READ: THE POWER OF EUCHARISTIC PILGRIMAGE | BISHOP BOYEA’S CORPUS CHRISTI HOMILY: It is by physically following Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament that the rest of our being – including our spirit, intellect, and emotions – begins to follow the Good Lord more closely and more faithfully. That was the powerful case for Eucharistic pilgrimage made by Bishop Earl Boyea just moments before leading an estimated 2,000 pilgrims through the streets of Lansing in Eucharistic procession, Saturday, June 21.
“I believe that we really do have to get up and move and actually follow Jesus in our flesh. We need to get our bodies moving. If we are able to do this, soon our spirits and our intellects and our emotions, the entire rest of us will also follow Jesus,” said Bishop Boyea in his homily during Holy Mass at the Jackson Field, home of the Lansing Lugnut’s baseball team.
“It is in training our eyes to look upon the Blessed Sacrament that we come to see God’s presence more deeply in our entire lives. It is placing one foot in front of another as we walk with him that we are able to venture on a deeper pilgrimage.”
Saturday morning’s Be My Witnesses Mass & Eucharistic Procession was the culmination of a campaign of Eucharistic devotion across the Diocese of Lansing which began on Pentecost, June 8. The intervening two weeks have seen parishes throughout the diocese embrace 40 Hours Devotion of the Blessed Sacrament.
Concelebrating Holy Mass at Jackson Field were over 30 priests of the Diocese of Lansing, including the seven priests who were newly ordained last weekend. Assisting at the altar – and with the distribution of Holy Communion – were dozens of deacons. An Honor Guard for the Blessed Sacrament was provided by the Knights of Columbus. Meanwhile, the sacred music for the occasion was provided by an orchestra and choir under the direction of Michael Garnett, Director of Sacred Music at Saint Mary Cathedral.
“We have come to eat and drink. Wisdom tells us that if we turn toward the table she has set then we shall ‘advance in the way of understanding.’ What we have come to understand is that this normal, everyday food, is divine. The ordinary is quite extraordinary,” said Bishop Boyea.
“It is in tasting the goodness of the Lord that our hearts feel free to yearn for the heavenly delights. We all become like King David dancing with abandon before the Ark of the Covenant. This can make our ordinary become extraordinary yet again.”
“We, my sisters and brothers, are as much of the flesh as our Lord Jesus Christ. And so we engage in this very physical pilgrimage, this walk with the Lord. And we pray that he will lead us to where he has gone before us. Along that way, that journey, may others see what we see, hear what we hear, taste what we taste, and so themselves be drawn out of the ordinariness of their lives to the extraordinary love of Jesus Christ, our Lord and God.”
• Photographs by Kathryn and George Mietelka
• Bishop Boyea’s homily is produced in full below:
Corpus Christi Mass and Procession, Saturday, June 21, 2025, Proverbs 9:1-6; I Cor 10:16-17; Mark 14:12-16, 22-26Wisdom has called to us, as we heard in the Book of Proverbs, “turn in here…Come, eat of my food, and drink of the wine I have mixed.” And so, we have done. From all corners of our diocese, we have turned in here at this baseball stadium. We have come to eat and drink. Wisdom tells us that if we turn toward the table she has set then we shall “advance in the way of understanding.” What we have come to understand is that this normal, everyday food, is divine. The ordinary is quite extraordinary.
We know this is the case, because we believe exactly what Paul was so intent on emphasizing to the Corinthian Church that what we do here is actual participation in the Body and Blood of Christ, something that causes us to become one Body with Christ and with one another. And this has become for many of us our daily bread, where too often we can turn the extraordinary into the ordinary.
But to prevent this, there is something more here. If you recall some of the words of our Gospel today you may feel the need to get moving. Jesus told the disciples to “Go into the city,” in order to prepare for the Passover. He told them that they would meet a man carrying a jar of water and that they were to “Follow him.” And so, the disciples went off and did as Jesus asked. At the end of the meal, “they went out to the Mount of Olives.”
It is not enough for us to gather, to consume holy food, and to grow here together in understanding. No, we must go forth. Some may ask why we process with the Blessed Sacrament. I believe that we really do have to get up and move and actually follow Jesus in our flesh. We need to get our bodies moving. If we are able to do this, soon our spirits and our intellects and our emotions, the entire rest of us will also follow Jesus.
It is in training our eyes to look upon the Blessed Sacrament that we come to see God’s presence more deeply in our entire lives. It is placing one foot in front of another as we walk with him that we are able to venture on a deeper pilgrimage. It is hearing song that the melodies of the heavenly court become clearer to our eats. It is saying prayers and litanies and holy words that the silence of divine praises can be expressed by us. It is in tasting the goodness of the Lord that our hearts feel free to yearn for the heavenly delights. We all become like King David dancing with abandon before the Ark of the Covenant. This can make our ordinary become extraordinary yet again.
We, my sisters and brothers, are as much of the flesh as our Lord Jesus Christ. And so we engage in this very physical pilgrimage, this walk with the Lord. And we pray that he will lead us to where he has gone before us. Along that way, that journey, may others see what we see, hear what we hear, taste what we taste, and so themselves be drawn out of the ordinariness of their lives to the extraordinary love of Jesus Christ, our Lord and God.
God bless you all.
