After our short pause, we return to the activities of Eugene and the Missionaries of Provence in 1819. We had just concluded reflecting on the writings on the mission preached in Barjols.
To keep the momentum moving, the Missionaries usually tried to make a return visit to the place where they had preached. [See entry of 22 March 2011]
In April 1819, Eugene and two Missionaries returned to Barjols for the religious activities connected with the return of mission.
The reception given in Barjols, shows the effect that the Missionaries had had on the population – despite the opposition of the Mayor, who had tried to prevent the return of mission:
… Such an act could not stop us and we set out. The enthusiasm of the whole grateful population must have been at times quite unpleasant to the small number of ill-wishers who had hatched this plot. M. Guigou [ed. Vicar General of Aix] had in the meantime written to the Prefect who excused himself on the pretext that he had never given such an order.
It is marvellous to see what is happening in this region… If the vast field of the missions give us such great consolation, we have in return a lot of grief to put up with round about us.
Letter to Henri Tempier, 26 April 1819, O.W. VI n. 42
This echoes the sentiment of Paul, who also reminded the people of Thessalonica of his ministry among them:
Surely you remember, brothers, our toil and hardship; we worked night and day…
For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children, encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory.
And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is at work in you who believe.
1 Thessalonians 2:9-13
“They tell me a revival is only temporary; so is a bath, but it does you good.”
Billy Sunday
Again I see in St. Eugene such wisdom. When I look at my life and the number of times (countless actually) that God has forgiven me, taken me back, renewed and ‘revived’ me. It is a part of my life in God. And I reflect on the reception he got the 2nd time around in Barjols – not unexpected because he and his merry men must have been so threatening on many levels to the power positions of the day.
I keep wanting to go back to forgiveness with this reading. It reminds me of where I am right now and how I need to keep going back and forgiving – it seems over and over again – oops just as has been done for me. So forgiving and trying again and again and to just keep going.
Thank God for revivals – of all types. Without them we would, I suspect, keep working on until we run out of life. We all need that reinforcement in both giving and receiving.