On Saturday December 17 in Madrid, the beatification ceremony will take place of 23 martyrs: one, who was a husband and father, and 22 Oblate religious and priests who were put to death in 1936 because of who they were and what they stood for. In recent weeks we have been exploring the writings of Saint Eugene regarding the spirit of his youth ministry in Aix en Provence. This week I would like to commemorate the Spanish Martyrs as I continue the theme of Eugene speaking to us through young people, but not through his physical words. Rather, it is all about the spirit of Eugene having been transmitted to 22 of these martyrs, which enabled them to live the fullness of their “oblation” a century after him.
Eugene’s ideals for his youth in Aix continued in these Spanish martyrs because they were young themselves. The youngest was 18, the next oldest was 19, and sixteeen others were in their twenties.
In 1929, the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate acquired a farm in Pozuelo de Alarcon, a town just outside Madrid, which become the Major Seminary. In 1936, the town had about 2,000 inhabitants and consisted of farmers and of labourers. The labour unions were able to penetrate the labour environment and began to spread republican and anticlerical slogans which had in their sights the Oblates, who were prominent in the pastoral ministry in the area.
From 1931 onwards the anti-church climate saw violent outbursts in various areas in the vicinity of Pozuelo, but the Oblates continued with what they were doing. In the first half of 1936, the threats, “Down with the clergy! Death to the friars” were more commonly heard. Rumors were openly circulating that the Oblates were enemies of freedom, oppressors of the people, that they encouraged capitalism, and that they had an arsenal of hidden weapons in the scholasticate.
All this was to lead to the death of 22 Oblates between July and November 1936…
With no regular posting today I have stepped back a year and now wonder what this offers to me. I look at the faces of the young men and marvel at their fidelity, to their community, to each other and to God. Would I have their strength and courage. I automatically say no of course not, but there is in me a small voice that whispers, yes – maybe, perhaps. The plain truth – I don’t know for God has not asked that of me. But never-the-less I do marvel at the love of these men for just to live in the atmosphere of hatred and oppression as they did – scary stuff.
Overall though this morning is the title: “Saint Eugene speaks through the Spanish martyrs”. Would, could the spirit of Saint Eugene speak through me? Since my last retreat I have felt called to pray for the world in a different, more specific way. What started as an intentional prayer for all of mankind has grown and become more defined, to where I now pray daily for those who are the most hated and reviled among us, those who do not know the love and tenderness of the Lord, those who have no hope, those that have no one but the Lord to love them, those who have no one to pray for them. I feel the need to pray for the abusers of this world, the dictators and the mass murderers of the worst sort, for those who traffic in human slavery and those who promote, encourage and ensure there are child soldiers, for those who promoted death of the church and clerics as was done in Spain and which led up to the martyrdom of young Olates. The list is long and endless and yet there is a cry within me for these men and women. They have become for me the poorest of the poor. They have become for me the ones I am called to pray for because I know of no other way to love them – for as close as they are they are also worlds apart from where I sit right now. It is and is not easy to love them, it is not easy to pray for them and yet in the depth of me they have become a part of my heart. It has become very intentional, it has become very personal. I have no idea of where it is going at all. Each morning I name them and gather them into my heart in the only way I know how – in prayer.
I have started to think that it is not just me, it has to be a “we”, because just me is not enough. Are there others who pray this way? Most likely they are and I have simply not heard of them. I can’t be the only one for sure. Maybe I just need to hook-up with them somehow. It is I think the spirit of Eugene that has brought me to this and shown me how I might further open my heart. It is less a doing thing than a being thing. There is a small part of me whispering to Eugene that I am not entirely “comfortable” with where I am sitting right now and I want to blame him! These are not the easy ones to love. I find myself asking; “what, you couldn’t have found something a little easier for me to look at?” The spirit of Eugene, it is alive and living and it is not entirely comfortable at all.
Pingback: THE FOUNDING VISION TODAY: COMPANIONS IN OBLATION – BLESSED CÁNDIDO CASTÁN SAN JOSÉ AND THE FIRST GROUP OF SPANISH OBLATE MARTYRS | Eugene de Mazenod speaks to us