GO, FATHER, GO

 

For Eugene, having to go to Rome to ask for approbation of the Oblates was a big gamble. The group was small and he risked appearing presumptuous and being rejected in Rome. Leflon describes Eugene’s indecision:

“Once again, the question of journeying to Rome loomed up and three more months rolled by before he could make up his mind. Still hesitant, he very nearly renounced the journey; it was only the pleading of his missionaries and especially the formal requests of Father Albini which overcame his reluctance to take what he felt was a rash step. Bishop Jeancard relates that there had been conversations on the subject between Father Albini and the Founder:

I do not know all the details but they were decisive in determining the Founder. More than once I heard him admit:

“I was finally persuaded when Father Albini pushed me with his two hands and told me: ‘Go, Father, go!’

Father Albini’s urging, made more expressive by this physical impulsion whereby propriety gave way to a feeling of supernatural power, persuaded the Superior-General all the more effectively since he interpreted it as a directive from on High. It was on the strength of those few words, accompanied by such an expressive gesture from one whose sanctity was no secret to the Founder, that he finally reached his decision.”

Leflon, Volume 2, p. 256

 

“Decisiveness is a characteristic of high-performing men and women. Almost any decision is better than no decision at all.”   Brian Tracy

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1 Response to GO, FATHER, GO

  1. Eleanor Rabnett, Oblate Associate says:

    Go Father Go. It sounds like a cheer being sung out at a school game. A pulse, a beat.

    Oh Eugene. I am consoled by your very struggle, even perhaps a little heartened by it. I have found myself identifying with you in many other ways and this is but one more. It does not make my struggle any easier but still…. As I sit here with you and think of the many things that you did in your life, who you were and who you continue to be. I look at the doubts and fears, the risks you took, all which meant so very much to who you were. I look at how you dared, how you moved forward.

    I find myself a little bit all over the place this morning, almost distracted. My mind has wandered much, but always returning to this place here with you. I have been asking who is the Father Albini in my life? Is there a Father Albini in my life? There have been many – there are many, I am surrounded by them. Isn’t it awesome how God picks us up and then sets us down us in the midst God’s own self. We have but to open our eyes to realise what and who we are a part of. God is not asking for me to necessarily reach for the moon, but more perhaps to pick up that one little grain of sand. As I said I am all over the place this morning, but at least I have been given the opportunity to see who are the Fr. Albini in my life and how shall I trust.

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