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‘Remain in Me’

CHARLOTTE — Bishop Peter J. Jugis has announced the theme for the 20th annual Eucharistic Congress to be held Aug. 30-31: “Remain in Me” – which comes from the Gospel of John.

Part worship experience, part diocesan “family reunion,” the annual Eucharistic Congress at the Charlotte Convention Center is an opportunity to deepen our faith and be inspired by Christ’s love for us.

The theme comes from the Last Supper discourse in the Gospel of John 15:4.

In announcing the theme, Bishop Jugis noted the integral connection between the love of Christ and the Eucharist:

“Our Synod listening sessions revealed a desire on the part of our parishioners to renew and anchor our lives in the Holy Eucharist, where Christ Jesus remains truly present with us in the Blessed Sacrament,” Bishop Jugis said. “In St. John’s Gospel, Jesus tells us, “Remain in Me” (Jn 15:4). Why does Jesus want us to remain in Him, to anchor our lives in Him and stay united to Him?

“It is in order to produce the good fruit of the Kingdom. The Lord says: ‘I am the vine, you are the branches; whoever remains in Me and I in him will bear much fruit, because without Me you can do nothing.’ It is especially through our union with Christ in Holy Communion that we remain in Christ and anchor our lives in Him. He assures us: ‘Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood remains in Me and I in him.’

“And so, we joyfully respond to the Lord’s call, ‘Remain in Me,’ and with deep faith we receive Him in Holy Communion in order to constantly renew our lives and produce good fruit as His disciples.”

In addition, this passage from scripture reveals the depth of our Christian life and the vital importance and need to stay connected to our true vine, our Lord Jesus Christ.

In a treatise on John’s gospel, St. Augustine explains Jesus’s words: “(The disciples) are not in Him in the same kind of way that He is in them. And yet both ways tend to their advantage, and not to His. For the relation of the branches to the vine is such that they contribute nothing to the vine, but from it derive their own means of life. … For when the branch is cut off, another may spring up from the living root; but that which is cut off cannot live apart from the root” (Tractate 81, 1-2).

Get updates about the 2024 Eucharistic Congress online at www.goeucharist.com.

— Spencer K.M. Brown

Your DSA contributions at work

The diocese’s Eucharistic Congress is funded in part by contributions to the annual Diocesan Support Appeal.

Learn more about the DSA and how you can contribute at www.charlottediocese.org/dsa.