Pilgrims after national pilgrimage’s LA finale: ‘I’m not coming back the same’
Kneeling before the monstrance , the Campbell family clasped their hands in prayer, shut their eyes tight, and focused on Jesus. All around them, some 3,000 Catholics did the same, as Jesus Christ — the protagonist of the 2025 National Eucharistic Pilgrimage, and a three-year National Eucharistic Revival — once again became the focal point.
The Campbells were among many who turned out for the Mass celebrating the Solemnity of Corpus Christi on June 22 at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in downtown Los Angeles. The Mass, along with a Eucharistic procession and exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, formally closed the National Eucharistic Revival.
The celebration also concluded the 2025 National Eucharistic Pilgrimage that began in Indianapolis, site of last summer’s National Eucharistic Congress, and arrived more than 3,000 miles later, at the cathedral. Whether priest, pilgrim, or parishioner, all seemed to rejoice in their shared Catholic beliefs, particularly the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist, the whole aim of the movement.