Swiss legislator finds fulfillment in life given to adoration

By LAURA IERACI
Catholic Times Montreal
Quebec City

Nicolas Buttet's life looked bright. He was the youngest member of the Swiss Parliament and he was in a position to shape the country's future.

And then he quit.

It was 1988. The social problems and human suffering he encountered as a legislator begged for authentic solutions, ones a politician could not offer.

His journey led him to discover the Eucharist as a source of healing and conversion. He's now a priest, devoting his life to eucharistic adoration and service to others.

Buttet, now 47, eventually founded a religious community, Fraternite Eucharistein, dedicated to eucharistic adoration. He told his story June 17 during a plenary session of the International Eucharistic Congress.

The congress' theme, The Eucharist: Gift of God for the Life of the World, is more than a slogan, Buttet told the thousands in attendance. "It's reality."

"We do not always reflect Jesus to others," he said. "But once we recognize Jesus Christ in the bread, this allows us to recognize Jesus in our brothers and sisters," even in the most disfigured members of society. Such recognition propels the faithful to service, offering the daily gift of self.

Buttet told his 15-year story of conversion and healing leading to his ordination in 2003.

His first stop after leaving politics was Turin, Italy, where he had gone to volunteer at the Little House of Divine Providence, a hospital dedicated to the care of people with physical disabilities.

Arriving exhausted after travelling from Switzerland, Buttet was invited to make the evening rounds, checking on the people receiving care.

He agreed reluctantly and before long saw that many of the people were in need of a bath. So he helped wash the lame, disabled bodies, his fatigue vanishing as he worked.

After completing the rounds, Buttet went to the chapel to pray before the Eucharist. It was there, he said, that he first began to understand the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. He realized that the eucharistic bread and the frail, bedridden bodies he had just washed were the same body of Christ.

He later volunteered with the Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta, India, then spent five years in a Swiss hermitage. His discernment led to the establishment in 1997 of Fraternite Eucharistein. Eucharistein is a Greek word meaning thanksgiving or gratitude directed toward God.

Based in Switzerland, the community draws upon the spirituality of St. Francis of Assisi. The small community of 24 monks and nuns operates three houses. It received diocesan recognition in June 2003, and one week later Buttet was ordained a priest in the order.

Many people find strength in the Eucharist to continue through difficult circumstances, the priest said. He recounted his experience with a small community of Catholics in rural China, where he celebrated Mass behind a stable so as not to draw the attention of the authorities.

"You could see the hunger in their eyes for the Eucharist," he said.

Buttet told about several young people who experienced conversions and healing before the Eucharist. Many had come to his monastery at the brink of despair, with addictions or deep psychological and spiritual wounds.

The nakedness of Christ is the answer to the scandals of the world, he told congress participants.

"Christ was naked in the manger, naked on the cross and naked on the altar," he said.

Spending time before the Blessed Sacrament allows people to learn directly about Jesus, he added. "His way of being God (in the Eucharist) reveals to us the way of being human."

Copyright © 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 -- Western Catholic Reporter