Our mission puts us on constant call to respond to the most urgent needs of the Church through various forms of witness and ministry, but especially through proclaiming the Word of God which finds its fulfilment in the celebration of the sacraments and in service to others.
CC&RR, Constitution 7
The “most urgent need” for Eugene was for himself and his Oblate family to BE in order to DO. Every page of his writings points to his intention that we not be do-gooder activists responding to a dazzling array of needs. Non-stop activity on behalf of those in need is a sure recipe for burnout and for not being of any use to anyone after a time. Activism is a sure recipe for becoming exhausted, cynical, hyper-critical and a loner.
Our Rule of Life mirrors how Eugene counteracted the “DO syndrome” (as well intentioned as it is) by stressing the response of “various forms of witness and ministry.” First WITNESS and then MINISTRY.
His powerful vision statement, which we know as the Preface, leaves us in no doubt as to where to begin to respond to the deplorable situation and urgent needs of the Church in France, and now to our own. Originally he wrote this for Oblate priests, but the Mazenodian Family has come into being around this vision statement, and so it applies to all:
They are convinced that if priests could be formed, afire with zeal for men’s salvation, priests not given to their own interests, solidly grounded in virtue – in a word, apostolic men deeply conscious of the need to reform themselves, who would labour with all the resources at their command to convert others – then there would be ample reason to believe that in a short while people who had gone astray might be brought back to their long-unrecognized responsibilities. “Take great care about what you do and what you teach,” was Paul’s charge to Timothy, “Always do this, and thus you will save both yourself and those who listen to you” (1 Tim 4: 16).
How, indeed, did our Lord Jesus Christ proceed when he undertook to convert the world? He chose a number of apostles and disciples whom he himself trained in piety, and he filled them with his Spirit. These he sent forth, once they had been schooled in his teaching, to conquer the world which, before long, was to bow to his holy rule.
And how should those who want to follow in the footsteps of their divine Master Jesus Christ conduct themselves if they, in their turn, are to win back the many souls who have thrown off his yoke? They must strive to be saints.
Preface
Only after mapping a list of ways in which they are to become saints, does he then say that the Oblates will be qualified to “spare no effort to extend the Saviour’s empire” and to “lead all to act like human beings, first of all, and then like Christians, and, finally, we must help them to become saints.”
Ministry begins with witness. DOING can only be effective if it is preceded by BEING – otherwise we get lost in the most urgent needs and have no compass or GPS to guide us in our responses. With intentional apostolic community, a focused personal and communitarian spirituality and life of prayer, we have equilibrium and the guarantee of having something solid to offer in our response to the cry of the poor in the most urgent needs of the Church: we serve them as the witnesses and instruments of Jesus the Savior, his co-operators through whom he works.
“Christ has no body now on earth but yours,
no hands but yours,
no feet but yours,
yours are the eyes through which Christ’s compassion is to look out to the earth,
yours are the feet by which He is to go about doing good
and yours are the hands by which He is to bless us now.” St Teresa of Avila
I ask myself what are the most urgent needs of the Church. What are the most urgent needs in my small corner of the Church. I see the term ‘do-gooder’ and wonder what that means – I quickly do a check to see the definition. I look at the very small things that I do for and with others that in the end will most likely not make much of a difference in anything and yet that is my world.
And even as I think this a small part of me rebels. Here I am – someone who wanted to become great before men [before all peoples], someone who wanted to do great things that would change the world and make a difference – a big difference – a noticeable difference. Not going to happen I tell myself with a small laugh.
The word service comes to mind, loving service, not just service for the sake of doing good – service that is born out of love For a moment I think of Our Lady, of Mary our mother – she is for me a most excellent example of that. As I realise what has risen from within me the struggle dies. Service that has arisen not to fill my own needs (there is of course still some of that) but rather out of love – the love of seeing through the eyes of our crucified Christ and responding most often to a poverty which is not always visible.
And how I do that, the spirit which fills my heart and speaks to me – that is the spirit of St. Eugene, the charism that is shared with all of us in the magnificent Mazenodian Family. That is the small gift that I bring to this family which I have been called to be a part of. There is within me at this moment a dawning wonder and strength. I am I realise, finding my place in the very large scheme of things – that small piece of tile that is an integral part of the large mosaic. I dare once again to read the lines above from Constitution 7 and there nothing that precludes me from living that out.
Thank you Lord for this gift of another day of life with you.
Compare with the Pope’s Address to the Dominican General Chapter (Aug 4); interesting foundational echoes!