Once Eugene had been installed as Bishop of Marseilles. one of his first actions was to insist that the diocesan priests stop living alone, or with their families, and come to live together as a community of priests in the parish they cared for. Eugene was a religious and was convinced of the importance of community life and the mutual priestly support needed for successful parish ministry. It was to be an uphill battle for the next 24 years, because the majority preferred their independence to the yoke of community life
Letter to M. Gay, parish priest of Cassis, to invite him to come to an agreement with me regarding the arrangements for the new situation that I have arranged for him. I very clearly express to him my unshakable intention of establishing community life for the pastor and the curates in all the parishes successively, while starting with his.
Eugene de Mazenod’s Diary, 11 February 1838, EO XIX
Apostolic community was the foundation and the reason for the success of all the Oblate ministries. Eugene was convinced of the efficacity of this Biblical model of discipleship which gave witness to the ongoing presence of the Savior – despite the human difficulties sometimes encountered:
“Now the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common. With great power the apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all.”(Acts 4:32-33)
Years ago I found my way to AA which taught me a way to ‘live’ and grow. Sobriety enabled me to meet Jesus, to fall wildly and forever in love with my God. A very particular way of life.
40 years later I still tend believe it to be the best way for others who have the same illness as me so that they can realise true living. And while I still believe this is the only way for me to have attained sobriety – it is not necessarily the only way for others.
Community life looks different for all of us and so God calls us to a way that is best suited for us.
Today I look at the intersecting communities that I belong to. There is the Mazenodian Family which is perhaps my base, foundational community. It is from here that I move out and here that I share my experience of God. All the other communities intersect and overlap within this founding community; yet even this is a part of greater communities – the Church. My parish community which I have belonged to for more than half of my life, and within my parish the smaller communities that allow and help me to thrive.
Eugene and his sons and daughters; models for me; and their models who go back to the time of Jesus and his apostles. And it from this stance that I move out and share who I am. The “Way” has grown and expanded.
In thinking of Eugene trying mandate how all of the priests in his diocese were to live, I find myself looking at some others who I struggle with as they try to mandate or simply request that I fall in with their ways of journeying. And I can no longer ignore how I wish some others to live as I live.
I am a part of all that I have met;
Yet all experience is an arch wherethro’
Gleams that untravell’d world whose margin fades
For ever and forever when I move.
This is how we learn to live with all those we love.