Women hear speakers talk about the Eucharist

By Tanya Connor | The CatholicFree Press

Michelle Schmidt, who directed a crisis pregnancy center in Southfield, Michigan, for 12 years, made connections between abortion and the Eucharist at the Worcester Catholic Women's Conference Saturday at Assumption College.
    She said Father Frank Pavone, of Priests for Life, noted that Jesus said, “This is my body, which will be given up for you,” but, in choosing abortion, a woman says, “This is my body which I won’t give up for anyone, not even my own child.”
    Father Tom Euteneuer, who once worked for Human Life International, said abortion violates all 10 commandments, she said. It always violates “thou shalt not kill,” and usually those who have an abortion have violated the prohibition against adultery and fornication, she said. Abortion is a result of idolizing sex to the point of sacrificing one’s children, and it involves deception, greed and stealing people’s futures.
    Satanism is increasing, she said; video games teach children to make blood sacrifices and summon demons, and some people get pregnant to abort their babies for blood sacrifices to strengthen their spells.
    Human beings want their own will and find discomfort and pain difficult, but the Eucharist empowers them, and invites them to enter Christ’s suffering and death, Mrs. Schmidt said. They can unite their suffering to his and offer it for salvation of others. She illustrated this with the following story.
    A woman who’d given birth at age 15 found life hard. Then when her 15-year-old got pregnant, she figured she’d have to raise the grandchild. So she pushed her daughter have an abortion.
    “Do you have a relationship with God?” Mrs. Schmitt asked the grandmother, who replied that God healed her of cancer. Counselors gave her a book called, “What does God say about abortion?” The grandmother realized Jesus died for her and she needed to “die” a little for her grandchild.

    Abortion breaks the bond between mother and child and in other relationships, but the Eucharist binds people together into one body, Mrs. Schmidt said. She used the following story to show how the decision to have an abortion is often driven by fear of being alone.
    A woman heard that someone she didn’t know was planning to have an abortion. She made repeated efforts to get the woman to a crisis pregnancy center. The pregnant woman finally met with Mrs. Schmidt’s friend Donna for hours, then didn’t return calls. Donna mobilized people to pray and fast for the baby. Eventually the mother informed them that she and her husband would keep the baby – because of something Donna said. Having recently moved to the area, they’d said, “We don’t have any family.” Donna had replied, “You do now.”
    
    “There are many ways to end abortion,” Mrs. Schmidt said, “but the most beautiful is for God to end the desire for it in the human heart.”

    She said people say they believe Jesus can raise the dead and turn bread into his body, “but we think somehow he can’t help us with a small baby.” They aren’t open to what God wants to give them, whether it’s a child in one’s womb or his life in one’s soul. Rejecting the life God wants to plant in us because we’re not ready for the changes it will bring is committing a kind of spiritual abortion, she said.

    She told of being struck by the story of a Jewish man who was disappointed each day to discover that the Messiah had not come – because the world was still the same. As a Catholic, Mrs. Schmidt said, she knows the Messiah has come, comes daily on altars. But she knew he had not come to her heart because she was not changed.
    She said the only worthy answer to Jesus’ statement, “This is my body, which will be given up for you,” is “Take, my heart, Lord, take all of me. This is my body, which I give up for you.”

    She said if people are worried about the growing evil in the world, they should lessen Satan’s power over them – by going to confession.


Another speaker was Kathleen Beckman, lay coordinator of deliverance and exorcism ministry for the Diocese of Orange, California. She is also on the advisory board of the Pope Leo XXIII Institute at the University of St. Mary of the Lake Seminary in Mundelein, Illinois, which trains priests for exorcisms.
    She told listeners they participate in the Church’s ministry of exorcism by their discipleship, by praying for the priests doing them. She also invited them to “spiritual motherhood” of priests, giving priests spiritual life by praying for them.
    She encouraged listeners to build “a eucharistic heart and home” and gave numerous tips, including: Receive the gift that God is, give yourself to him and others, pray and do eucharistic adoration, practice virtues, guard against sin and bring others to Christ.
    “People will be converted more by our joy…” she said, after telling of a friend crying as she saw the poverty in Calcutta, India.
    “These people do not need your tears; they desperately need your smile,” Mother Teresa told the woman. Mother Teresa told a dying man, “Soon you are going to meet my God.” He replied, “If your God makes you that happy, then I want to meet your God.”
    Mrs. Beckman called for building a eucharistic home by honoring Christ’s presence there, making it a safe place for him and others, using sacramentals, holy images and Scripture memorization for protection against evil, and having a plan for dealing with conflict. Other suggestions included affirming others and being present to them and using meals (reminiscent of the Last Supper and Jesus feeding the apostles) for bonding.

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