IEC 2024 is present in Spain
The International Eucharistic Congress is present in several sanctuaries and places of Catholic veneration in Spain. In the metropolitan cathedrals of Madrid, Burgos and Barcelona, as well as in the Basilica of the Sagrada Familia, they joined in prayer so that the 53rd International Eucharistic Congress contributes spiritually to the construction of the fraternity that the world requires, to heal the wounds that affect society.
The basilicas and cathedrals visited received a mini kit of materials on the Congress, consisting of a copy of the IEC 2024 Base Document, brochures with information on the International Eucharistic Congress; a small candle and a pen with the logo of the International Eucharistic Congress.
A meeting to pray for peace in the world
From the Spanish capital, Father Juan Francisco Macías, director of the archbishopric office and private secretary of the Cardinal Archbishop of Madrid, Don José Cobo Cano, sent greetings to Ecuador and the entire team working on the preparation process for IEC 2024 and he hoped that the Congress, which will be held in Quito, Ecuador, from September 8 to 15, “bears many fruits” to achieve peace in the world.
We send a “warm greeting, from the archbishopric of Madrid, to all those who are in this period of preparation for the Eucharistic Congress, in Quito, Ecuador, hoping that it will bear many fruits on a spiritual level and for peace in the world,” he said.
From the cathedral headquarters, Father Juan Francisco Macías joined the prayer for the IEC 2024 and offered that the archdiocese will continue to pray for this international meeting of faith that will reflect on the theme “Fraternity to heal the world”, illuminated by the verse 8, chapter 23 of the Gospel of Saint Matthew “You are all brothers.”
Authentic fraternity springs from the Eucharist
Likewise, the archpriest and prefect for the liturgy of the Cathedral of the Holy Cross and Saint Eulalia of Barcelona, Monsignor Josep Vives, expressed his joy for the upcoming holding of the 53rd International Eucharistic Congress, in Quito, Ecuador. In a short video, Monsignor Vives expressed that from that metropolitan cathedral they unite in “prayer, asking the Lord to bear many fruits.” He added that the theme chosen for the Congress, “Fraternity to heal the world” is a “very beautiful theme, since it is in the Eucharist where authentic brotherhood emerges, a brotherhood that unites and endures.”
As he offered, from the Cathedral of the Holy Cross “we are going to unite in that intention and, in all our prayers and celebrations of the Mass in the Cathedral, hoping that they will be intense days, lived very close to the Lord, and also, like the “Lord has told us, by this you will know that you are my disciples, in the love you have for one another.”
United in the only living body, which is Christ
For his part, Father José María Turull, rector of the Basilica of the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, sent a warm greeting to the International Eucharistic Congress, which will be held in the city of Quito, and expressed his wish that “this moment, in that the great family of the children of God feels well united around the One who unites us, united by participation in the same bread, of the same body of Christ, of the only living body of Christ, the Church.”
Brotherhood to restore wounds
Likewise, from the Cathedral of Burgos, the president and Dean, Monsignor Félix José Castro Lara, highlighted the theme chosen for the 53rd International Eucharistic Congress, “Fraternity to heal the world.” According to him, the theme is “very expressive, at a time when wars, conflicts between nations and also in the heart and the wounds in the heart have to speak to us about brotherhood, to restore the wounds. How good and beautiful that all these wounds, the wounds of brotherhood, are healed in the One who gave us an example of brotherhood, who is Jesus Christ.”
Monsignor Castro hoped that the Eucharistic Congress would bear fruit “and that, from the Lord and the Eucharist, we continue to make a united world, a fraternal world and a world that lives in peace.”
Thus, in several places of Catholic devotion in the world, people are praying for the International Eucharistic Congress, which seeks to live intensely the Eucharistic Mystery, with the joy of sharing the gifts, the love of Christ, the living Bread come down from heaven.
The venue for the 53rd International Eucharistic Congress, which will be held in Quito, was chosen by Pope Francis on the occasion of the celebration of the 150th anniversary of the Consecration of Ecuador to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.