WITHOUT THIS HELP FROM ON HIGH, THIS BIRTHDAY WOULD HAVE BEEN THE LAST DAY OF MY LIFE

On his 56th birthday, Eugene was spending a few days at his sister’s summer home at St Martin de Pallières. Out on an excursion in a horse-drawn carriage he narrated:

Coming back to St. Martin, my brother-in-law and I tipped over. I hit my head, but my hat saved me and, above all our guardian angels, whom I thanked for drawing me out of the carriage, which was upside down. Without this help from on high, this birthday would have been the last day of my life, but I am sure that at the very moment I was falling, several of God’s friends were praying for me.
For quite some time now, only saints’ prayers have kept me alive. I hope they will help me to work out my salvation which, it seems to me, is daily becoming more difficult.

Eugene de Mazenod’s Diary, 1 August 1837, EO XVIII

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1 Response to WITHOUT THIS HELP FROM ON HIGH, THIS BIRTHDAY WOULD HAVE BEEN THE LAST DAY OF MY LIFE

  1. Eleanor Rabnett, Oblate Associate says:

    Eugene was sure that friends of God were praying for him – this was how he saw others through eyes of love – as them being friends of God. Not just his friends, but rather friends of God.

    God at the centre of everything. This is what seeing through the eyes of our crucified Saviour looks like.

    For Eugene it was not a matter of what he had or had-not done. He did not stop in his story to wonder if they had been going too fast, or if there was something on the road that caused them to falter… For me it seems to be almost instinctive that I look for reasons for what happens. Not always to blame but simply to know why. To walk in the uncertainty is a lot more difficult than to understand and know exactly why something happened.

    No control – just like for Eugene – he was not in control. So complete was his trust though that he ‘knew’ to respond immediately with gratitude toward his Beloved and all of his Beloved’s friends.

    As I sit here this morning with God and Eugene I wonder if somethings just happen. It is not about what happened or what caused something to happen, but rather it is about how we walk through Him, with Him and in Him.

    It becomes quite intentional and for this I need to ask all of God’s friends to pray for me.

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