1,200 youth adore the Lord at ICYC

Holy Hour Keynote speaker Mari Pablo highlights the importance, reality of the Eucharist

Father John Mosier, pastor at St. Mark's church in Boise, processes the monstrance containing the Holy Eucharist through the crowd during Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament on Saturday, March 8. (ICR Photo/Joe Egbert)

By Philip A. Janquart

ICR Assistant Editor

“This is where the saints got their strength; there are saints who died protecting the Eucharist,” said Idaho Catholic Youth Conference (ICYC) keynote speaker Mari Pablo, who returned to the stage to introduce Saturday’s Holy Hour. She affirmed Jesus’ exclusive love for each of His children.

“God knows you better than anyone; He knows you better than you know yourself,” Pablo said with deep conviction. “God loves you, and the way He pursues your heart is very particular. There is nothing you can do to make Him stop loving you, and when we turn away from Jesus, and we are in Confession, we are not only forgiven, we are also reconciled with Him.”

Pablo said Jesus loves us so much that He makes Himself present in the Eucharist out of a desire to be in physical union with us. “We know that it isn’t bread; it’s actually Jesus. There are many Catholics who still think that it is just a symbol.”

St. Bernard parishioner Paloma Castillo is shown in deep prayer during the 2025 ICYC. (ICR Photo/Vero Gutierrez)

A Eucharistic Miracle

To emphasize her point, Pablo recounted the specifics of a Eucharistic miracle in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

In 1996, a host was discovered on the floor at the back of the church in the parish of Santa Maria y Caballito Almagro in Buenos Aires. As is the custom, Father Alejandro Pezet placed the host in a container of water, which in turn was placed in the Tabernacle. It soon appeared enlarged and bloody.

After a year and no signs of decomposition, Father Pezet contacted then-Archbishop Jorge Bergoglio (later Pope Francis), who decided to have it analyzed. Pablo noted that in each case, the bishop of the diocese must investigate Eucharistic miracles, and the scientific community is asked to weigh in.

Dr. Ricardo Castanon Gomez oversaw the scientific testing. He sent a tissue fragment to New York, where cardiologist and forensic pathologist Dr. Frederick Zugibe found it to be heart tissue that was moving and pulsating. Dr. Zugibe was not told the origin of the fragment.

“The analyzed material is a fragment of the heart muscle found in the wall of the left ventricle, close to the valves,” he stated upon close examination, according to an article on the Magis Center website (magiscenter.com). “This muscle is responsible for the contraction of the heart. The left cardiac ventricle pumps blood to all parts of the body. The heart muscle is in an inflamed state and contains a large number of white blood cells.

“This indicates that the heart was alive at the time the sample was taken. I affirm that the heart was alive, since white blood cells die outside a living organism; they require a living organism to sustain them. Thus, their presence indicates that the heart was alive when the sample was taken. What is more, these white blood cells had penetrated the tissue, which further indicated that the heart had been under severe stress, as if the owner had been beaten severely about the chest,” Dr. Zugibe concluded.

Dr. Gomez is said to have ultimately converted to Catholicism.

Mari Pablo concluded, “If you hear nothing else I have said today, please hear these words: Whenever you are suffering, in pain, and in darkness … there is a place to go. There is a person to turn to, and His name is Jesus. He invites you to come to Him, and He is present in the Eucharist.”

The Eucharistic Procession

Over 1,200 youth, some visibly emotional, venerated the Lord as He was processed through the large crowd on Saturday, March 8, at the Ford Idaho Center’s adjunct sports arena.

Altar servers, including three seminarians, assisted in the Eucharistic procession during Saturday's Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. (ICR Photo/Vero Gutierrez)

The Holy Hour was led by two priests, Father John Mosier, pastor of St. Mark’s in Boise and Father Camilo Garcia Delgado, pastor of St. Nicholas Parish in Rupert. The two priests took turns carrying an ornate, golden monstrance containing the Holy Eucharist as they processed among the crowd for the entire hour.

They wore a unique garment over their shoulders, which draped around their arms and hands.

Father Mosier explained that the priest holding forth the monstrance wears a cope, a long, full-length cloak, and is wrapped in a humeral veil, a rectangular cloth draped over the shoulders, used to cover hands while holding sacred objects. Father Mosier added, “The purpose of the humeral veil is to obscure the priest and draw all attention to the Blessed Sacrament. The humeral veil is matched in color to the cope and hence helps diminish the presence or appearance of the priest.”

Accompanying them were seminarians Guillermo Gutiérrez, Ian Willnerd, and Nathan Ribb. The priests blessed all present with the Eucharist as they made their way up and down the aisles.

Father Camilo Garcia Delgado gazes at the Blessad Sacrament during the Eucharistic precession held Saturday, March 8 at the 2025 Idaho Catholic Youth Conference. (ICR Photo/Vero Gutierrez)

Father Mosier provided insight into the significance of the procession and the use of incense.

“We use the choreography of processing in various liturgical moments. The Adoration procession helps us engage with the reality that our Lord, the King of the Universe and all creation, was there, present among us, “walking” among those desiring to see Him and be near Him,” he explained.

“The Church has used incense from its earliest days,” he continued. “Psalm 141 tells us, ‘Let my prayer be counted as incense before you, the lifting of my hands as the evening sacrifice.’ That was made so beautifully manifest during Saturday evening’s Adoration.

Like the humble stable where our Savior was born in Bethlehem, the sports arena commonly used for rodeo and other events … was transformed into the sacred place.”

Those who were able knelt upon the arena’s asphalt floor for the duration of the hour, the Lord’s presence visibly emotionally moving many as He passed.

“[It’s] the privilege of being in Christ’s presence in a tangible and sensorial way, united as a community of believers … worshiping Him.” Father Mosier said, citing Matthew 28:20, “Behold, I am with you always until the end of the age.”