I FEEL A NEED TO HELP OUT MY OWN JUDGMENT WITH THEIR IDEAS AND HELPFUL ADVICE

Eugene never took major decisions for the Congregation without a process of consultation. In regard to the invitation to send Oblates to Corsica, he shares the process with Father Guibert , who was one of his most trusted councilors.

My dear friend, today isn’t the first time I’ve bewailed the necessity of being separated from the men Providence has given me as councillors in the administration of the family.
I wouldn’t want to arrive at any decisions without hearing all of them; I feel a need to help out my own judgment with their ideas and helpful advice, inspired as they are with zeal for the family’s prosperity and the Church’s good in the exercise of the ministry that it embraces.
At this particular moment, more than ever, I would have liked to dialogue with you especially, before taking a decision which must have very great consequences, but it does not admit of the least delay. I am obliged to reply immediately, and once again I am afraid of not having enough time for the letter to arrive which must decide me, not on a mere changing of personnel, but on a real upheaval in our houses…
How can I put down on paper, in effect, the content of six days’ continuous dialogue with the sole assistant to whom I have access? I have weighed everything, pondered on it all; I have put all the objections to myself. I have considered all the disadvantages, and the inescapable conclusion is that we must be prepared for any sacrifice at all if we are not going to reproach ourselves for closing the door that Providence is opening to us.

Letter to Hippolyte Guibert, 18 October 1834, EO VIII n 493

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1 Response to I FEEL A NEED TO HELP OUT MY OWN JUDGMENT WITH THEIR IDEAS AND HELPFUL ADVICE

  1. Eleanor Rabnett, Oblate Associate says:

    In a world of instant information and communication it is easy to forget that it has not always been like this. Earlier this month I emailed an Oblate who I had met, wanting to connect with him in his new ministry. A week and a half later he responded telling me that he must travel 13 hours to get to a place where there is internet – to respond. Hard to imagine as I sit here each morning in communion with all who come to listen as ‘Eugene speaks to and with us’.

    The Spirit speaks to us and we must discern and pray so that we can realize, experience and hear what we are being given; we then try to clarify, usually by speaking and sharing with another of where we are at, what we believe God is calling us to. Sometimes we need to ensure that indeed God is calling us to something quite specific and that it is not what we ‘want’ God to be asking of us.

    I think of when Eugene was discerning what God was calling him to do and be as a young priest. His friend Forbin Janson was urging him to join the Missionaries of France who were responding to the Pope’s call on how the Church in France could respond to the devastation that was wreaked during the French Revolution. While the idea appealed to Eugene there was ‘something missing’ that stopped him from immediately accepting the invitation. He prayed, pondered and listened to the Word of God most closely. Then thanking Forbin Janson he called together a group of like-minded priests to respond; yes to what the Pope was asking for, but even more than that – to serve the poorest of the poor, those who were most abandoned by the structures of the Church at that time.

    Sometimes the call is such that we must respond – trusting that God will walk with us step-by-step. I am reminded of our Rule of Life: “With daring humility and trust – To seek out new ways for the Word of God to reach their hearts often calls for daring; to present Gospel demands in all clarity should never intimidate us. Awareness of our own shortcomings humbles us, yet God’s power makes us confident as we strive to bring all people …” (C 8)

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