THE POOR ONE WHO WAS CHOSEN WAS UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF THE SUPERABUNDANT GRACE OF GOD

Writing to his bishop uncle, Eugene described his experience during the ceremony of episcopal consecration. The presence of God was tangible:

This great deprivation apart, which I could not help but feel, everything went wonderfully well. It even seems that thanks to the tangible and wholly gratuitous outpouring of the gifts of the Holy Spirit this ceremony will live on in the memory, it was so dignified, majestic, edifying: the poor one who was chosen was under the influence or impression of the superabundant grace of God, so good, so generous; and when his emotion which it was impossible for him to hide was perceived, both by the consecrating bishops and those assisting, they shared the same feeling and tears flowed from all eyes in the midst of this general recollection which I was assured prevailed far more than it does usually…
There, then, my dear uncle, you have the consolations that God in his goodness granted me along with others of a more hidden nature.

To Bishop Fortuné de Mazenod, Bishop of Marseilles, 14 October 1832, EO XV n 168

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1 Response to THE POOR ONE WHO WAS CHOSEN WAS UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF THE SUPERABUNDANT GRACE OF GOD

  1. Eleanor Rabnett says:

    Eugene began in the first person and then moved into the third person as if he was but a spectator. And even as I write these words I remember a small lesson – safeguarding himself and his community, his family should he letters fall into the hands of the government.

    I re-read this – trying to move from the head to the heart, from thinking to reflecting. “…the poor one who was chosen was under the influence or impression of the superabundant grace of God…” It was only because God inferred immense grace upon him that he was there – not through any of his own efforts, tactics or maneuvering. I think of how God chose Mary; how God chose Jesus, the son of a carpenter from Galilee; how God chose St. Paul… I think of how God chose Ignatius and Francis and Eugene. I think of how God has chosen each of us, how God has chosen me; me – not because of any great merit or worth – I have not earned it.

    The number of times in a given day that I say aloud – that one thing or another in my life is there only thanks to the grace of God. My life as it is – only because of the grace of God, each moment of joy, each connection with another, each breath… a moment of wonder for I did not teach myself to breathe – something so ordinary – extraordinary. The presence of God is tangible as I move into my day and weekend.

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