by John C. Nienstedt, D.D.

As I came to these readings, I could not separate myself and my heart from two articles I read in the newspapers recently. The first one was from The De troit Free Press second front page, “Freed Quad ri plegic Ends His Life” large headlines. It tells us of a young man, twenty-one years old unfortunately with a terminal disease, but not in imminent danger of death — a young man whom hospital authorities wanted to keep. But he removed himself from the hospital in Grand Rapids. Then he came into our own area to see Dr. Kevorkian, where he ended his life.

He ended his life with the help of three doctors and his mother. He was twenty-one years old. Yes he had a ter minal disease, but not in immediate danger of death. They helped him take his life.

My brothers and sisters, this is no longer, if it ever was, mercy killing. This is just plain killing.

The second article was written up in the New York Times. It tells us that the state panel which runs the health plan of Oregon voted to spend tax money to pay for doctor-assisted suicide for terminally ill poor people. The panel voted ten-to-one that delivering lethal doses of prescription drugs should be covered as a “medical service” for the 270,000 low-income residents covered under the state’s health plan. One of the commission members said, “The most discriminatory thing we could do would be not giving this choice to the poor.” That’s a quote. “The most discriminatory thing we could do would be not giving this choice to the poor.”

My brothers and sisters, as a society, as a nation, where have we come? Even more so, what kind of heritage are we leaving to our children?

Now you are probably asking, what does this all have to do with the Real Presence? I believe it has complete relevance. Mother Teresa would tell her sisters that if they could not see the face of Jesus Christ in the host that was raised over their heads each morning, they would not be able to see His face in the many disguises that He takes during the day on the faces of other men and women. I believe this also means that if we as a society and a nation cannot see and believe in the Real Presence of Jesus in this Eucharist, then how in the world is our society and even our Church to find the presence of Christ in one another, especially in the poor, the indigent, in those who are marginalized. We have a lot of work to do. We have a lot of praying to be done. We have a lot of witnessing that needs to be given.

But there is a second point to these readings. As we come together today, knowing and believing that the Real Presence is true because it is taught by Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior, we run the risk of becoming a little arrogant, to be quite honest. We can become very self-righteous in the truth that we proclaim. Jesus in the Gospel was not that way. He was a question mark for the Scribes and Pharisees, because He ate with tax collectors and with non-observers of the law. Why did He do this? He did this so that He could associate with people who were sick, people who did not believe but had the potential to believe. Jesus, the true doctor of souls, wanted to be there amidst the people, calling others to salvation, calling all men, women and children to believe in Him.

We, my brothers and sisters, must never feel that because we hold the truths of our faith we are therefore better than others: that somehow we stand over and against the rest of the world. No! We must be a leaven in society. We must be present with people, with all their sins and all their faults, with all their blindness and yes, even ignorance that exists in the world today. You and I must be there reaching out, witnessing to the faith.

Last September, Cardinal Ratzinger spoke at the Italian Eucharistic Congress, and among the very fine things that he said, I quote in paraphrase: If someone participating in a Eucharistic Sacrifice seeks only his own group, if someone celebrating the Eucharistic Sacrifice does not see himself as part of the universal, celebrating Church and go beyond his particular limited point of view, he is doing exactly what St. Paul criticized the Corinthians for doing. Such a person sits down, as it were, with his back to other people, and thus destroys the Eucharist for himself and de prives others of its value. He who acts this way is having his own meal and disdaining the Church of God.

Through the Eucharistic Sacrifice, we are led first of all beyond this world, enabling us to enter the upper room in the interior realm of the faith. This upper room is precisely where the universal en counter of all those who believe in Christ beyond every human frontier takes place. It thus becomes the place from which universal love must pour forth a love that surpasses all boundaries. If others are hungry, we cannot live in abundance.

My brothers and sisters, if you came here to be consoled in a quiet moment in front of the Eucharist, I apologize. But it seems to me so clearly that you and I in these times are engaged in a global conflict, a global conflict between light and darkness, be tween good and evil, between salvation and sin. The prince of darkness is making great strides in our society today, as witnessed just by those two articles that I quoted before. Yes, we know that the ultimate victory has been won by Jesus Christ. And yet there is so much to be done before the total effects of that victory are felt. As it has been said before, all it takes for evil to triumph in the world is for good men and women to do nothing.

When we come together in this Church today, we bear testimony to the truth that Christ is really, truly present body and soul in the Eucharist. Every time we make the holy hour in our local parish, every time we stand up to oppression, false accusation, malicious speech and hold back from following our own way, we are doing something beautiful, as Mother Teresa said, “something beautiful for God.”

But as we do so, let us not be unmindful of the fact that we are involved in a global conflict. Allow that conflict, allow those difficulties that exist in our society not to be shut out from our prayer, and our adoration and praise. We are to become the very core, the very reason, the very motivation for our Eucharistic devotion. Let us pray and work and plead to the Lord that we might be His witnesses, so that these terrible crimes against humanity which are all around us may one day cease; that somehow the Lord will use us as instruments to bring about His peace to bring about belief in His Real Presence; that one day all the world, all the world, will proclaim that Jesus is Lord.