Catholics from across Northern Colorado gathered to honor Jesus in the Eucharist with prayer, song and public witness through the streets of Denver.

Sirens, honking and… hymns? It might not be a typical trifecta for a Saturday evening in Downtown Denver, but on the vigil of Corpus Christi, the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Jesus, the heart of the city saw a change of pace.

A Eucharistic procession, led by Denver Archbishop James Golka and Auxiliary Bishop Jorge Rodríguez, brought hundreds to the city’s economic, legal and legislative center, many coming from multiple hours away. Organized by the Archdiocese of Denver, the prayerful procession made its way from Holy Ghost Parish in Denver to Lincoln Veterans Memorial Park, at the base of the Colorado State Capitol. As the hundreds of faithful in attendance wound through the streets of Denver, they joined in prayer, song and devoted witness to their love for Jesus, truly present in the Eucharist.

“I was really excited to come to this moment,” said Marina, a parishioner at Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish in Boulder. “My heart brought me here. I came to encounter the Lord, the King of life. And I encountered him here.”

“For us, this was something really special,” shared Pedro Gonzalez, a parishioner of St. Helena Parish in Fort Morgan. “When we started processing along the route, we ended up walking in front of Jesus in the Eucharist. I said to my wife, ‘Look! We get to walk right beside Jesus.’ It brought tears to my eyes because it was something very nice, a really beautiful experience for us.”

In a modern Pentecost dynamic, the procession brought together faithful from all cultures, nationalities, languages, ages and locales in a moving, beautiful testament to the catholicity (universality) of the Catholic Church (see Acts 2).

“I feel really happy,” said Veronica Gonzalez of St. Helena Parish. “We’re all one Church. We’re one, united. And Jesus, present in the Eucharist, unites us.”

“It’s a deeper expression of the Body of Christ,” explained Father Jonathon Hank, O.M.V., parochial vicar at Holy Ghost Parish in Denver. “We’re celebrating the Body of Christ in the Eucharist, but also the Body of Christ as a community.”

“You can see that there are lots of people who share the faith, and we all follow Jesus. That’s really beautiful,” added Yolanda Soto, whose daughter walked and prayed alongside her.

(Photos by André Escaleira, Jr./Denver Catholic)

Through the procession, the faithful had the opportunity to praise God publicly for all the many blessings he has bestowed, most especially for the Eucharist, the enduring and real presence of Jesus Christ among us. On the eve of the feast on which that presence is celebrated, the opportunity for prayer and witness was all the more powerful for attendees.

“Our love for Jesus brought us here today, to follow God, who is number one and who leads us to follow him in all of our needs,” said Maria Colin, a parishioner of St. Anthony of Padua Parish in Denver. “He is the only one who gives us strength to keep following him. How can we not praise him? How can we not bless him for all he’s given us?”

“It really was inspiring to continue to let me know that our faith is still strong. And looking at the crowd and the people that we have here, it’s a beautiful thing that we just keep on moving forward with our faith,” shared Heidi Casteel Ellis, a parishioner at Cure d’Ars Parish in Denver and a member of the Ladies of St. Peter Claver. “If more Catholics would come out and experience this, they would find it very refreshing.”

In short, as seven-year-old Carla Ruiz of St. Joseph Parish in Denver put it, “I’m happy! I felt something special in my heart.”

As the nation prepares to celebrate 250 years and Colorado 150, Saturday’s public witness of faith offered attendees the chance to be a “city on a hill,” showing God’s light and love to the surrounding culture.

“We live in such a dark world, and we’re a light to the world,” said Caleb Gallardo. “So it’s a great way to just show off my faith. It was a great display of our Christian faith.”

“This was all so beautiful, to see so many people coming to follow our Lord. Blessed be God who is helping us to come back to the faith, because there are so many who are lost, right? So I’m really happy to have been able to be here with Jesus in the Eucharist,” added Margarita Gutierrez, a parishioner of St. Anthony of Padua Parish in Denver.

No matter the witness effect of such a grand procession, though, attendees couldn’t help but feel a profound sense of encouragement and gratitude for being able to come together with Jesus in the Eucharist and each other.

“Getting to pilgrimage with Our Lord through Downtown Denver is pretty darn special!” said Alicia Toenjes. “I’m just so grateful. I’m very grateful that we could have a gathering of Catholics and have Our Lord and families together. It’s just such a blessing.”

“This is real joy. This is the feast, the feast of the Lord,” added Marina.

“I like praying before the Blessed Sacrament, being in the presence of the Lord. So to be able to bring him to the streets is really beautiful — and to witness to our faith to those others who are here, too,” said Diana, a parishioner of Queen of Peace Parish in Aurora.

When it comes down to it, said Father Ben Unachukwu, O.M.V., parochial vicar at Holy Ghost Parish in Denver, Saturday’s procession and other acts of faith like it come down to one thing: a eucharistic spirit of gratitude (the word “Eucharist” does mean thanksgiving, after all!).

“It’s so wonderful. It’s so special. The Lord gave us his best, so we have to give him our best. This is the smallest gift we can give to say, ‘Thank you, Lord, for all that you’ve done for us,” he concluded.