Vatican City, Jun 23, 2011 / 11:18 am
“From adoration to evangelization” is the theme of a three-day conference in Rome that is drawing to a close today, the Feast of Corpus Christi.
“The Eucharist is the first missionary act of the Church. So if we want to be missionary towards a world in need of new saints and salvation, we have to be men and women of Eucharistic adoration,” Bishop Dominique Rey of the Diocese of Fréjus-Toulon in southern France told CNA.
The Adoratio Conference 2011 was organized by Bishop Rey in conjunction with the Missionaries of the Most Holy Eucharist. The Missionaries are a new clerical community, established in France, with the specific task of promoting continuous Eucharistic adoration in parishes and communities.
“In the adoration we receive the fire of love which enables us to share our conviction and have faith about the presence of God,” said Bishop Rey.
Catholics believe that the priest’s words of consecration at Mass change bread and wine into the body, blood, soul and divinity of Jesus Christ, leaving only the accidents of bread and wine.