethings take prayer and fasting, not just prayer (cf Mark 9:29).

But what about action? I do know that a local church has plans to move the tabernacle back to the center of the sanctuary (Praise God!) and even installing communion rails(!!!). I even heard my bishop speak to a group of women and when asked about lack of belief in the True Presence (ala the infamous Pew Research study), he said that he thinks those things (altar rails, center tabernacle) will help a return to Eucharistic Amazement! I hope other churches have actionable steps to help people really SEE that and act like the God of the universe is present in our Catholic Churches. It’s not just a building we go to out of a bit of guilt on Sunday morning so that we can feel better about ourselves as “good, church going people”, but then returning to our regularly scheduled materialistic lives. The Catholic Church is actually God’s very dwelling place among His people! And mass is not about what we feel or what we want. It’s about what God wants. And the only way we can know what He wants is to trust in Him and His word when He handed down His Tradition (As now seen in the Bible and Magisterium). I think there’s a contention between viewing Jesus as approachable, but yet needing to have the utmost reverence for our LORD. It is my prayerful hope that this novena reveal to each of us what the LORD is asking of us in our personal and public worship of Him in the Eucharist.

Reverence for Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament is something that I take pretty seriously. I think it’s something we humans need to get as close to ‘right’ as possible. We are, after all, talking about the LORD of the universe. The one who breathed us all into life and the one to whom we owe everything. He dwells among us to sustain us as we attempt to fulfill our covenant of love. Our free choice to do His Will. How does He choose to come to us? Through our very human need to nourish our bodies with food. He humbles Himself minute by minute to maintain a True Presence in the tiniest piece of consecrated Bread. Plain bread? no. Consecrated Eucharist? Yes. And how does that Bread become holy? Through the humble hands and voice of an ordained Catholic priest. God doesn’t need the priest, but yet he chooses to utilize the priest. This is why prayers for our priests are included in this novena. St. Mary Magdalene is known as the “Apostle to the Apostles” because Our LORD chose to use her to share the best news ever with His disciples; “HE has risen as He said!” She gave that first witness of the Gospel. Our priests need us to pray for them, to care for them, and to remind them of the great gift they have through the care and respect we show them. Can you imagine what it’s like to be tempted daily by the devil to disbelieve in the True Presence as you confect the Eucharist? I’m not certain I could bear it. The regularity of praying the Holy Mass could very easily become “routine” and we wonder why so many priests grow lukewarm. They get countless complaints about their “style” of homily or how “long” they take to say Holy Mass. They are stretched thin and often live a very isolated life. They’re imperfect people, but thanks be to God they have the gift of their ordination and the graces poured out by the Holy Spirit. Thank the LORD they have the Blessed Virgin Mary as their dear Mother. But I do think they need our prayers to forge ahead in the modern world. I think God wants us all to be unified, and that includes the priests and their parishioners. The priests and their bishop. The priests and their brother priests. The Catholic here and the Catholic there. (Truthfully, He wants every human to be unified through Him and with Him….) St. Mary Magdalene, who walked with the first Catholic priests and bishops, caring for them with her own particularly grace-filled feminine genius, pray for them! Pray for us! St. Mary Magdalene, who first adored the Risen Christ, pray for us! St. Mary Magdalene, whose many sins were forgiven and forevermore remained near our Lord in awe and reverence, Pray for us!

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we want to believe ever more deeply in your True Presence among us in the Eucharist. We want to show you reverence. We want to have Holy Priests. We want to be saints! Amen.