Joseph Capmas had been a priest for 13 years before joining the Oblates. Once he had made his vows as an Oblate he brought his many talents to the preaching of missions. Eugene expressed his admiration to Fr. Courtès
… Fr. Capmas is working wonders in the Dauphiné.
Letter to Hippolyte Courtès, 8 March 1830, EO VII n 343
Yvon Beaudoin writes in the Oblate Historical Dictionary:(http://www.omiworld.org/en/dictionary/historical-dictionary_vol-1_c/636/capmas-joseph-th-odore-martial/ )
In 1830, he was at Notre-Dame du Laus and worked with Father Guibert preaching missions. On April 7, 1830 Father Guibert wrote the Founder that “Father Capmas has achieved a complete grasp of the nature of these missions. His preaching is appropriate for the general population and for the learned as well. His zeal is untiring. He stops at nothing. I have often been obliged to temper his enthusiasm and to take some palliatives.”
For Jesus, all disciples who use their time and talents to make him known as loving Savior, are wonder-workers. As he rejoiced when the disciples told him about their preaching, so he continues to rejoice today as we continue proclaiming him through the quality of our lives and service. Wonder-workers in our everyday lives – the Savior’s wonder-workers.
I sometimes have a niggling feeling that we are being led these days but am unable to see where it is. It is like being led out to a road in the darkness before dawn and being told to take the path in front of me, that I will find what I am looking for as I journey along. It is what I see along the way, the people that I meet on that path during the day that speak to my heart, and nourish my being. There is a central thread or a couple of central threads running through it all – as if the universe itself conspires to open the eyes of my being with all that I meet, and every instance coming together with whoever led me out to the road in the first place. The Saviour’s wonder-workers.
Over the course of each day God leads and feeds me and brings me to where I am at. Having several periods of daily reflections I find that they all seem to come together even though the source, the nourishment is not from the same oven or bowl. Not the universe conspiring to ensure that I be and grow – something infinitely greater than that –the Holy Spirit. Yet it is always rather ordinary (except for the quiet and brilliant fireworks going off in the background of my being that seem to fill me with equally quiet and life-changing wonder and awe).
There seems to be precious little about Fr. Capmas but with his death Eugene felt called to sit up and take notice – not to wait until a doctor prescribed if one of them was dying, but rather they who knew and loved each other needed to take note of their brothers, to follow their hearts with something as little as giving them the viaticum when they believed it was the right time.
So what does this look like in my life? As I have reflected here the images of many wonder-workers in my everyday life have passed before me. The Saviour’s wonder-workers. I am blessed.