The Archdiocese of Valencia will celebrate, starting from October 30, the week of the feast of the Holy Chalice, coinciding with the beginning of a new Eucharistic Jubilee Year. This celebration, which takes place every five years, seeks to rekindle among the faithful the veneration of the sacred relic and to foster a greater adherence to Jesus Christ through love for the Sacrament of the Eucharist.
The Archbishop of Valencia, Msgr. Enrique Benavent Vidal, has emphasized that this jubilee year will begin after the closing of the universal Jubilee and that it will have as its motto “Chalice of hope”, recalling that only those who are nourished by the bread of the pilgrim can experience the most intimate encounter with Jesus, the true source of hope
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The Eucharist, balm of hope in difficult times
In his message, Benavent highlighted that the Eucharist is the place where every Christian nourishes and sustains their hope. Evoking the Gospel passage of the disciples of Emmaus, the archbishop recalled that Christ makes himself present and allows himself to be recognized “in the breaking of the bread,” offering consolation and strength to those who go through trials or tribulations on the path of faith.
“By eating at the table of the brothers —he wrote— we are united to Christ, and faith is strengthened by the encounter with the Risen One”.
Reinvigorating Eucharistic life in communities
The Valencian prelate invited everyone to take advantage of this Holy Chalice Year as an opportunity to rethink and strengthen the Eucharistic life of Christian communities, in a social context marked by individualism, new forms of leisure, and the weakening of the sense of Sunday.
“Even among those who actively participate in pastoral care —he warned— a clear dissolution of the centrality of the Sunday Eucharist is perceived”. For this reason, he encouraged valuing the Sunday encounter with the Risen Lord and with the community of brothers, as an essential space for communion and spiritual renewal.
A relic that invites surrender and fraternal love
Benavent recalled that the veneration of the Holy Chalice, linked to the Lord’s Last Supper, is also a call to live according to Christ’s Eucharistic love. “By participating in Christ’s love for humanity —he affirmed—, the desire awakens in us to give ourselves as He did to our brothers, especially to those most in need”.
A living tradition of the Valencian Church
The archbishop thanked the joint effort of the Cathedral of Valencia, the Cathedral Chapter, and the associations of the faithful linked to the relic, as well as the collaboration of public institutions that have supported the celebrations of the new jubilee.
He also recalled the spiritual legacy of St. John of Ribera, who consolidated in the diocese a profound Eucharistic identity that has shaped the pastoral life of communities throughout the centuries.
“May this Holy Chalice Year bring us closer to the spiritual banquet”
Finally, Archbishop Benavent encouraged the faithful to live this jubilee time as a gift to reaffirm the Eucharistic identity of the Archdiocese of Valencia, recalling that Christ remains in our midst
in the consecrated bread and wine.
“May this Holy Chalice Year help us to draw closer to this spiritual banquet that sustains us and gives us vigor to proclaim with hope the good news of God’s love manifested in Christ,” he concluded.