TWO HUNDRED YEARS LATER: THE CALL TO EXPRESS OUR GRATITUDE THROUGH A RENEWED APPRECIATION OF OUR RULE

What gratitude, in keeping with such a favour, can we possibly offer to God who is so great and so good?

Continuing his reflection on the meaning of the papal approval, Eugene stresses that the only way that we can respond to God’s goodness towards us is by being faithful to our oblation so as to be more committed bearers of the Word and bringers of life through a greater appreciation of the meaning of our Constitutions and Rules.

Is it not by being consumed by the fire of devotion and by performing with an even greater eagerness and joy than ever the duties of our holy vocation?
If until now you have just been trying out as a model for your life this Rule, which has become so precious to you and whose holy guidance has won the support of the illustrious and venerable bishops of the dioceses which for ten years now you have ceaselessly toured while preaching repentance;
if, I say, it is thus you have been bearers of the Word and bringers of life to the peoples you have evangelized, what will you be in the future now that, with the strength and support that Apostolic authority gives to our Institute as well as to our Rules and Constitutions, our so young and recent Society has been raised to the dignity of a religious Congregation like the venerable Societies which have preceded us, for example those of the Priests of the Mission of Saint Vincent de Paul, of the Most Holy Redeemer, of the Most Holy Cross and of the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ, etc.?

Letter to all the Oblates, 25 March 1826, EO VII n 232

Our 200-year history could be summed up as a history of faithfulness to the spirit of the Rule given to us by the Church, through St Eugene. In the spirit of this letter, Eugene invites each of us to celebrate this milestone by looking back at the missionary fruits that this Rule has produced. Then he invites us to respond by familiarizing ourselves more deeply with our present Rule of Life as Oblates, and making it more consciously the basis of our personal and communitarian strategic renewal. Each member of the larger Mazenodian family is invited to do the same with the particular Rule of Life to which they are committed.

 

“Top athletes understand that to play at their best, they must alternate periods of intense performance with periods of strategic renewal.”   Robin S. Sharma

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1 Response to TWO HUNDRED YEARS LATER: THE CALL TO EXPRESS OUR GRATITUDE THROUGH A RENEWED APPRECIATION OF OUR RULE

  1. Eleanor Rabnett, Oblate Associate says:

    This morning I find myself sitting in the immensity, the magnitude of God’s love. So great is it, so all encompassing and unrelenting that we can do nothing less than to offer our very selves, all that we are.

    Yesterday we celebrated the Trinity, that glorious mystery that is our God. I shall never be able to find adequate words to explain the glory of God, the full nature of our God and yet there is within me a hidden place that knows intimately the Trinity, the full nature of God. A place within, a part of myself that is divine. I can only recognize it is there and ask to one day be fully consumed by it, by God.

    It is from here that I recognize and respond to the call of sharing in Eugene’s charism and sharing a way of life quite deliberately. A call within a call, which if I surrender to, will bring unparalleled joy and life. Eugene has called me to share in his gift, his spirituality, as a layperson, as an Oblate Associate. How do I do that? How do I give in to such inspiration and passion and live in such a deliberate and formed way?

    Frank writes: “Eugene invites each of us to celebrate this milestone by looking back at the missionary fruits that this Rule has produced. Then he invites us to respond by familiarizing ourselves more deeply with our present Rule of Life as Oblates, and making it more consciously the basis of our personal and communitarian strategic renewal. Each member of the larger Mazenodian family is invited to do the same with the particular Rule of Life to which they are committed.” Lived, imperfectly at best – but still lived. I am thinking of Rule 37 at this moment and even of Rule 35 which we seem to be living as we go through this process of renewal as a Province and the Triennium process as a congregation.

    God has given so much. “What gratitude, in keeping with such a favour, can we possibly offer to God who is so great and so good?” “Is it not by being consumed by the fire of devotion and by performing with an even greater eagerness and joy than ever the duties of our holy vocation?”

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