Eugene de Mazenod speaks to us

We are members of the prophetic Church. While recognizing our own need for conversion, we bear witness to God’s holiness and justice. We announce the liberating presence of Jesus Christ and the new world born in his resurrection. (Constitution 9)

Being prophetic means hearing, living and communicating the heart and mind of God. A prophetic lifestyle and message communicate God’s guidance and insight into current circumstances. This sums up Eugene’s life and the foundation of his evangelization:

We must lead people to act like human beings, first of all, and then like Christians, and, finally, we must help them to become saints

Preface

Pope Francis gives us a key of reading of this foundational Oblate text:

Consequently, no one can demand that religion should be relegated to the inner sanctum of personal life, without influence on societal and national life, without concern for the soundness of civil institutions, without a right to offer an opinion on events affecting society. Who would claim to lock up in a church and silence the message of Saint Francis of Assisi or Blessed Teresa of Calcutta? They themselves would have found this unacceptable. An authentic faith – which is never comfortable or completely personal – always involves a deep desire to change the world, to transmit values, to leave this earth somehow better that we found it (Evangelii Gaudium n. 183)

Awareness of our own shortcomings humbles us, yet God’s power makes us confident as we strive to bring all people – especially the poor – to full consciousness of their dignity as human beings and as sons and daughters of God.

(Constitution 8)

The sound of Eugene’s first sermon in the Madeleine church to the most abandoned of Aix continues to echo across the centuries:

Come now and learn from us what you are in the eyes of faith.

Poor of Jesus Christ, afflicted, wretched, suffering, sick, covered with sores, etc., all you whom misery oppresses, my brothers, dear brothers, respected brothers, listen to me.

You are God’s children, the brothers of Jesus Christ, heirs to his eternal kingdom, chosen portion of his inheritance; you are, in the words of St. Peter, a holy nation, you are kings, you are priests, you are in some way gods, You are gods, children of the Most High.

So lift up your spirits, that your defeated souls may breathe, grovel no longer on the ground: You are gods, children of the Most High. (Ps. 81:6).

Notes for the first instruction in the Church of the Madeleine, 1813, EO XV n. 114

To seek out new ways for the Word of God to reach their hearts often calls for daring; to present Gospel demands in all clarity should never intimidate us. (Constitution 8)

The representatives of the Oblate Charismatic Family who gathered at the General Chapter in 2022, addressed these words to us:

As a Chapter we invite Oblates to respond to the call of Pope Francis to recognize that we are first and foremost a people advancing on its pilgrim way towards God (Evangelii Gaudium 111). As pilgrims, we are people who begin a journey without knowing what the end of the road looks like, trusting that God is guiding us.

Consider that two senses balance our pilgrimage.

The first is that we begin with an idea of who we are and understanding where we came from;

the second is the realization that as we walk the path, we are transformed as we encounter the other.

What we thought we understood takes on new meanings, and how we understand ourselves changes as we encounter Jesus. Recall the two disciples who walked along the way to Emmaus (Lk. 24:13-35). They thought they knew the end of the events that occurred in Jerusalem, but their understanding of the things which they thought they knew changed when they arrived at Emmaus. Their hearts were burning as they walked. Their identities also have changed, and now they identify themselves as evangelizers who go to announce the Good News 

We will let our lives be enriched by the poor and the marginalized as we work with them, for they can make us hear in new ways the Gospel we proclaim. We must always be sensitive to the mentality of the people, drawing on the riches of their culture and religious traditions

 (Rule 8a)

“Being missionaries of hope means knowing how to read the signs of its hidden presence in the daily life of the people. Learning to recognize hope among the poor to whom you have been sent, who often succeed in finding it amid the most difficult situations.

Letting yourselves be evangelized by the poor you evangelize: they teach you the way of hope, for the Church and for the world.”

Pope Francis to the OMI General Chapter 2022

To seek out new ways for the Word of God to reach their hearts often calls for daring; to present Gospel demands in all clarity should never intimidate us. (Constitution 8)

The Church recognizes this quality in our Oblate Charismatic Family:

You have chosen to be pilgrims, to rediscover and live your condition as wayfarers in this world, beside the men and women, the poor and the least of the earth, to whom the Lord sends you to announce his Kingdom.

Your founder too was a wayfarer, at the origins of your religious family, when he would go walking with his first companions in the villages of his native Provence, preaching the popular missions and restoring to the faith the poor who had turned away from it, and that even the ministers of the Church had abandoned…

Pilgrims and wayfarers, always ready to set out, like Jesus with his disciples in the Gospel.… towards the peripheries of the world beloved by God, and living a charism that leads you towards the furthest, the poorest, those whom no one reaches. Walking this road with love and fidelity, you, dear brothers, render a great service to the Church.

Pope Francis to the OMI General Chapter 2022

To seek out new ways for the Word of God to reach their hearts often calls for daring; to present Gospel demands in all clarity should never intimidate us.

Constitution 8

The description of his preaching by the great evangelist, John Wesley, can easily be applied St Eugene as well: “’I set myself on fire, and people come out and watch me burn.”

The history of the Oblate Charismatic Family’ history of “lighting fires” is filled with amazing stories of constantly seeking new ways to reach people “through the eyes of the Crucified Savior.” I refer you to Oblate websites whose pages are regularly filled with stories about the amazing different ways of Oblate evangelization today.

