Eugene is enthralled by the wonder of our vocation. It is made in heaven and is an invitation to enter into the realm of heaven by giving us the charge of being nothing less than the co-operators of the Savior!
What more sublime purpose than that of their Institute?
Their founder is Jesus Christ, the very Son of God;
their first fathers are the Apostles.
They are called to be the Savior’s co-workers, the co-redeemers of mankind
Then, conscious of the fact that they are only 6 priests and 3 scholastic seminarians at the moment, his enthusiasm cannot be contained – they have big dreams:
and even though,
because of their present small number and
the more urgent needs of the people around them,
they have to limit the scope of their zeal,
for the time being,
to the poor of our countryside and others,
their ambition should, in its holy aspirations,
embrace the vast expanse of the whole earth
1818 Rule, Part One, Chapter One. The ends of the Institute, §3. Nota Bene.
Missions, 78 (1951) p. 15
Eugene’s daily encounters with the Savior in prayer, and his Bible-rooted spirituality filled him with the confidence to have big dreams: ‘There is no need to be afraid, little flock, for it has pleased your Father to give you the kingdom.” Luke 12:32
He was described as having a heart as big as the world, and with his conviction he could visualize the mustard seed at growth from Aix en Provence – reaching today to all the countries of the world where the members of the Mazenodian family are present..
“The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in his field; it is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.” Matthew 13:31-32
Miracles are a retelling in small letters of the very same story which is written across the whole world in letters too large for some of us to see. C. S. Lewis
More “aha” moments. Each time I read this I am struck by something new. First by the dream and how big it was/is, and how by Eugene’s saying “yes” that dream took root and lives in each of us some how. The idea of the tiny mustard seed, God’s love let loose in each of us when we say yes to following His call. It starts so small, in our very humaness, our frailties and weaknesses, but when nourished and allowed to grow it touches all those around us, everything and everyone around us.
And then by the quote from CS Lewis about the small miracles. We are, each of us, those small miracles in how we live our lives and allow God to be our “raison d’etre” in our very ordinariness. Gods love overflows and pours out through us and into others. So those very small miracles that we are – they truly a part of this whole huge wonderous creation of love.
Thanks so much for all of this today.