BRIGHTON -- "You don't have to play Jesus on television to be Jesus to the world," says Jonathan Roumie.

He should know. In the role of Jesus on the hit TV show "The Chosen," Roumie brings Christ to life on millions of screens worldwide. On and off the set, Roumie is a devout Catholic who receives the Eucharist daily in order to get closer to the heart of Jesus.

"I can't possibly conceive of the mind of Christ," he said. "I can't and don't have to, fortunately, but he has given each and every one of us his heart, should we choose to accept."

Roumie was the keynote speaker at the Archdiocese of Boston's Hope for Life Conference on Oct. 4, a joint effort of the archdiocese's Pro-Life Office, the Daughters of Mary of Nazareth, and the Men of Divine Mercy of Quincy.

Over 2,000 people filled the TRACK at New Balance in Brighton for a day of prayer, worship, and witness talks about the sanctity of life "from the womb to the tomb" -- as Mother Olga of the Sacred Heart, foundress of the Daughters of Mary of Nazareth, likes to say.

"Today's conference is giving truth," Roumie said. "Widows, orphans, the poorest of the poor. Being Jesus to those people, you enter into the heart of Christ, and when the spirit allows a fraction of insight into the mind of Christ as to how you approach a scene like this, it's the only way for me to be able to play this character authentically, is if I'm living the principles of the man I claim to follow, who I claim in this TV show."

The conference began with Mass celebrated by Archbishop Richard G. Henning, who joked that it would be intimidating to preach with Jesus sitting in the front row. In his homily, he said that the Book of Genesis is a cautionary tale of humanity abusing its God-given freedom. When humanity fails to listen to God, then human life loses its value.

"When human beings, we be gods, then terrible things happen," the archbishop said. "When we don't let God be God, we don't know who we truly are, creatures made in the image and likeness of God, disaster follows."

He said that although humanity strays from God's path, God always remains loyal. The ultimate expression of that loyalty was God giving the world his heart through his son, who was both divine and human.

He pointed out that Jesus reached out to the lives that everyone else was happy to ignore -- the woman at the well, the woman caught in adultery, and the leper, to name a few.

"You and I might not be walking those dusty roads of Galilee," he said. "We might not have that privilege of knowing Jesus face-to-face, in the flesh, the way that those first disciples did. But we do know him. We know him in the life of the church, in love, one for another. We know him in the power of his Word that speaks to our hearts. We know him every time we make the wise but risky choice to trust in his grace and live for his love."

EWTN News President and COO Montse Alvarado was the day's emcee. She introduced Mother Olga, who reflected on her work in hospitals, and the many babies she has visited.

"It's easy to celebrate life when the child is very perfect, very healthy, with bright and future promising," she said. "It's more difficult and challenging when parents deal with the uncertainty of what is next."

Mother Olga explained that part of her ministry is visiting neonatal intensive care units. There, she consoles the families of parents whose babies have been born weeks or months prematurely and shared several stories of young children who, though gravely ill, radiate joy to those around them.

One story Mother Olga told was of baby Lucy, whose parents, Shannon and Anthony, were told that it would be best to abort her. They didn't, and she was born prematurely. The chances of her surviving were slim.

"I cannot let my baby go without making sure that one day I will get to see her in Heaven," Anthony said.

It was late at night, and no priest was available, so Anthony performed an emergency baptism. Both sides of the family came to say goodbye to Lucy, believing it was the end. She recently celebrated six months of life. When Mother Olga visits Lucy in the hospital, she places the pyx holding the Eucharist on her body.

"Every time I'm in the hospital, I visit her," she said, "I say to her, 'You have the best visitor ever. Jesus is here.' And she always rests peacefully. And I do believe it is the face of the Holy Eucharist that has carried Lucy throughout her journey."

Despite her challenges, Lucy is always smiling. Her parents have never heard the sound of her speaking or crying, but they are still by her side, because they believe that God has a plan for her. Mother Olga welcomed Sharon and Anthony to the stage.

"I want to encourage all of us as we think about the gift of life," she said. "And I know, as our archbishop said, you all are here because you are believing in the beauty and sanctity of life. Especially, I want to speak to our young people. Don't be afraid. Don't get into the temptations of the world around you when people say, 'Oh, you are not special, you are not gifted, or you're not good at sports, or you're not good at music.'"

