HOLY WEEK: THE ZEAL TO GET CAUGHT UP BY THE MYSTERY OF THE SAVING CROSS AND TO PROCLAIM IT TO THOSE MOST IN NEED

This reflection was prepared a while ago. As I reread it today, in the context of our current lockdown, the question comes to mind: “How can I proclaim this to those most in need today?”

Firstly, by spending time meditating on this reality myself and making it more alive in me as a life-giving focus in these times of fear and uncertainty.

Then it will overflow to those I reach out to, in my home, and through my use of social media to reach out to others.

St Eugene’s Good Friday experience of the Savior brought light and focus into his life:

What more glorious occupation than to act in everything and for everything only for God, to love him above all else, to love him all the more as one who has loved him too late

Eugene de Mazenod, Retreat Journal, December 1814, EO XV n.130

“The word ‘Oblates’ means people ready to give themselves for the love of God. God’s Spirit has granted St. Eugene and his sons and daughters the zeal to get caught up by the mystery of the saving cross and to proclaim it to those most in need. Our spirituality is therefore centered on the salvation given us by Christ; it can be called ‘salvatorian’. With such a spiritual orientation our Congregation was approved in 1826.

Our recognition by the Church, which we celebrate each February 17th calls us to delve deeper into the mystery of salvation, to make it even more the center of our lives, as it was the center around which Eugene’s life revolved.”

Steckling OMI, OMI Information n 462, Rome, February 2007.

Goodness always tends to spread. Every authentic experience of truth and goodness seeks by its very nature to grow within us, and any person who has experienced a profound liberation becomes more sensitive to the needs of others. As it expands, goodness takes root and develops. If we wish to lead a dignified and fulfilling life, we have to reach out to others and seek their good. In this regard, several sayings of Saint Paul will not surprise us: “The love of Christ urges us on” (2 Cor 5:14); “Woe to me if I do not proclaim the Gospel” (1 Cor 9:16).   Pope Francis, The Joy of the Gospel, 9.

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1 Response to HOLY WEEK: THE ZEAL TO GET CAUGHT UP BY THE MYSTERY OF THE SAVING CROSS AND TO PROCLAIM IT TO THOSE MOST IN NEED

  1. Eleanor Rabnett, Oblate Associate says:

    I remember my first Good Friday that I spent as a visitor living with a lay community. It is as perfectly clear in my mind as it was 40 years ago. We had gathered in the chapel for the Good Friday service and with the death of Jesus we were all prostrated on the chapel floor. I heard the most magnificent music which seemed to sound like trumpets and horns. It was so real that got up to my knees and looked around to see who was desecrating the solemn moments of Jesus’s death. But it was quiet in the chapel – no sound, no music with the others still prostrated on the floor. I lowered myself to the floor again, wondering if this had been the celebration of Jesus as he was carried into heaven. I secretly wondered if I was going mad (crazy) but still I could not ignore what had happened.

    My experience of the glory of God and my crucified Saviour. I spoke later with one of the priests and as I shared my experience tears filled his eyes and he told me he had been waiting for an experience like that for most of his life. My days continued from there, yet I was forever changed. The cross is dark and painful but at the same time rich and glorious because of its intimacy with the resurrection. For those few minutes the heavens had somehow opened to me as God shared with one of the lowest and poorest (of spirit) of his children.

    “St Eugene’s Good Friday experience of the Savior brought light and focus into his life.”

    And now I prepare once again for Good Friday. As I approach Good Friday I hope and pray I am able to share with others the light which our crucified Saviour and St. Eugene have shed on me. It matters not how, but only that I open myself to allow God to work through me.

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