Eucharist

Passersby halted and cars slowed to a crawl as they took in the scene the morning of May 18: Hundreds of Catholics processed through the streets of Washington, following a priest carrying a consecrated host — Christ’s body, blood, soul and divinity present under the appearance of bread — beneath a canopy.

In full vestments and flanked by pines, Bishop Andrew H. Cozzens held high the Eucharist in a golden monstrance, making the sign of the cross over the stream that flowed gently from the placid lake behind him. Next to him, a signpost read, “Here 1,475 FT above the ocean, the mighty Mississippi begins to flow on its winding way 2,552 miles to the Gulf of Mexico.”

San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone told pilgrims at a Pentecost Mass launching the western route of the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage — the St. Junipero Serra Route — that the faith publicly lived in love has the “power to change history.”

Learning to reverse a truck attached to a camper trailer wasn’t on Mother Mary Maximilian Cote’s to-do list — until recently, when it became a pressing need. On May 18, she and three other members of the Daughters of Mary, Mother of Healing Love are joining the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage, and she’s a back-up driver for their support vehicle.