Happy New Year!
The flipping of the calendar year usually comes with New Year Resolutions and “New Year, New Me”. Most years I just pick a basic New Year resolution and move on with my year without thinking much about the previous year.
This year I challenged myself to block off intentional time to take a look back at 2023. What were some of the hard things about 2023? What were some of the amazing things that happened in 2023? What are areas of my life that I see the Lord’s hand growing in me, that will continue into the next year?
For me, 2023 was simply an incredible year. So many amazing things happened last year. To kick off the year, I had a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to attend the State of the Union in Washington DC, I started a new job in the spring, had huge success with an annual summer project, and this past fall I moved!
One of the biggest impacts that 2023 had on me, was volunteering with my Diocesan Eucharist Revival. The small team I worked with held two different series of events: BREAD Talks and the First Friday Cor Jesu devotion. And let me tell you, people showed up big time.
The five BREAD Talks gave Catholics across the Diocese a platform to share their personal Eucharistic story. Some folks shared about their love for the Eucharist, while others shared about their personal Eucharistic miracles.
The First Friday Cor Jesus Devotion started on the first Friday in January and continued over the next nine months at various parishes across the diocese. Cor Jesu consists of Mass, Eucharistic Adoration, worship, and Reconciliation. It was intentionally chosen on the first Friday of the month because of the promises given to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque in the 17th Century to receive Communion nine consecutive first Fridays with the intention of making reparation for sins and showing love to Jesus.
The beautiful thing about our Frist Friday Cor Jesu was that each of these nine host Parishes across the diocese were so excited to host, and really made it their own. Whether it was the Holdingford cluster combining all three choirs from each parish to lead the worship, Browerville’s worship team was bilingual, and my sister Abby was thrown in the mix a handful of times. We were also blessed to celebrate at the Oratory of St. Catherines in Farming!
The one consistent thing about each of these Cor Jesu's was that the love for the Eucharist is truly alive in each of these Parishes. I left each of these 9 Cor Jesu's in awe of how many people showed up for Jesus in the Eucharist, with pure love and reverence for the Lord. I truly believe that the heart of this Revival starts here. It starts within our individual homes and parishes.
To me, it’s obvious that The Holy Sprint had a hand in 2023, and I am excited to see what he has in store for each of us in 2024.
Hannah Molitor
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