SEATTLE – Archbishop Paul D. Etienne brought the archdiocese’s Year of the Eucharist to a close with a Corpus Christi vigil Mass at St. James Cathedral June 5. Mass was followed by a procession with the Blessed Sacrament around the cathedral’s block and benediction in the cathedral courtyard. 

“Jesus is truly present in the Eucharist, as the Redeemer, as the Risen Lord, as the Font of Life for all who believe,” Archbishop Etienne said in his homily. 

“As members of the Body of Christ, we come to the Church, where the bread that is served as the body of Christ nourishes us to continually live in the world as witnesses to Christ,” he said. “We come to the Church where the wine poured out as the blood of Christ is always fresh and new … meant to preserve us in his life and for his mission.” 

The Mass included participation by members of many of the archdiocese’s ethnic communities, including African, Black, Burmese, Chinese, Filipino, Hispanic, Korean, Native American, Samoan and Vietnamese. The first reading was proclaimed in Spanish and prayers of the faithful were offered by representatives of some ethnic communities. 

Representatives of the archdiocese’s multicultural communities joined the eucharistic procession after the Corpus Christi vigil Mass celebrated by Archbishop Paul D. Etienne at St. James Cathedral June 5. Photo: Stephen Brashear

The Year of the Eucharist began on the feast of Corpus Christi on June 14, 2020. In his homily at the cathedral that day, Archbishop Etienne expressed his vision for the year — that it would “strengthen our belief in the presence of Jesus in the Eucharist and that through our prayer and study, we will grow in our understanding of all that implies for life, for love, for unity, for charity, in the church and in the world.” 

The archbishop wrote a pastoral letter on the Eucharist, The Work of Redemption, to guide Catholics during the special year and beyond.  

While writing the pastoral letter, “there was no way to know a global pandemic was about to seriously alter life as we know it,” Archbishop Etienne said in this year’s homily. “But, trusting in God’s Providence, we moved ahead in faith hoping for fruits unknown and unseen.” 

“One thing we can all agree on,” he said, “is the need for the Church in all her members to be life-giving, and this always happens when we humbly allow ourselves to be more fully conformed to the person of Jesus Christ.” 

After a year of special focus on the Eucharist, the archbishop is asking Catholics in Western Washington to renew their relationship with Jesus and more faithfully and fruitfully live out his mission through the next step of the archdiocesan pastoral planning process. 

“The goal for each of these moments is to help us become a vibrant community of faith, alive in the person of Jesus Christ, to become a people of faith who are better equipped to carry Christ to others and to bring others to Christ,” the archbishop said June 5. 

At the conclusion of the June 5 Corpus Christi procession, Benediction was held in the courtyard at St. James Cathedral. Photo: Courtesy St. James Cathedral Instagram 

After announcing the pastoral planning process in early 2020, Archbishop Etienne convened a new archdiocesan pastoral council last summer. The council drafted a vision, released on Pentecost, to guide individuals, parishes and ministries as they prayerfully discern how to live out Christ’s mission. 

“As followers of Jesus, journeying in faith through this world, we can and will grow weary,” Archbishop Etienne said in his June 5 homily. “But in the Eucharist Jesus renews and refreshes us and continually conforms us to himself.” 

He urged against allowing the challenges of life to harden one’s heart toward others or becoming set in a “narrow vision, incapable of seeing all that God is still trying to accomplish in and through us.” 

He invited everyone to “humbly and prayerfully reflect upon our identity as sinners” but also to give thanks, “especially through each celebration of the Eucharist, that we are redeemed sinners by the mercy, sacrifice and love of Jesus Christ.” 

“May the grace of this Year of the Eucharist and this time of pastoral planning provide us the grace to live in the world as witnesses to Christ, who proclaim Christ to others worthily and well,” the archbishop said.