GOD’S PLANS THWARTED BY HUMAN WEAKNESS AND OPPOSITION

Reflecting on the grace he had received in prayer, Eugene approached the situation realistically. He saw two obstacles to the fulfillment of God’s plan for the Missionaries. The first was his own personal lack of virtue to be as effective an instrument as God would have wanted him to be.

The conclusion was that with more virtues I would have more wisdom and ability to overcome all obstacles;

Secondly, it was the obstacles themselves that the Missionaries were facing – in this case from the priests of Aix and Marseille, as we have seen in previous entries.

the way they presented themselves to view, I saw them as if they were in battle formation and all the more formidable in that the persons on whom we depend are placed in the forefront – not so much like other enemies to fight us openly and seek like them to destroy us – but to neutralize all the efforts inspired by our zeal and to prevent, in the name of God whom they represent, all that God demands of us… We have a new proof of this in the disagreements…

Letter to Henri Tempier, 15 August 1822, EO VI n 86

 

A certain amount of opposition is a great help to a man. Kites rise against, not with, the wind.”        Lewis Mumford

This entry was posted in LETTERS and tagged , . Bookmark the permalink.

2 Responses to GOD’S PLANS THWARTED BY HUMAN WEAKNESS AND OPPOSITION

  1. Eleanor Rabnett, Oblate Associate says:

    I never fail to be amazed at how God works in my life and who God chooses to bring the message. Of course it would be Eugene, for am I staying here in his house in Aix. Daily a spend a little time with him, sitting below his picture in the chapel, asking him to lead me, to hold me as a father does a daughter and to pray for me.

    The message today is an age-old one perhaps, in how we treat each other, so often in the name of God and of the church. It is our reality no matter what age we live in or who is a part of our greater community. Why is it that we seem to find it threatening to hear the message spoken by others, using perhaps different ideas and words when really we are all searching for the same thing, God – trying to serve and live God’s love in our lives with one another? And when we are confronted with these obstacles of our humanity – do we turn away and give up, do we strike back at those who seem to be against us, or do we step back just un petit peu, a little bit, and look with love for a way around the obstacles (usually people), another way to present them?

    This saying by Lewis Mumfort. Here I am learning to rise above, to find more avenues to live my beliefs and passion because of the little oppositions I receive. Yesterday I felt vulnerable and naked because of my little poverty of not having control of the language here as I would with English. I think by allowing that poverty to show it somehow strengthened both me and those I was talking to. It is true that I am becoming stronger because of the everyday little obstacles (walls). So I do thank God for them, for those behind these obstacles, nothing is insurmountable with God – everything is possible. I learn more about love, how I can both give and receive it.

    Today I will walk in the footsteps of St Eugene in Marseille – may I somehow find a way to love as did Eugene.

  2. Jack Lau, OMI says:

    Once again we see this tension between the prophet life of the religious and the institution of the clerical church. We don’t have to say either or here. Both are necessary and part of the whole. Yet when the voice of the prophet who welcomes all to the table and into fellowship is drowned out by the need of lock step conformity and exclusion, we have a problem.
    Eugene spoke the language of the people; the farmer, the women on the docks and youth on the street. So like Eugene we are call to live in great virtue/to be ourselves; not by following the rules but by being open to the grace of the Spirit that transforms us not from the outside in but by the inside out.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *