The demands of the missions were far greater than the small number of Oblates could accomplish. Yet, new members could not be manufactured at will. It all depended on God calling people to this way of life.
The novitiate is going well; there are two priests who are about to issue forth fully-armed for war, on the devil of course. Most of the others have finished their theology, and they will be priests in the year following their oblation. In the meantime we must suffer in patience, and especially not try to go faster than God urges us. He knows the needs of his Church and our good will.
Letter to Bruno Guigues, 17 January 1835, EO VIII n 502
As he does every other day, “Eugene speaks to us”, to me this morning. I have had to struggle to listen, to hear perhaps – but he does speak to me.
“It all depended on God calling people to this way of life.” There it is – the crux of the matter and how we respond or react. I think about all the inner struggles that Eugene was going through at that particular time and yet he ‘stayed the course’; perhaps not perfectly or placidly but still he stayed the course. For some reason I think of the lyrics from the movie Jesus Christ Superstar when Jesus is in the garden “Gethsemane – I only want to say” – in the story of another who ‘stayed the course’.
I notice that Eugene writes we must suffer in “patience” – not silence. A subtle difference, for patience suggests that we allow ourselves to be carried – by God. It does not suggest that our struggles and sufferings will necessarily end, only that we will be able to endure them. I think of Eugene’s struggles and his way of being before 1832 and what he looks like in 1837. He is being transformed by God –such is the effect upon him and his counsel to Bruno Guigues comes out of this. Funny how he doesn’t change and yet how he does change as God carries him.
Thanks Frank. I really like that thought shared today. Sometimes I forget it myself!
Keep it coming. All the best. Kirk