EUGENE, PRIEST OF THE MOST ABANDONED
© Laurent Girard / Studio Mazenod (2011) – Tableau du Jean-Jacques Martin
1812 : returned to Aix as a young priest and lived in the house of his mother in the centre of the city
My major occupation will be to love Him, my greatest concern will be to make Him loved
Retreat notes, December 1812, O.W. XV n. 109
1813: Beginning of his ministry among the most-abandoned. They were those who were not being touched by the structures of the Church of Aix: the youth, the prisoners, the people of Provence who did not speak French
… my whole ambition was to consecrate myself to the service of the poor and of the youth. I thus started out in the prisons, and my first apprenticeship consisted of gathering around me young boys whom I instructed. I formed a large number in virtue. I saw up to 280 grouped around me, and those who today still remain faithful to the principles that I had the happiness of instilling in their souls and who do honour to their faith in every rank of society or in the sanctuary, will uphold for a long time, either in Aix or in the other places where they are dispersed, the reputation that this congregation had rightly acquired for itself while I was able to care for it.
Diary of 31 March 1839, O.W. XX
“… my whole ambition was to consecrate myself to the service of the poor and of the youth.”
When I was a teenager (like 16 – 18) I had quite a circle of friends and we did everything together. One of the things we did was go horseback riding. We all lived in Toronto, so city slickers, but we boarded our horses on a ranch just north/east of Toronto. A few of us were Catholic, most were not. Every Sunday morning we Catholic kids went to mass before heading off to Mussleman’s Lake to go riding. Because we were a group, everybody went to mass, Catholics and non-Catholics. It was routine and it was great.
Just last Sunday I was sitting at mass remembering this. I always sit upfront so I turned around to take inventory of the congregation. There were maybe 3 young people (late teen and twenties) in the church. I can’t help but feel that our church officials and we are failing our young people – failing to attract them, failing to make our religion relevant and important to them. I think this is particularly a Catholic, catastrophic failure. I know other denominations do a much better job involving their young people so it’s a place they want to be.
St. Eugene pray for us and guide us in showing our young people the value, rewards, and fun in hanging with Jesus.
John
LJC et MI
These reflections speak to me and once again remind of me/us of the importance of a community that is open. For it is in the gathering that the vision is shared and the experience happens. Eugene sensed this with the youth. Young men whom he was able to see his own lost self in and because of that, he mentored them in the faith/discipleship of Jesus and the importance to sharing what you have received for the building up of the kindom/reign of God, (Isaiah 61) .
Young people have not changed much, they still have a desire to make a difference in society and they have a Utopian spirit. It is we have may have lost that through disillusionment and cynicism.
Maybe, by being open to their spirit, we might be renewed?