200 YEARS AGO: THE QUALITY OF THEIR LIVES AND SERVICE

It was not a question of rebuilding monasteries, but of a group of active apostolic missionaries who would carry in the quality of their lives and service something of the spirit of these ancient monastic Orders. Certainly the presence of the Trappist Brother Maur in Eugene’s life from 1812 to 1815 would have had a part to play in sharpening Eugene’s awareness of monastic life.

Article 2. That is why they will strive to reproduce in their persons the piety and fervor of the Religious Orders destroyed in France by the Revolution. Let them strive to become their successors in virtue just as they succeed to their ministry and to the most holy practices of their regular life such as the living of the evangelical counsels, love of solitude, a disregard for the honors of the world, remaining aloof from dissipation, the abhorrence of riches, the practice of mortification, public recitation of the Divine Office in common, ministry to the sick and so on.

1818 Rule, Part One, Chapter One. The ends of the Institute, §2.  Missions, 78 (1951) p.13-14

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1 Response to 200 YEARS AGO: THE QUALITY OF THEIR LIVES AND SERVICE

  1. Eleanor Rabnett, Oblate Associate says:

    Last week and this in our Oblate Studies we have been looking at consecrated life for Eugene, at the Evangelical Counsels and their expressions and vows; all at the service of the mission, in service to the Church and being a part of Apostolic Community. The word ‘freedom’ kept coming to mind as we looked at the various aspects and how they are lived. Not just one or two of them, but all of them together (I am quite unable to separate them) – they are all a part of and connected to the other. When all of them come together and are present within us – that is when we are freed to live as a “group of active apostolic missionaries who would carry in the quality of their lives and service something of the spirit” as described by Eugene above.

    Rather than withdrawing to a monastery, Eugene shows us a way to freely live these gifts in our everyday. Actively with the depth that contemplation brings to us. As members of this Mazenodian Family we find these gifts are shared with each of us to be freely expressed, lived out. It is from here that we discover the quality of our lives and service. The freedom to express and live according to our vocations. I am reminded that St. Eugene did not invite me to join him to become a priest – he invited me to walk with him, to share in the gifts given to him and be a cooperator of the crucified Saviour as called by God.

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