150 YEARS LATER, WHO IS SAINT EUGENE?
THE SPIRIT OF SAINT EUGENE CONTINUES TO BE ALIVE
© Laurent Girard / Studio Mazenod (2011) – Tableau du Jean-Jacques Martin
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.”
This entry was posted in
WRITINGS. Bookmark the
permalink.
LJC et MI
As we prepare for Pentecost and the readings from John’s Gospel, we hear the we are not alone but in radical communion with the God who formed us in the image of relationship and community “our image”.
This same Spirit unites us still under the guise of the Charism and spirit of Eugene. To sense that give me courage to continue in the footsteps of those who have preceded me and connects me to those who will come after.
In faith we walk in the illumined darkness of the moment – with an open heart of love.
Sitting with Tempier, Guibert and Fabre, I find myself wanting and so daring to say that Eugene de Mazenod, St. Eugene is alive within each of us. This man who had a heart as big as the world lives on…
When I first met Eugene de Mazenod, I was reminded somehow of St. Paul – because of the life and love that filled them – dominating all else.
This moring I am emboldened to say the Eugene de Mazenod lives on in all of us who are his sons and daughters. Missionaries who have ‘enlarged the space of our hearts’ to accommodate all and most especially the poorest of the poor.
It is just as Guibert spoke of the Oblate congregation being our mother and Joseph Fabre (the second Superior General)spoke of Eugene remaining among us through the Holy Rule of Life – that living expression of the charism incarnated in Eugene and those of us who follow him.
The well-loved Constitutions and Rules which are shared with each one of us to be lived “according to our state of life, and to live it in ways that vary according to milieu and cultures.” (R 37a) The Spirit which lives on in each of us for the body will and does die, but the spirit lives on…
Who is St. Eugene de Mazenod? A human just like each of us, who now lives within us, a part of us.
Jesus who lived on in St. Paul, who lived on in St. Eugene de Mazenod, who lives in each of us. Not watered-down or lessened over the years but who lives on and remains relevant as set out in our shared Rule of Life. All that remains is for us to live it.