CV NEWS FEED // Four Catholic young adults from Utah this month won a diocesan essay contest about the Eucharistic Revival and their personal stories of turning to Jesus in the Eucharist, earning scholarships to attend the National Eucharistic Congress in July.
The Diocese of Salt Lake City sponsored the statewide essay contest, and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Catholic Extension Society funded the scholarships.
According to the diocese’s news site Intermountain Catholic, the essay prompt asked the contestants to reflect on their experiences from Eucharist-centered events, and what the the Eucharistic Revival has meant to them.
The four winners selected for scholarships to go to the Indianapolis-based National Eucharistic Congress are: Strom Schiereck, 34; Sarah Brinkerhoff, 37; Annie Voegele, 27; and Katy Roloff, 34.
Schiereck, originally from Hawaii, was discharged from the army and moved to Utah. He converted to Catholicism in 2023, and shared with Intermountain Catholic that winning the essay contest is among the many blessings he has received since becoming Catholic.
Schiereck added that he believes this opportunity also puts a new responsibility on him: to share what he learns and experiences at the Congress with the whole Catholic community.
In his essay, Schiereck wrote, “We as men are inexorably drawn to God and our soul perpetually longs to be united with Christ. This unity with the eternal occurs when we consume the body and blood of Jesus Christ during the Mass.”
“There is no earthly substitute for this persistent craving that our soul experiences, which is to be united eternally with Jesus Christ through receiving the Holy Eucharist,” he continued:
The joy, healing, and power of Jesus Christ are compounded when a person realizes what the Eucharist is. Imagine the increase in grace and reverence for the Lord Catholics will experience when they rediscover the meaning of the Eucharist. God is love and God’s love will continuously diffuse across all space and time because it is good.
Sarah Brinkerhoff, another one of the essay contest winners, wrote about her personal encounter with receiving Jesus in the Eucharist.
Brinkerhoff was raised Catholic, but fell away as an adult. When she became a mother, she decided she wanted to raise her son in the Faith. She began to return to Mass, and cultivated a desire for her own relationship with God as well, experiencing what she described as “a deep yearning of God.”
When she was first returning to the Faith, she suffered from plantar fasciitis, which kept her homebound for some time. She wrote that during this time, she felt hopeless, lonely, and empty. However, she began to listen to Bishop Robert Barron’s podcast, which brought her encouragement, hope and peace.
Now that she is able to return to Mass, receiving the Eucharist has given her a sense of lasting joy that she never knew before, she wrote. Believing in the true presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, wrote Brinkerhoff, “has opened my eyes to a whole different level of worship and adoration.”
“The Eucharist invites us to a closer relationship with Christ, which to me, seems to be the ultimate goal,” she wrote. “God needs to know us, and we need to know him. And with Jesus as our mediator, he draws us near to him where we can begin to know and understand him. It’s where we are able to build that relationship with God.”
Another one of the essay contest winners, Annie Voegele, shared how attending Eucharistic Adoration has been a place of rest and prayer after long work days as a nurse.
“This past year, through the diocese’s initiatives, I have been led into deeper contemplation of the ‘Eucharistic heart of Jesus’ and all the imagery and depth this image holds,” Voegele wrote.
She praised the diocese of Salt Lake City’s Eucharistic revival and the Eucharistic Rally the diocese held last summer.
“I think we at times forget the power of praying together in front of the Blessed Sacrament, and it was beautiful to experience a full chapel while praying alongside Utah Catholics,” wrote Voegele.
She added that the revival “has cultivated revelation and reflection for me through four new titles for Jesus’ Eucharistic Heart: Giver of Rest, Divine Recipient of All People, Giver of Eternal Life and Divine Connector.”
The fourth winner of the essay contest, Katy Roloff, shared that two years ago, she underwent life saving surgery removing a brain tumor.
“I know there was a huge miracle that transpired there and I think it was that I could also come back to the Church and be able to love and serve the Lord,” Roloff wrote:
When I was in the hospital, I had an experience that left me wanting to know more about God and to really, really seek Jesus and have that relationship. I came to understand being baptized and confirmed that that [the Catholic Church] was my home.
Like Voegele, Roloff praised the National Eucharistic Revival for helping her grow in her love and belief in the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist.
In January, Roloff and her husband celebrated entering into a sacramental marriage. She wrote that being able to now receive all of the sacraments, and the grace that comes from them, is a huge blessing.
“As I’ve been healing there’s been a transformation not only physically but emotionally,” Roloff wrote. “I see a huge difference even in the last three months of the ways I’ve been able to heal through the grace that is given when we receive the Eucharist.”
She wrote that sacraments and sacramentals also offer opportunities for grace to overcome sin.
“If every Catholic took advantage of what we have been given by God and Jesus by the Holy Spirit, each of us would have it within us to conquer the evil we face,” she wrote.
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Author: McKenna Snow
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