THE GOAL OF OUR INSTITUTE IS THE EXACT SAME GOAL THAT THE SON OF GOD HAD IN MIND WHEN HE CAME DOWN ON EARTH

Eugene’s sentiments about the Rule of Life were not focused on the Rule itself, but how it is a vehicle that reflects God’s love and will for each of us. The importance of the Rule is that it expresses the heart of our vocation. He quotes directly from the Rule to show this:

Will we ever have an adequate understanding of this sublime vocation! For that one would have to understand the excellence of our Institute’s end, beyond argument the most perfect one could propose to oneself in this world, since the end of our Institute is the exact same end that the Son of God had in mind when he came down on earth. The glory of his heavenly Father and the salvation of souls.
“For the Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost.” [Luke 19: 10], he was sent especially to evangelize the poor “He has sent me to evangelize the poor” [Luke 4:18].
And we have been founded precisely to work for the conversion of souls, and especially to evangelize the poor, ”the end of this small Society… is … as brothers living together and seeking to imitate the virtues and example of our Savior Jesus Christ, principally by devoting themselves to evangelizing the poor.”

Retreat notes, October 1831, EO XV n. 163

Here we have the vocation of everyone connected with the charism and spirituality of Saint Eugene.

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1 Response to THE GOAL OF OUR INSTITUTE IS THE EXACT SAME GOAL THAT THE SON OF GOD HAD IN MIND WHEN HE CAME DOWN ON EARTH

  1. Eleanor Rabnett, Oblate Associate says:

    The Rule – giving voice to, expressing the heart of our vocation. It’s relevance still total; like the Gospel – timeless and growing outward rather than fencing itself into irrelevancy. Like the Word of God, authored by the Holy Spirit through Eugene de Mazenod. Do I really believe it is of God – there is no other way of looking at it – at least not through my eyes.

    We don’t do this for ourselves -the gift given to us that we wish to share is not reserved for one person alone. I do not find the joy within myself but rather it comes from the other(s). There is wonder in that, joy and that God should call me to share with others what I have been given. I think of the mother or father who holds their baby and the joy they receive as they see their child become aware of them, of the love between them. There is no joy like that.

    To think that God’s call to me is to love like that, like Jesus did. I think of Frank’s description of Chiara Lubich who fell deeply and wildly in love with God. That has been my own experience. And I remember that when that happened I told a dear friend that the only way that I would be able to love others would be to give my all to God and through God I would love others. (Barely knew how to express myself – those were the words that I spoke.) Not a matter of just myself but the urgency of how I might share it with others. And I had my own view of those others for they were the ones who had been lost like myself, that no one else noticed or cared about, the ones that were in such deathly pain (who I now call the most abandoned, who like me for many reasons were not touched by the Church).

    We began this morning with “…how it [the Rule of Life] is a vehicle that reflects god’s love and will for each of us. The importance of the Rule is that it expresses the heart of our vocation. And it finished off with the invitation to reflect on: “Here we have the vocation of everyone connected with the charism and spirituality of St. Eugene.” I want to give thanks as I head out and greet the world.

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