Editor’s Note: Actor Jonathan Roumie took part in the Napa Institute’s Eucharistic procession through the streets of New York City on Oct. 14, 2025. Below is a transcript of the talk he gave inside St. Patrick’s Cathedral just before the Mass that preceded the procession. The transcript has been edited for clarity and brevity. 

Good afternoon. Well, the story goes that St. Carlo Acutis, as a 7-year-old on his way to make his first Holy Communion a year early at a monastery in Milan, profoundly uttered on the drive up that “The Eucharist is my highway to heaven.” And shortly after experiencing daily Mass, he wanted — quote — “to always be united to Jesus. This is my life’s program” — end quote. 

As a born-and-raised New Yorker, I would like to add a similar kind of sentiment: that the Eucharist is my express train to heaven. Probably the “3” train, for obvious reasons, unless it’s the weekend, in which case, due to closures, you probably have to take the “2,” or, worse yet, you got to shuttle over to Grand Central and then maybe take the “4” or the “5.” And we all know how that ends up. 

Or if you haven’t been to confession, you should probably take the bus. But that feels like a whole other direction, if you know what I mean. (No offense to bus drivers.)

But to have your life’s program be uniting yourself to Jesus, well, that has to be all of our mission — every moment of every day — to unite ourselves to Jesus in the most humble and subtle ways; our interactions with each other: holding a door for someone; a welcoming smile to the folks around you; having a conversation and even some sort of acknowledgement to a homeless person, buying them a cup of coffee, maybe some food; or giving to everyone who asks of you, regardless of how they maybe got there and what you think of how they perhaps got there.

The embracing of Christ’s humility is essential in this journey to following him: to be of service to everyone you meet and to bring the joy of Christ with you as you serve him. Why the little gestures? What’s the relevance of the smallest things? Shouldn’t I do something giant? Shouldn’t I go be on television and play Jesus? No, you shouldn’t.

Trust me; wouldn’t recommend it. It is a grace and a gift, of course, but you don’t have to do that. 

You don’t have to play Jesus on TV to be Jesus to the world around you. 

And in his most humble form of bread and wine, this is where we find him. This form, this Food is how we take up the mantle of mission, the program urged to us by St. Carlo, by making the Eucharist part of our daily life if we can. 

And if you’re not Catholic and you can’t receive and want to become Catholic, that’s all you got to do [become Catholic]. Receive if you can; and if you are Catholic, receive this sacrament of he who formed you and he who created you daily, whenever possible. 

This became my own endeavor the last six months of my life, filming the most recent and penultimate season, the sixth season of The Chosen, which we completed about a month ago, which centers on the Crucifixion.

This was by far the hardest thing that I have ever attempted, both as an actor and as a Christian man. The intensity and weight of portraying Christ’s passion, suffering and death on a cross was one which challenged me and necessitated a level of strength that I on my own do not possess, but only Christ himself.

The only way that I could sustain myself and achieve this strength was by partaking in the Holy Eucharist as often as time would allow. Confession, adoration and the Eucharist became my very food and drink. And without these, I would surely have starved and perished in the abyss of my own mental approximation of Our Lord’s crucifixion and death.

But by seeking healing of the deep wounds of sin within myself through the sacrament of reconciliation and receiving the Eucharist almost daily, or whenever and wherever possible, it was Christ who then took over and further fashioned my soul to reflect more of him within me. It is Christ whose light shines within this palette, vessel of skin and bones.

It is Christ whose very heart becomes our heart. And it is Christ who the world sees and feels, not me. This is only possible through the promise that he gave us two millennia ago: that he would never leave us or forsake us; that he will be with us always, even until the end of time. As we gather here today, we see that Our Lord has kept his promise for 2,000 years.

He has kept his promise. He is with us, and he will continue that promise. So as we pour out into the streets today, let us continue, or even maybe start, to be true witnesses to all watching, to the hope, to the healing, to the comfort, and to the joy that is only found in humanity’s deepest desire. That is Christ himself.

Thank you so much, and God bless.