In the first Rule, the missionaries note their desire to live a life of equilibrium that includes the importance of prayer and study so as not to be empty vessels with nothing to give when they are on mission:
Request to the Capitular Vicars of Aix, 25 January 1816, O.W. XIII n.2 Eugene and his first companions intended a life of equilibrium between receiving and giving. The missionaries need to receive through prayer, study and reflection so as to have something of value to share through their mission. Without this equilibrium they would become clanging cymbals with nothing of substance to offer in their evangelizing activities and without the ability to be evangelized themselves by those who are the most abandoned. Twenty years later, Eugene continued to stress this:
Letter to Eugene Guigues, 27 May 1835, EO VIII n 516 “We take better care of our smartphone than ourselves. We know when the battery is depleted and recharge it” Arianna Huffington |
-
Recent Posts
- MY HEART OF A FATHER WAS FULL OF LOVE FOR YOU WHO ARE DOUBLY MY SON
- WE MUST DISCOVER ALL THESE ADVANTAGES IN THE BLESSED CONGREGATION THAT HAS GIVEN BIRTH TO US
- YOU MUST BE A FATHER TO YOUR NOVICES, YOU MUST BE CLOSE TO THEM IN THEIR DIFFICULTIES AND ENCOURAGE THEM
- THE DREAM BEGINS WITH A TEACHER WHO BELIEVES IN YOU
- THE NEED FOR SPIRITUAL GUIDANCE
Recent Comments
- Eleanor Rabnett, Lay Oblate Associate on WE MUST DISCOVER ALL THESE ADVANTAGES IN THE BLESSED CONGREGATION THAT HAS GIVEN BIRTH TO US
- Eleanor Rabnett, Lay Oblate Associate on YOU MUST BE A FATHER TO YOUR NOVICES, YOU MUST BE CLOSE TO THEM IN THEIR DIFFICULTIES AND ENCOURAGE THEM
- Eleanor Rabnett, Lay Oblate Associate on THE DREAM BEGINS WITH A TEACHER WHO BELIEVES IN YOU
- Eleanor Rabnett, Lay Oblate Associate on THE NEED FOR SPIRITUAL GUIDANCE
- Eleanor Rabnett, Lay Oblate Associate on I RECOMMEND KINDNESS IN YOUR LEADERSHIP
Archives
Meta
-
I began here by thinking of all that I have had to let go of doing. But quickly began to focus on what I have been given, what I have received. I am a passionate person by nature, used to being ‘high energy’ with lots of drive, but of late I have needed to slow down and let go of some of the activities that I have engaged in. I look at Eugene’s letter to Guigues and realize that it has very often been me challenging myself – not always for healthy reasons.
Going back to the bosom of my community can be a daily thing. I begin here in this sacred space and will often return later on during the day to pause and reflect some more. I spend time with my parish community for they are very much a part of me. Within my heart both families (parish and Mazenodian) are very much a part of me. Most clearly it is not just a matter of one or the other.
It hits me like a bombshell – that I am sent, I am a missionary in my own right, that I am sent and that I am able to return to my community. One is almost a base that allows me to go out, to take part in another. I am fed and can help to feed others. They have in my heart become somehow wedded and each calls me to go deeper into the other.
I was looking through the lens of a glass that was half empty and here now as I prepare to go out it is in view of a glass that is half full. When I stop looking at what is not I begin to see what is. I am given much.