God chooses each one of us exactly as we are, said Father Patrick Hyde, OP.

Speaking to teens and adult leaders Feb. 17 at a Eucharistic Revival Youth Rally at Ascension Church in Chesterfield, Father Hyde said that God loves us so much that He gave us Himself in the Eucharist.

“Because He loves us so much, He keeps coming closer to us,” he said. “His desire is insatiable, and He never stops chasing after us. Then He goes even one step further — He gives us Himself in the Eucharist. He says to you … here I am, everything: Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity. And I offer you myself — not because you’re worthy, but because you’re loved. He desires to feed us.”

The St. Louis native — now a Dominican priest who serves as president and director of campus ministry at the St. Paul Catholic Center at Indiana University — shared that message with about 100 teens and adults at the youth event, which included praise and worship music, eucharistic adoration and opportunities for confessions and healing prayer.

The local event was meant to draw attention to the three-year National Eucharistic Revival to nurture the belief and devotion to the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist.

Father Hyde is among 50 priests who have been chosen as eucharistic preachers for the national revival, speaking at locations across the country. Sharing stories from his time growing up in St. Clement of Rome Parish and School in Des Peres and Chaminade College Preparatory School in St. Louis, Father Hyde noted that the trouble he caused as a school boy eventually showed that God has a “wonderful sense of humor,” as revealed through his calling to the priesthood.

After one particular incident in the sixth grade, when he got in trouble after changing the classroom’s seating chart, his mother drove him to the Carmelite Monastery to reflect on his trouble-making behavior.

“I was unknowable in that moment, but in that moment I knew that I was loved,” he recalled as he sat before the Eucharist in the chapel. “All of my brokenness and mistakes were laid bare — I knew God’s love.”

Each one of us is perfectly desired by God, he said. Sometimes the desire to be known and loved can be misplaced, and we choose behaviors that lead to sin, anxiety, frustration and confusion. Social media — with its opportunities for likes, comments and shares — gives us a false sense of fulfillment. It’s God who gives us a sense of true fulfillment, Father Hyde said.

In the Eucharist, we are reminded that our response is to go out and share the Gospel with the world, so that others might come to know and love Jesus. He invited the teens to open their hearts to God, because He is always with us.

“The Eucharist changes us,” he said. “When we turn our hearts to the Lord, He doesn’t turn us away.”

Drew Scognamiglio, a 17-year-old junior at Marquette High School in Chesterfield and part of the youth group at Ascension Parish, described an encounter he had with the Eucharist at a Steubenville youth conference.

“There was a time in my life when I was strong in sin, and I came to youth ministry here at Ascension, and we’ve had some beautiful times in adoration,” he said. “It completely changed my view on the Church and my faith. Adoration is God, but it also saves people. It’s saved me from sin and many others I know, too.”

Several teens from Resurrection Vietnamese Parish in St. Louis attended the youth event at Ascension. They are part of a Vietnamese Eucharistic Youth Movement, a national movement that teaches young people to be virtuous and good Christians.

“The Eucharist is a special moment between me and God,” said 15-year-old Myan Huynh. “It’s very personal. I can be bold with Him, and He can become part of me. It’s good for my soul. I describe the Eucharist to others as God, but you have to have faith. In faith, we believe that it’s Him.”

---

Eucharistic Revival continues in the Archdiocese of St. Louis