Monthly Archives: November 2018

200 YEARS AGO: NOTA BENE –  OBLATION AS A NEW HEART, A NEW SPIRIT, A NEW MISSION

Having enthused about the lofty ideals of the Missionaries and having drawn up the plan of action to achieve them, Eugene now returns to reality. The Nota Bene was written in response to the havoc being caused in the Church … Continue reading

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200 YEARS AGO: NOTA BENE – HUMAN, CHRISTIAN, SAINT

How to make this ideal a reality in the lives of the people the Missionaries were serving? Their methodology had three steps: to make men reasonable then Christians and finally to help them become saints. 1818 Rule, Part One, Chapter … Continue reading

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200 YEARS AGO: NOTA BENE – A HOSPITAL FOR SINNERS

The Rule was written in 1818 as an attempt to review the experiences that the Missionaries had lived for nearly three years and to draw out basic principles for the future. The Nota Bene continues Eugene’s description of the post-revolution … Continue reading

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200 YEARS AGO: NOTA BENE – THE GOLDEN THREAD OF OBLATION

The golden thread of Eugene’s life was to be “all for God” and it is this same concept that is expressed by living for the “glory of God.” It is summed up in the word OBLATION It is the high … Continue reading

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200 YEARS AGO: NOTA BENE – THE LITMUS TEST OF OBLATION

Why have a demanding program of personal and spiritual growth? The answer is provided in a threefold goal, which occurs hundreds of times in Eugene’s writings because he insists that it must be kept in mind constantly: “the glory of … Continue reading

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200 YEARS AGO: NOTA BENE – THEN FILLED WITH CONFIDENCE IN GOD

One of Eugene’s early biographers, Alfred Yenveux, describes this passage as being dressed “from head to foot in this solid armor of virtue” – in the impenetrable metal coat of armor worn by soldiers. Eugene concludes with a call to … Continue reading

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200 YEARS AGO: NOTA BENE – DRESSING HIS MISSIONARIES FROM HEAD TO TOE

“It is only after having dressed his missionaries from head to foot in this solid armor of virtue that Bishop de Mazenod allows himself to say to them: then, full of confidence ….” YENVEUX, A. Les saintes Règles de la … Continue reading

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200 YEARS AGO: NOTA BENE – THE SCHOOL OF JESUS

In his Rule, Eugene shares his enthusiastic vision that embraces the whole world. The way to “become” this ideal is to do what Jesus did: In a word, put into practice the same means our Savior employed when he wanted … Continue reading

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200 YEARS AGO: NOTA BENE – SEE TO IT THAT YOU HAVE SOLIDLY VIRTUOUS PRIESTS

See to it that you have zealous, altruistic and solidly virtuous priests and soon you will bring back to the fold the people who have wandered away from their duties. 1818 Rule, Part One, Chapter One. The ends of the … Continue reading

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200 YEARS AGO: NOTA BENE – EXAMPLE IS LEADERSHIP

The remedy to the tragic situation of the Church – and specifically to the harm done by the “laziness, indifference and corruption among the priests” – proposed by Eugene is that of the good example of the priests. “Example is … Continue reading

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