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Participants at annual revival urged to ‘keep our eyes fixed, focused on Jesus’ in times of distress

Trying times, especially the difficulties of the past 18 months, can be endured when the faithful turn to Jesus, make time to listen to Him and trust in His healing power, the preacher at the annual East of the River Fall Revival said Oct. 4.

“We have to go away from the crowds … to remove those distractions around us, to remove all the voices that bombard us that we have to contend with, and we have to spend time with Jesus,” said Father Robert Boxie III, the preacher at the revival. “We have to go directly to the master. He wants to be with you. He wants to teach you.”

The 32nd annual revival was held at St. Luke Catholic Church in Washington, D.C., and streamed over the Internet on various social media platforms. More than 100 people attended the revival in person while nearly 500 people participated via the Internet. As per District of Columbia COVID-19 safety regulations, those in attendance wore masks. They were also seated socially distanced throughout the church. 

“Return back to the sacraments, return back to the Eucharist, return back to Confession,” Father Boxie said. “Our Lord wants to touch us and heal us. We can return back to God’s house to receive that total healing that we need, to be spiritually fed.”

“It seems like everywhere we turn there is something else going on that we have to contend with, that puts us on edge, that makes us a little more anxious… but we thank God that we are still here today,” he said. “The Word of God is the word of hope.”

Father Robert Boxie III, chaplain to Catholic students and staff at Howard University and the priest-in-residence at Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., preaches during the Oct. 4 East of the River Fall Revival. He urged those at the revival to “return back to the sacraments, return back to the Eucharist, return back to Confession.” (CS photo by Andrew Biraj)

A native of Lake Charles, Louisiana, Father Boxie serves as the chaplain to Catholic students and staff at Howard University and as a priest-in-residence at Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. Ordained in 2016, he previously served as parochial vicar at St. Joseph Parish in Largo, Maryland. Prior to entering the seminary, he taught English as a Second Language in France and worked as a lawyer.

The parishes in the Southeast Deanery in the District and several neighboring Maryland communities presented the annual event that had as its theme “In the Midst of it All.”

Father Boxie said the story from the Gospel of St. Mark (5:25-34) in which Jesus healed the woman who suffered from an issue of blood for 12 years and who touched His cloak in order to be healed, was an apt analogy for what people are facing now.

“This woman is each and every one of us right now. This woman is you. This woman is me,” he said. “This woman, this daughter of God, is focused on only one thing – she wants to be healed. She was alone, she was isolated, she was broke, she was probably homeless. Sound familiar? She was sick and tired of being sick and tired.”

He said that the suffering woman in the Gospel account is an example for today’s Catholics.

“She heard the reports of Jesus and what He was doing. She saw what was going on, and she knew He was someone different,” he said. “The woman followed Jesus. She had her eye on the Lord. We have to keep our eyes fixed, focused on Jesus. We have to get behind Him to follow Him.”

Father Boxie noted that the “In the Midst of it All” theme of the revival “is an incredible theme … it’s been one hell of a past 18 months.”

The priest listed some of the events that people have endured recently: the COVID-19 pandemic “that upended every aspect of our life;” the attendant financial insecurity it caused; the death of George Floyd and other accounts of police brutality; dealing with racial reckoning “that is well overdue;” storms, hurricanes and natural disaster; “an election season like no other;” the “horror and shame” of the Jan. 6, 2021 assault on the U.S. Capitol; divisions in politics and national rhetoric; social media pressures; and “the high rates of violence in our streets and neighborhoods and our children killing one another.”

Suffering, Father Boxie said, “must lead us to Jesus.”

“Our suffering is nothing but a share in the Passion of the Lord,” he said. “The suffering we endure now is an opportunity to draw closer – to unite ourselves more closely – to Jesus Christ. Suffering can be an act of faith that we trust in Him.”

A woman prays during the Oct. 4 East of the River Revival. More than 100 people attended the event in person and almost 500 others followed on various Internet platforms. (CS photo by Andrew Biraj)

Again referring to St. Mark’s account of the woman healed by Jesus, Father Boxie said, “the woman shows us what to do with that suffering – bring it to Jesus. He is the only one we can depend on.”

He said the woman was cured because of her faith in Jesus. “That’s the beauty of faith – it compels my Jesus to act. Jesus responds to faith. God can do anything, but He won’t do anything without my permission. With faith, God acts. Faith draws forth the power of all mighty God. Faith is like an extension cord that draws power from Jesus.”

He urged those at the revival and those following via the Internet to “make the effort to listen to the Lord.”

“How do we listen? We have to bring back silence into our lives,” he said. “God speaks to us in silence. Pull out the earbuds, my brothers and sisters, pull out the earbuds. Silence is that total availability to God. It is not simply the absence of word, but the fullness of the presence of God.”

He joked that people may not like being silent before God because “we are afraid of we might hear. God might ask something of us… we might have to change our life.”

Because “many things compete for our attention, and we live in a very exhibitionist, very performative culture,” Father Boxie said to listen to Jesus “we have to get on our knees. We have to make time for Jesus in prayer. We have to come in His presence, sit before the Blessed Sacrament.”

Father Boxie also urged those at the revival to “create a culture of vocations in the Black community” because “the best decision I made in my entire life was to answer God’s call.” He said it was time to “reclaim our vocation in our community” and to pray for and encourage and support “our young men and women to serve the Church as priests and religious.”

“We need to take a serious look and ask ourselves, ‘What are we contributing to Holy Mother Church in the gift of our sons and daughters?’,” he said. “The Church needs them. The Church is crying out for them.”

In referring to the revival’s theme, Father Boxie said, “In the midst of it all, I am going to listen to the voice of my Lord. In the midst of it all, I am going to listen to the voice of Jesus. In the midst of it all, I will still get behind Jesus. In the midst of it all, I will believe in Him with very fiber of my being. In the midst of it all, I will cling to Him.”

Father Boxie prayed that the revival would be a time of “special outpouring of the Holy Spirit” and “a time of revival, renewal and renovation.”

Noting that “this revival goes back 32 years,” Father Raymond Moore, pastor of St. Thomas More Catholic Church, welcomed the crowd saying, “I don’t know what you came to do, but I came to praise the Lord.”

Josephite Father Cornelius Kelechi Ejiogu, pastor of St. Luke Parish in Washington, D.C., welcomes participants to the Oct. 4 East of the River Fall Revival that was held at his church. (CS photo by Andrew Biraj)

In his opening prayer, Josephite Father Cornelius Kelechi Ejiogu, pastor of St. Luke Parish, said, “We come today to thank you, Lord. We come today to give you thanks because you are the source of our lives.”

“In the midst of all the trials and tribulations… Lord, you bring us hope, you bring healing, you bring us and you bring us the peace only you can give us, a peace that is beyond all human understanding,” he prayed. “We gather this night to thank you and ask you to lift us up so that we can know you, love you and continue to serve you all the days of our lives.”

In addition to prayer and preaching, the revival included music and sacred dance.


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