It was a scene that could almost have been from one of the Gospels: Jesus walking through crowds of people, accompanied by his Apostle, and one person experiences His touch in such a special way that he follows Him for life.
Charlie McCullough is one of the “perpetual pilgrims” accompanying Christ in the Blessed Sacrament on four separate routes to the National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis this summer. On Wednesday, he spoke from a van that he and his fellow pilgrims on the southern arm of the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage have been using part of the time.
The previous evening, the six pilgrims on the Juan Diego Route were participating in a Eucharistic procession through Victoria, Texas. A man in his early 20s on the side of the street approached McCullough. The young man had grown up Protestant, and McCullough explained the Eucharistic procession, something the young man had never seen before.
“He was at a time in his life when he was asking a lot of big questions like ‘What is the purpose of life? What is the reason I exist?'” McCullough said. Five blocks after their brief conversation ended, McCullough was surprised to find that the man had caught up to him.
“He told me that that morning was the first time he had tried to pray in years,” said McCullough, a student at Texas A&M. “He’d opened his Bible and he didn’t know if the Lord had heard him, and when Jesus walked by he knew that something was different and he knew that he wanted to follow the Lord. There were so many questions about how, and there was just this zeal welling up in his heart, and I got to pray with him and encourage him.
“And at the end of our conversation he just goes, ‘I know this sounds crazy, but I want to go with you all to Indianapolis,’” McCullough related. “I don’t think he’s going to go all the way to Indianapolis, but I pray that he follows the Lord the rest of his life.”
Energizing
It’s the kind of experience that is energizing the pilgrims.
McCullough and pilgrims from the other three routes spoke with journalists on Wednesday during a weekly webinar in which they describe their latest experiences on the road. They said they have been walking between 10 to 17 miles a day. Some described warm and welcoming – and large – crowds of people turning out at various scheduled events, such as Eucharistic processions, Masses and holy hours.
“I didn’t expect to see so much interest in these little towns, but every single church we’ve stopped in has been jam-packed: people filling the pews and the vestibules and even standing on the steps outside, peeking around the door to see what’s happening inside,” said Chas Firestone East, a pilgrim on the western Serra Route.
The pilgrims’ vans – outfitted with altars in which the monstrance with the Blessed Sacrament can be mounted – carry them across long, open stretches of territory so they can keep up with their schedule of events in various cities along the way and make it to Indianapolis on time. The rides also provide them with time for quiet Eucharistic adoration.
“I keep thinking of all the other routes, and that Jesus is tracing the sign of the cross across this country,” said Shayla Elm, another pilgrim on the Juan Diego Route. “He really is thirsty for this whole country. He really wants so many souls to encounter him. And he’s the one who is walking. He’s leading us right now.”
Kai Weiss, a pilgrim on the northern Marian Route, also was reflective. “We are ourselves growing,” he said. “Living a Eucharistic life also means ourselves becoming kind of a broken bread and abandoning ourselves to that.”
This weekend, the pilgrims are looking forward to celebrating the Feast of Corpus Christi -- the Body and Blood of Christ. Crowds turning out to walk with them might be even larger than they have been already.
