Continuing to refect on his grief at Dauphin’s death by cholera, Eugene reveals the role of the love of Jesus, represented in the Sacred Heart, in his own life and ministry:
People will understand from this that I am far from wanting to deny or merely hide the sentiments that animate me. Let the one who would blame me, know that I have little regard for his judgment and that I would make every effort to prove to him that I have every reason to thank God, for having given me a heart capable of better understanding that of Jesus Christ our master, who has formed, animates and inspires mine, than all those cold and egotistical intellectuals, who apparently place the heart in the brain, and do not know how to love anyone since, in the final analysis, they love only themselves.
Eugene de Mazenod’s Diary, 4 September 1837, EO XVIII
Sometimes as I sit here with Eugene and reflect on all that life, all that God has given to me; for it is more that I could ever have thought to ask for. Many years ago I would sit quietly at church in front of the Sacred Heart statue, asking God to take my poor little heart and fill it with His own. I saw no change within me and persevered in asking.
Along the way I met the Oblates and then Eugene de Mazenod, St. Eugene de Mazenod. I felt invited to walk with him as he shared his experiences of God with me and all the others who also walked his path. The focus was always returned to Jesus and his way of loving and being. And so over time we began to know Jesus in a deeper and most particular way. I found myself daring to ask what Jesus would do when confronted with challenges or struggles.
It is in walking with Eugene, with The Oblates of Mary Immaculate and with the Mazenodian Family that I come to recognize and realise that it is Jesus, through the eyes of our crucified Saviour, through his most adorable heart that I also am being formed, animated and inspired. My steps are halting, hesitant and uneven as well as exuberant and joyous.
This is not just for great and recognized saints, not just for founders of a congregation, but for all of us. In this time of our new reality of living with a global pandemic this is part of the Good News. This morning I think of Eugene’s 1st Lenten Homily and want to share that with others. I find myself wanting to proclaim the Good News of our lives.
We all walk with Eugene as we allow Jesus to form, animate and inspire our hearts and are then sent out to share the Good News with all we meet along the way.