After Eugene’s death a General Chapter of the Oblates was convoked in 1861. At the opening session two of the senior members of the Congregation spoke: Father Tempier and Bishop Guibert.
Father Tempier opened the General Chapter by declaring his conviction regarding Eugene:
“This Venerable Man is no longer with us, but his spirit continues to live always in the heart of his children ….”
Bishop Guibert’s address echoed the same sentiments, speaking of the Oblate Congregation as our “mother”:
“Yes, our Father has died, but know that our Mother remains; and I regard her as being immortal; she will live by the spirit of her Founder.”
Joseph Fabre, who was elected to be Eugene’s successor, concluded the Chapter of 1861 by saying:
“I feel the assistance of our much loved Founder; he has not left us!
I was at his deathbed and said to him, “You will always be among us.” “Yes,” he replied, and he has kept his promise.
He remains among us through the Holy Rule which he had left us, and which is the expression of his love for God and the salvation of souls: it is the glorious testament of his enormous heart, and in observing it we will find all our strength.”
On Good Friday, almost forty years ago I was with a community; we were in the chapel, having prostrated ourselves before God. Jesus had just died. And as I lay on the floor I heard music playing – the sound of a hundred thousand trumpets singing in triumph. So real and so loud was it that I stood up and looked around this small little chapel in the woods – I wanted to see the source of it but could not. I returned to my position on the floor experiencing terror and elation. My only thought at that moment was that Jesus had died and that the heavens were recognizing him, embracing him. This was the glory of God. And that experience of the sound of the glory of God has remained with me in perfect clarity over the years.
This morning those sounds are bathed in a new light. Indeed this morning it is as if a light has been turned on and I find myself sitting in flashes of brilliance that are not of my own but rather the glory of God. A light so great that it surpasses the dawn which has yet to arise; a light so great that it bathes the universe and beyond with its brilliance.
“He remains among us through the Holy Rule which he had left us, and which is the expression of his love for God and the salvation of souls: it is the glorious testament of his enormous heart, and in observing it we will find all our strength.”
The words of Joseph Fabre, first successor to Eugene de Mazenod as Superior General sum up what I am, what we are all about.
There is an image which overlies Eugene’s time and the present and it is that of the Pentecost experience of Mary and the disciples receiving the Holy Spirit – the spirit of God and becoming imbued with it as they are sent out to share that exact thing with the world. And which almost 2,000 years later is found and expressed in the “Holy Rule” authored by God and scribed by Eugene and his founding community.
It becomes our expression of love – ours as members of this Mazenodian Family.
This morning I again think of the Salve Regina, humming it silently but adding these words: “Pray for us O Holy Mother of God, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.”
I am not able to explain this new habit of finding perfect harmony with the past of 2,000 years ago or even 200 years ago and living now. In observing all of it we will and do find all our strength.