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 Homepage | The person | The family | The friends | Sitemap | Search | Contact  News  Year 2005 Français | English | Español |  PrintA voice for disabled people at the Synod on the Eucharist "Wonder, thanks giving" these are the words that come to mind on my return from three  intense weeks spent at the Bishop’s synod which was held in Rome last October.I am profoundly grateful to Benoît XVI for having nominated me as a member of the audience. I would have like to have written more about this gripping experience of the Universal Church: it was amazing to see and hear two hundred and fifty bishops of all races, languages and cultures united around the pope to discuss in depth the incredible gift of “The Eucharist: Source and Summit of the Life and Mission of the Church,”, the true presence of Jesus with us, within us. However, for this column, I am going to limit myself to what seemed to me the more specific part of my mission: to be a presence for disabled persons, whether in physical, sensory, intellectual or psychological terms. A presence for those who are close to me, in particular at Faith and Light, the OCH, l’Arche but even more so for all those who across the world are distained, banished to hospices or all those who will never even see the light of day because they are eliminated before or even after their birth, particularly in wealthy countries. They and their families were at the centre of the speech that I made to the General Assembly based on a text from the Instrumentum laboris (1): "Christians need help in seeing the faith-implications of the presence of Christ in the Eucharist and his presence in their brothers and sisters, especially in the poor and those on the periphery of society." In effect, before leaving us Jesus left us his true presence in the Eucharist and his presence in a different form, that of the frail and destitute person: whatever you did for the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me” (Mt 25:40). This is the word of the Gospel, I believe, that has transformed my life the most ..” confides Charles de Foucauld. “If we think that these words were said by the same lips as those that said “This is body”.. “This is my blood”, then we are carried with so force to look for and to love Jesus in “those frail people, those sinners, those Poor”. Here are the three points evoked in my speech: The Church asks parents to have unconditional respect for the sacred life of their child right from conception. It is then absolutely essential that at the same time, the Church (that means each one of us) ensures those parents of our presence at their side for the physical and spiritual growth of their small disabled child! Persons with an intellectual disability, if they are not able to express themselves through words, are able to show by their attitudes that they can tell the difference between the body of Christ and ordinary food and that they wish to receive it. They can therefore be prepared for their first communion. On the other hand, priests hesitate over giving the Eucharist to profoundly disabled persons who seem unable to establish relationships. Could one not consider in this case the great desire and joy of Jesus in giving himself to very frailest of his faithful? Jean-Paul II, when speaking to some people with an intellectual disability, told them: “Come and take your place at the heart of the Church!” How can parishes help them to truly occupy this place? At the heart of this synod, on 9th October, a event went unnoticed, however it did personally touch me greatly: the beatification of Cardinal Von Galen. During the tragic years of the nazi regime, this prelate stood with heroic courage against the systematic elimination of intellectually disabled and the mentally ill people. It is not surprising that he is now their protector at God’s side and that he calls upon us to have faultless moral strength when defending the dignity and the life of these smallest people among us, with whom Jesus identified himself. Marie-Hélène Mathieu (1)The instrumentum laboris is the summary of a wide survey on the Eucharsit throughout the whole world, that served as a basis for speeches. Proposal voted by the Fathers of the Synod  Extracted from the magazine "Ombres et Lumière" number 152, 4th quarter 2005 site OCH |
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