The conference also saw two panel discussions of pro-life advocates. The first consisted of Mark Carey of the Men of Divine Mercy; his daughter Julianne Carey, a pediatric nurse who helps special-needs schoolchildren; Lisa Wheeler, founder and president of Carmel Communications; and Mia Armstrong, a child actress and activist who has been open about her experience living with Down syndrome.

Armstrong said that her parents were told to abort her, because her life would be one of suffering if she was born.

"Do I look like I'm suffering to you?" she said to laughter and applause.

Armstrong told the young people in the crowd to defend the sanctity of life with bravery and "sass."

Julianne Carey spoke of her experience helping children with disabilities, including a girl who cannot speak and uses an iPad to communicate. Carey was moved to tears as she spoke about how, despite her challenges, she has never heard the girl complain.

The second panel discussion consisted of Sara Loy, director of Springwater, a Quincy-based ministry that helps women heal after abortion; Asis and Michelle Lopez, who, after the loss of four of their children, founded the Los Momenticos charity to provide care packages to families with children in intensive care; and AJ De La Rosa, a Catholic motivational speaker and content creator.

When De La Rosa was attending Ave Maria University as a soccer player, he was involved in a car accident that left him paralyzed from the waist down. He recalled that his mother was more upset about it than he was, because he "believed in miracles." Even now, he has hope that he will someday be able to walk again. When he was in the hospital, his friends from college visited him and said they were happy for him: They viewed his injury as God giving him "a fastpass to sainthood." He never imagined he could be a saint, but said he is grateful for his experience. He reckoned that God gave him that cross to bear for a reason.

The Lopezes shared their own story of losing four children in a row -- two to miscarriage and two shortly after birth. One of them, Asis Gabriel, died six years to the hour after Asis Lopez's father, which he took as a sign that God was still looking out for them. The name of their charity, "Los Momenticos," (Spanish for "The Little Moments") comes from a phrase Asis Lopez's father, also named Asis, would often use. It refers to the precious little moments in life. After four tragedies, the Lopezes still held out hope and conceived a fifth child. Avila Marie Lopez was born healthy in 2024. She is now a year old and attended the conference with her parents.

The conference concluded with Mother Olga interviewing Roumie about his faith and experience playing Jesus. "The Chosen" is currently filming its final season, which will depict Christ's passion and resurrection and Roumie said Mother Olga was with him in Texas, praying alongside him during the filming of the scene of Christ's scourging.

"It was probably the most brutal thing I've ever had to submit myself to, in sacrifice to the Lord on behalf of the artistic gifts he's provided me with, but thy will be done," Roumie said.

Mother Olga played several scenes from "The Chosen" representing "hope for life," including Jesus walking on water and Jesus encouraging St. James the Lesser to follow him, despite the future apostle being insecure about his limp.

Roumie said that Jordan Ross, who plays St. James the Lesser (or "Little James," as the cast and crew of "The Chosen" call him) really does have a limp and is used to hiding it for auditions. When his limp was revealed on the set of "The Chosen," he thought his chances of appearing on the show were done for. Instead, Dallas Jenkins, the show's creator, said: "That is perfect for a character that is human and must have suffered many things throughout his life and ministry alongside Jesus."

Roumie said that, like St. James the Lesser, he often wonders why the Lord has given him his own burdens, but God simply responds, "My grace is sufficient." He said that sometimes, the faithful must "wait for the Lord" to do his work.

"We need community," he said. "We need our church in the highest level to be neighborly. We have to have community, we have to have each other. We have to see the best in each other, we have to see the good in each other. We have to forgive the flaws of each other, all of us."

To prepare for filming, he receives the sacraments and meditates on the Gospel like St. Ignatius of Loyola, imagining what it would be like to be there and hear Jesus speak. He said that "the Enemy" fills the world with distractions such as electronics, and that the best way to speak to God is in silence. After the interview, Archbishop Henning blessed a kneeling Roumie, who shook the archbishop's hand and hugged him.

Mother Olga told the conference attendees that while they may want to meet Roumie, get their picture taken with him, or give him a gift, they should not "put him on a pedestal." The best gift they can give him, she said, is their prayers.