When did you realize that the Eucharist really is the true Body and Blood of Jesus Christ? Did you always have that knowledge?

I talk about it all the time– about how I had no idea, which makes very little sense, because I was raised Catholic, and we went to Mass every Sunday. I went to Catholic elementary school until we ran out of classes to go. We didn't have a Catholic High School in my town, and I hated going to Mass. There’s a lot of boring things I was asked to do when I was growing up, but for whatever reason, I just really had this strong antipathy towards going to Mass, yet we had to go because that was the rule.

When I was 15 or 16, I had this encounter with the Lord through reconciliation that just radically reoriented so many things. My mom had this stack of books and stack of magazines that she “wanted to read one day.” And I actually found a copy of the book that so profoundly made an impact on my life. It had the teachings of the Creed and the teachings of the Catechism, essentially, but they were divided into chapters. I remember getting to that chapter [on the Eucharist] and reading little stories about the life of the Church, either miracles or someone's faith and devotion to the Eucharist. It was all of a sudden, I realized, “Oh my gosh, that's really Jesus.” It was so profound to me.

I came downstairs into the kitchen, and my older brother and two older sisters were down there, and I said, “You guys, did you know that at Mass, that's actually Jesus?” and they said, “Yeah, we know.” I thought about that so many times, and this last summer, at the National Eucharistic Congress, I gave a talk. I was praying into that talk. And I wondered if I had heard this, just like my siblings had. I wondered if I knew the truth that Jesus is truly present in Eucharist, but I didn't care. And it wasn't until after I had encountered Him in His mercy, in confession, that I was like, “Oh my gosh, now this matters to me.”

I think that that there's something about that message that we need– how do we not just transmit knowledge and information, but how do we rouse hearts? Down in Florida, I want to just be with you all and hopefully pass on some information, but also hopefully pray for the Holy Spirit, to do something in the hearts, not just the minds, of all the people who will be attending.

You were ordained 22 years ago. Can you think back to that first Mass, that Mass of Thanksgiving that you held? What were you feeling during those Eucharistic prayers and do you still get those feelings?

In that first Mass, I remember being grateful to be able to be doing this. I'm grateful to be able to bring the Eucharist to people. At every Mass, I get to, in a unique way, offer up the great sacrifice of the Son to the Father and through the power of the Holy Spirit. And so, there's a prayer that I pray, and part of that prayer is, “Help me celebrate this Mass as if this is my first Mass, my last Mass, and my only Mass.”

This is really profound about the Mass– most of the prayers are directed to the Father. Almost throughout the entire Mass, there's maybe five or six times, where we talk to Jesus, but almost the whole time we're talking to the Father. That kind of discovery of mine, of realizing,  “Oh, I know who I'm talking to now. I know that the whole point of this is to offer up that great sacrifice of the Son to the Father.” So here I am standing in Persona Christi, right? And in that place of the Son, with the son, offer that sacrifice to the Father. That reality shapes my prayer every single time I offer the Mass. The point of what we're doing is to represent that, once and for all sacrifice of Jesus to the Father. Every time I celebrate the Mass, I'm just grateful. I'm lifting up someone else's sacrifice, Jesus' sacrifice, to his Father for the salvation of the world so the Father is glorified, and the world is saved and sanctified.

For us Catholics, we go to Mass, and we are participating in that original Eucharist from 2,000 years ago. Can you speak on that?

I realize the Eucharist is really Jesus and so, “Why am I going to go to Mass?” I'm going there to get the Eucharist. That's that first kind of initial awareness– that I go to Mass and I get the Eucharist. But that's not the primary action of the Mass. The primary action of the Mass is the sacrifice of Calvary, represented in an unbloody way that we're lifting up again the Son to the Father.

The high point of the Mass is where the priest, standing at the altar, elevates the body and blood of Christ and says to the Father, “Through him, with him, in him– him as Jesus– in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all glory and honor is yours, Almighty Father, forever and ever.” That moment is, at the Mass, the similar or same moment as Jesus on the cross, saying, “Father, into your hands, I commend my spirit,” summing up his entire 33 years on this earth of loving, humble obedience and saying, “It's all yours, Father, this whole thing is yours for your glory and for the salvation of the world.” We get to participate in that, not just to watch it again. So, we don't just receive the Eucharist. That's not the point. And we're not just there to watch the priest pray, but as baptized Christians, we're there to also be other Christs.

And so, what's the main thing that that I wish every person going to Mass realizes? I'm not here to simply hope the priest has something interesting to say or the deacon has something interesting to say. I'm not just here to get the Eucharist, but I'm also here to unite my heart and my mind, my whole self, with the ministerial priest at the altar, united with Jesus Christ, the great high priest, to offer up the sacrifice of the Son.

You mentioned how too many people have left. They're no longer receiving Eucharist. They're no longer receiving sacraments. How do you invite them to encounter Jesus anew?

The reason why someone would walk away could be anything. I can never assume what it was. I'm not here to judge whether there's an excuse for someone or a reason for someone, but I would say that maybe we each have to pause and ask the question of ourselves.

If I've been away for a while, have I been away because I was looking for an excuse to be away, or have I been away because I had a real reason? And, if I'm just looking for an excuse, then let's just be honest about that. If I had a reason, and maybe whoever listening to this is like, “No, I do have a reason.” I would say, in that moment, have you asked the same Church who may be the reason that you're hurt, for healing. We recognize that if it's true that Jesus is the Lord, and if it's true that Jesus founded the Church, and if it's true that throughout the course of the last 2,000 years, the Church has been holy and the Church has been human, the same Church that has hurt has also been the Church that has healed.

It's one of those situations where let's pause and say, maybe I went into surgery and the doctor committed malpractice, and I'm living with that pain now from that medical malpractice. Does that mean I will never see a doctor again? Does that mean I won't trust medicine again? Or does that mean, I'm going to stay away from that doctor, and I'm going to find out where there are some good doctors who I can trust their skills, I can trust their knowledge, and I can trust them. And I would say the same kind of thing. The medical world that has hurt people has also been the medical world that has healed people.

Why would I cut off access to God's healing? Cut off access to God's grace? Even cut off access to joy again, or to peace that we can only find in Jesus, because I've been hurt?

Now, that hurt is real, again, just like medical malpractice would be real. I can point to that and say that hurt me. I guarantee you I've met so many holy people in the church. I’ve met very human people in church– obviously, I'm one of them. But what God wants for you, is he wants you to have that healing. He wants you to have that hope, and he wants you to have that joy that can only be found in Jesus.

The Eucharistic Encounter event on September 20, 2025 at Amalie Arena is currently sold out. Tickets will begin to be released to those on the waitlist soon. To learn more about this event or to reserve your spot on the waitlist, click here.

To listen to this interview in its entirety, click here.