“The life of Christ, who nourishes our offering through the Eucharist, takes us to himself and makes us available to others in the unity of a single body and a single spirit. Christ’s life transforms the community into a temple of the living God for worship in the new covenant,” stated the president of the 49th International Eucharistic Congress (2008 IEC), Marc Cardinal Ouellet. The Most Reverend Luis Antonio G. Tagle, Bishop of Imus (the Philippines), brought home this message in his catechesis, as did Canadian teacher Elizabeth Nguyen Thi Thu Hong in her witnessing on the reflections of her brother, the late François-Xavier Cardinal Nguyen Van Thuan, whose cause of beatification was opened in September 2007.
Next up was The Table of Reconciliation, a theatrical adaptation of the Parable of the Prodigal Son created by Father Robert Gendreau in support of the liturgy, preparing the crowd at Colisée Pepsi to experience an afternoon built around the sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation.
Bishop Tagle is a distinguished and influential theologian whose work is filled with hope. His ministry shows profound awareness of the importance of inculturation. In a talk for the Asian Mission Congress, he declared that “the Church in Asia must enter the worlds and languages of its listeners and tell them the story of Jesus using the reality of their lives, as at Pentecost.”
She is the youngest sister of the late François-Xavier Cardinal Nguyen Van Thuan, whose cause for beatification was opened in September 2007. She has been translating her brother’s writings on the Marian movement and the letters he wrote to his family during 13 years of imprisonment, into English and French. These letters bear moving witness to the faith that kept him alive.
In the evening, the people of Quebec City and area are invited to join the 2008 IEC participants in the most impressive Eucharistic procession the city has ever known. The 5.1 km procession will begin at 7 p.m. at Colisée Pepsi and proceed from there to the Agora in the Old Port. Enormous banners and giant puppets will go along with the crowd on its way, representing the saints and blessed of our land as a tip of the hat to the contribution of the Catholic Church to the city’s development. Carried by four young people, the Ark of the New Covenant will also be part of the procession.
Two stops are planned. The first will take place at Saint-François-d’Assise Church around 7:30. This is the place where a procession organized by Jacques Cartier to request the help of the Virgin in healing his crew of scurvy ended in 1535. The second stop will take place at around 9 p.m. at Saint-Roch Church, where a number of handicapped and sick people will be welcomed. This stop spotlights the support provided by the many social and community action groups that have sprung up in the Saint-Roch district.
At both stops, the legate will enter the Church accompanied by the Blessed Sacrament and bless the faithful. Pilgrims may light their tapers at Saint-Roch Church for the final part of the procession leading to the Agora.
Live coverage will be provided by Radio Galilée FM 90.9 and rebroadcast later. The procession will take place rain or shine and should end around 10:30 p.m.
The return trip to the Eucharistic City (ExpoCité) can be made by public transit.
Catechesis by Télesphore Placidus Cardinal Toppo, Archbishop of Ranchi (India), followed by the witnessing of José H. Prado Flores, founder and director of Saint Andres School of Evangelization, and the Eucharist celebrated by Joseph Cardinal Zen Ze-Kiun, S.D.B., Bishop of Hong Kong.