Rt Rev Mark Davies, Bishop of Shrewsbury, has spoken of the moment when he joyfully realised that God was truly present in the Eucharist.
In the third recording released as part of a video series of bishop testimonies for the Year of Faith, Bishop Davies said:
“What my faith means to me is an appreciation of the greatest gift that has been given to me in this life… As life has gone on I’ve appreciated more and more the gift that has been given to me in faith, in the gift of faith, and most especially in the gift of faith in the Holy Eucharist.”
He added:
“A moment when I knew the presence of God in my own life is something rooted in childhood, when my own mother took me to the church and pointed, for the first time, to the tabernacle and the real presence of Jesus Christ there in the Holy Eucharist. But it was later in life, in my early teens, that I remember, in a time of prayer in the church where the Blessed Sacrament was exposed, coming to a very definite moment of realisation and joyful realisation of that real presence of Christ with us, and his desire to be with us in the Blessed Sacrament of the Eucharist.”
The recording was made at the Eucharistic Congress in Dublin in June 2012 and is also accompanied by a second download featuring pilgrims from the Diocese of Shrewsbury speaking about their faith.
The video series is being coordinated by the Bishops’ Conference Home Mission Desk and aims to support faith sharing during the Year of Faith, which the Pope opened on 11 October 2012, finishing on 24 November 2013. More information about the Year is available from yearoffaith.org.uk.
Simon Caldwell
Diocesan Communications Officer
Home Mission Desk
Catholic Communications Network
