Registration has opened for the events that will be held along the route of the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage this summer, when nine young adults, called perpetual pilgrims, will embark on a cross-country journey with Christ in the Eucharist. People can also now submit prayer requests for the pilgrims to carry with them, offering an opportunity to entrust one’s intentions to Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament.
Raymond Martinez, a perpetual pilgrim from Texas who is a seminarian, told Zeale News in a March 12 email comment about the prayer requests, “In the gospel, Jesus says, ‘Ask, and you shall receive.’ By entrusting our intentions to the Lord in the Eucharist, we are asking, and He, in His infinite love, will give us what we truly need.”
>> Meet the 9 young adults embarking on a Eucharistic pilgrimage along the East Coast <<
Martinez said he plans to carry prayer intentions from his family, friends, diocese, and the nation throughout the pilgrimage, which begins May 24. The participating dioceses are now listed on the NEP’s website, and people can register for local events by clicking on the “More info” button under each listed diocese.
This year’s NEP route has a patriotic aspect to it in recognition of the nation’s 250th birthday, as it traces through most of the original 13 colonies and is themed “One Nation Under God.” The pilgrims will start in the Diocese of Augustine, Florida, and travel up the East Coast, concluding in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia July 5.
The day before the inaugural Mass, there will be a pre-pilgrimage event showing a reenactment of the landing of Don Pedro Menéndez de Avilés and Father Francisco López de Mendoza Grajales — who helped bring the Catholic faith to the nation — on the shores of Florida in 1565. The event will be held at the National Shrine of Our Lady of La Leche, which will also host several pilgrimage events, including the inaugural Mass, the following day.
Throughout the journey, the pilgrims will be leading Eucharistic processions in towns and cities, participating in parish events, and engaging with local communities. The NEP will also offer opportunities for the Sacrament of Reconciliation and Eucharistic adoration at parishes along the way. Several of the perpetual pilgrims spoke to Zeale News about what excites them most about the Pilgrimage.
Zach Dotson, a perpetual pilgrim from Indiana, said that as he prepares to embark on the long journey, he is thinking about the chance to bring Christ’s mercy with those in need.
“I am most looking forward to the opportunities we will have to bring Our Lord to our brothers and sisters on the peripheries,” he said, both during the times “when we will physically bring the Blessed Sacrament and the times when we will be beacons of His Divine Mercy and Love.”
Similarly, Martinez told Zeale News that he looks forward “to being an instrument of the Lord, sharing the love of Christ with others, and helping them to grow in their love for the Eucharist through a transformative encounter with Him.”
The nine perpetual pilgrims, who come from various states and faith journeys, will be traveling by van accompanying the Eucharistic Lord. Mary Carmen Zakrajsek, a perpetual pilgrim who is a director of youth faith formation in South Bend, Indiana, told Zeale News that spending so much time on a journey in the presence of Christ resembles what the apostles experienced.
She said what she is looking forward to most is “walking in the shoes of the apostles and embracing our apostolic roots.”
“They travelled with Him, ate with Him, slept with Him in the boat, and spent their days in His presence,” she said. “It is a tangible reminder that the Gospel story is our story — Jesus desires to share our everyday moments of life just like He did with the apostles, and convert them into something extraordinary, simply because we do them through Him, with Him, and in Him.”
Angelina Marconi, a perpetual pilgrim who is a college athletic trainer based in Kentucky, reflected on how the pilgrimage will be an opportunity to cultivate unity across the nation.
She told Zeale News she is looking forward to “being able to see how Christ in the Eucharist is going to bring people from around the country together in prayer.”
“I’m excited to have the blessing of seeing Christ transform hearts and witnessing how His love speaks to everyone who encounters Him,” she added.
Marconi also told Zeale News that the perpetual pilgrims have already begun to pray for the intentions they have received so far, and they will be printing the intentions and carrying with them along the route. They will also collect prayer intentions from people at the dioceses. At the closing Mass at Cathedral Basilica of Sts. Peter and Paul in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, all of the collected intentions will be physically carried up to the altar during the offertory.
“The intentions will be carried and prayed for with care,” Marconi said. “I am honored that people will trust us with gathering their intentions and bringing them to Christ in the Eucharist.”
Dotson described the prayer intentions as “a beautiful way that everyone is invited to participate in this year’s pilgrimage.”
Zakrajsek told Zeale News that she has been carrying the prayer intentions with her to a daily Eucharistic holy hour she attends in preparation for the pilgrimage.
“It has been powerful to enter more deeply into intercessory prayer,” she said. “As a team, we will be remembering all prayer intentions given to us along the entire route, through our prayer, sacrifice, joy, and suffering. In addition to those submitted online, these petitions will be collected during the processions, prayed over by our team in the van and remembered before the presence of our Eucharistic Lord at Mass.”
Zakrajsek also reflected on what the act of surrendering one’s intentions to Christ signals.
“By entrusting our intentions to Christ in the Eucharist, we give Him the very thing He desires: our faith, our hope, and our love,” she said. “If we believe the Eucharist is truly Jesus, then we hand these intentions over to Jesus directly, trusting He will bless them.”
More information on making a prayer request is available here.