Eugene de Mazenod speaks to us

Wishing you many blessings in 2021 – especially health and peace.

Looking forward to continuing our spiritual journey with Saint Eugene together.

For the prayer texts please go to: https://sites.google.com/view/mazenodianfamily/monthly-oraison/december-20-2020

For further information and free registration go to: https://ost.edu/christmas2020/

Invitation to our monthly oraison with the Mazenodian Family.

More info at https://tiny.cc/oraison

Pope John Paul 2 concluded his homily at the canonization ceremony with these words:

Through patient work on himself, he was able to discipline a difficult character and govern his diocese with enlightened wisdom and firm goodness. Bishop de Mazenod led the faithful to welcome Christ in an ever more generous faith in order to live fully their vocation as children of God. His entire action was animated by a conviction which he expressed in these words: “To love the Church is to love Jesus Christ and vice versa.
Brothers and Sisters, Eugene de Mazenod invites us to follow him to present ourselves all together to the Savior who comes, the Child of Bethlehem, the Son of God made man…

Today the Church gives thanks to God for St. Eugene de Mazenod, apostle of his time, who, clothed with the Lord Jesus Christ, spent his life in service to the Gospel of God. We give thanks to God for the great transformation accomplished through the work of this Bishop. His influence is not limited to the time in which he lived, but continues to affect our time as well. Indeed, the good accomplished in virtue of the Holy Spirit does not perish, but lasts in every “hour” of history.
Thanks be to God!

Father Paolo Archiati, our Vicar General writes:

“The connection between St. Eugene, the Oblates, and the liturgical season of Advent does not stop there… Even Pope Francis, meeting the capitulars on 7 October 2016, in the sala clementina, took what was said years ago by his predecessor, inviting the Oblates of today to be “men of Advent” as well. It is an invitation that Pope Francis addressed not only to the members of the 36th General Chapter, but through them, to the whole Congregation, to each Oblate. Having said that St. Eugene was “obedient to the Holy Spirit in reading the signs of the times and assisting the work of God in the history of the Church”, the Pope addressed to us this invitation: “May you also be ‘men of Advent’, capable of grasping the signs of the new times and guiding our brothers and sisters in the ways that God opens in the Church and in the world”. It is a challenging invitation, especially if we consider what he said immediately after: “The Church is living, together with the whole world, an era of great transformations, in the most diverse fields. She needs men who carry in their hearts the same love for Jesus Christ that lived in the heart of the young Eugene de Mazenod, and the same unconditional love for her, which strives to be ever more open. It is important to work for a Church that is for everyone, a Church ready to welcome and accompany! The work to be done to accomplish all of this is vast; and you too have your specific contribution to offer”.

PRAYING WITH SAINT EUGENE DE MAZENOD

Loving Father, you blessed your Bishop Saint Eugene de Mazenod with the gift of hope.

From an early age, he experienced emotional pain and brokenness.  Amidst the many mysteries of life, you allowed him to know the uncertainty of a family broken by divorce, a nation disjoined by political revolution and a Church debilitated by religious persecution.

Through his intercession, help us now to do what he did: to draw close to your Son, Jesus the Savior.  Believing that we are saved by His death and resurrection, give us the courage and strength to face our own uncertainties and personal brokenness.

Guide us by the Spirit to decide and to live each day for your honor and glory.  By this prayer, may we receive our own healing, obtain a share of St. Eugene’s “missionary heart” to proclaim God’s Good News, and gain for ourselves and others a future filled with hope.  Come and bless us.  Amen.

Charles Banks OMI

See also

Jesús Hernández Serrano carrying a relic of St Eugene at the canonization ceremonyJesús Hernández Serrano carrying a relic of St Eugene at the canonization ceremony

Beginning in March, 1987, a Mexican citizen Jesús Hernández Serrano, a 55 year old married man from Mexico City, born in 1932, with two children, was under medical treatment. On May 4, 1987 he was diagnosed with cholangiocarcinoma, a malignant growth in the biliary duct system. These cancerous tumors of the bile ducts are usually quite advanced by the time they are found. Symptoms may include fever, loss of appetite, pain in the upper right abdomen, weight loss, yellowing of the skin. When possible, surgery to remove the tumor is the treatment of choice, and may result in a cure. At that time, when surgery to cure the cancer was not possible, life was limited to 3, and a maximum of 5, more years. By May, 1987, the patient had lost 30 kg of weight and developed into a more and more serious state. Since he was too weak, he was not able to undergo chemotherapy or surgery.  The doctors decided on treatment to reduce the pain.  On May 12 he left the hospital. On June 7, 1987, the family, living in an Oblate Parish, decided to pray the novena to blessed Eugene de Mazenod. The prayer was joined by the parish’s congregation. A prayer group visited the house of the sick morning and evening for the novena prayer. On June 15, the last day of the novena, the pain became more intense. During the night of June 16-17, the sick man fell into a terminal state. But, on June 17, the sick person was healed. He was able to get up and to wash himself. From that day on, he got better and better. After more than one week, the healed person was able to leave the house for the first time. By the end of the year he was back to work. Medical tests in 1987, 1988, 1990, 1991 and 1993 clearly indicated that the cancer was completely gone. Doctors described the cure as exceptional and scientifically inexplicable. In April/May of 1993, the diocesan inquiry of a possible miracle through the intercession of Blessed Eugene de Mazenod was held in the Archdiocese of Mexico City.  In March, 1994, the medical Congress of the Vatican Congregation for the Causes of Saints confirmed the miraculous cure. The miracle led to the Canonization of Eugene de Mazenod in 1995.

Some Miracles and Favours received

From the canonization homily:

 Eugene de Mazenod had, in fact, felt very deeply the universality of the Church’s mission. He knew that Christ wanted to unite the entire human race to himself. That is why he paid special attention throughout his life to the evangelization of the poor, wherever they were found.

Founded in Provence, in his native region, the Congregation was not slow in spreading “to the ends of the earth.”  Through preaching based on meditation on the Word of God, it put into practice the exhortations of Saint Paul: “How can one believe without having heard the Word of the Lord? How can one hear his Word if no one has proclaimed it?” Proclaiming Christ,  for Eugene de Mazenod, meant becoming that apostolic man whom every age needs, with the spiritual fervor and missionary zeal that gradually configured him to the Risen Christ.

Pope John Paul 2