From our official website Oblate Communications which regularly features the latest Family news: http://www.omiworld.org/

and the list of accessible OMI sites around the world: https://www.omiworld.org/resources/other-oblate-links/

We will always be close to the people with whom we work, taking into account their values and aspirations. To seek out new ways for the Word of God to reach their hearts often calls for daring; to present Gospel demands in all clarity should never intimidate us. (Constitution 8)

Essentially founded with the focus of rebuilding the ravaged French Church through the preaching of parochial missions 200 years ago, we find ourselves responding to very different missionary challenges today. The common thread has always been a daring to seek out new ways for the Word to reach people. The scope of mission was to dare to respond to the needs of the youth, the prisoners, domestic workers, farm laborers of Provence, then they dared to move to shrines as permanent mission centers, and then to dare to cross oceans to reach out to abandoned people in the forests of Canada, the slums of England, the plantations  of Ceylon, the desert of Algeria, the valleys of Natal and mountains of Lesotho – always reaching out to people of different languages and cultures and areas of abandonment. Always responding with daring to every missionary challenge.

In the OMI Lacombe newsletter we read about Pope Pius XI’s recognition of Oblate daring in presenting the Gospel:

In 1938 Fr. Prime Girard, OMI was visiting Europe for his vacation. During his stay in Rome he attended the private audience with Holy Father Pius XI. “Curé of the North Pole” reported to the Pope about the Arctic missions, about Inuit and about the harsh reality of the North. Pius XI, who was attentive from the very beginning to the Arctic missions, listened to the stories of Fr. Girard with a great interest. It is then that he called the Oblates the specialists of the most difficult missions. This calling is attributed to the Oblates all over the world till today, but very few remember that it was Fr. Prime Girard, OMI and the pioneers of the Arctic missions who, in heroic way, have deserved this call. (http://www.omilacombe.ca/2016/03/14/specialists-of-the-most-difficult-missions)

CC&RR. Constitution 8

Leflon (Volume IV. pages 328-330), based on eye-witness accounts writes:

A missionary by vocation, he remained one all his life, devoting him-self by preference to the poorest and most abandoned souls. This aristocrat who shocked the Aix drawing-rooms by isolating himself in that very “uncouth” ministry and who was so little inclined toward democracy, maintained a touching solicitude for the common people. He loved them and was loved by them, understood them and was understood by them… What was most typically Marseillais, however, was the manner in which the fishwives of the Port district showed him marks of favor without any regard for protocol.

Their queen, Babeau, who was not shy, sometimes would force his carriage to come to a stop, stand in front of his door, and begin a conversation in the Provencal dialect which is more than direct, although its lilting harmonies will soften what might otherwise be too blunt a remark. Her cronies would rush up to add their bit to the conversation,, and, in his witty and hearty manner, Bishop de Mazenod would reply in rough and ready fashion, using expressions no less colorful, while at the same time slipping in a few spiritual ideas. He would then drive off again, after giving his blessing to the ladies of the fishmarket as they knelt devoutly on the ground.

The women esteemed him so highly that they “had arranged to ask for him personally each time any of them became ill,” and, in 1848, they appointed themselves his guardians and protectors and rushed to the episcopal palace when it was rumored that the Republicans, furious over the election results, planned to attack him. “Don’t be afraid, Monseigneur,” they told him; “we are here to guard you.” Actually, he had little need of such “protection” since there were only threats; but had there been more than just threats, the determination of these femmes terribles would have halted the assailants for they would not have confined themselves to heaping the spiciest and strongest morsels of their choice vocabulary upon their heads. It should not be concluded from these unique demonstrations, however, that only the fishwives appreciated the prelate’s innate goodness. Testimony proves that when he passed by on foot, “ the common people and the poor surrounded him, greeted him, talked with him, and ran after him.”

We will always be close to the people with whom we work, taking into account their values and aspirations.

Constitution 8

Eugene’s diary is filled with descriptions that show his closeness to his flock. Some examples:

Confirmation for a poor woman who was in great pain as she lay on her mattress on the fourth floor. How it pains my heart to see people suffer in that way, but also, what a consolation to be able to bring them relief by my words and by the graces of my holy ministry!

Diary, 28 December 1838, EO XIX

At that time, the bishop was the only one allowed to minister the sacrament of confirmation:

Confirmation in my chapel of two soldiers who are about to leave for the Crimea.

It would be interesting to make a list of the [special] Confirmations that I have the occasion to do in the course of the year (independently of the general Confirmations), either in my chapel, or in the hospitals, or in the homes of the sick to whose bedside I am continually being called. There would be good reason to give glory to God for inspiring me to perform this duty assiduously, to the great benefit of so many souls.

I admit that, as far as I am concerned, this truly pastoral ministry fills my soul with a holy joy and is a consolation to me, the real recompense for the accomplishment of this duty. That is especially true when I am called to the bedside of the poor as has happened once again today. Nothing can be so touching as the visible signs traced on the faces of all those who rush to the sick person’s dwelling to be present for the bishop’s visit. Sometimes it is necessary to climb to the attic by stairways that are all but impracticable. However, these stairways, which are normally quite dark, are lighted by numerous lamps placed at a short distance from one another on the steps of these ladders which at times must be mounted by hoisting one’s self with the help of the rope which serves as a railing.

But when once he arrives at the bedside of the sick person, what a feeling overwhelms the pastor who has come to visit his suffering sheep and bestow religious assistance by addressing words of encouragement, or resignation etc. The almsgiving which ordinarily follows the prayer which I say aloud while the sick person is interiorly united with me, is accepted with emotion. It is a day of consolation for the afflicted family and of happiness for the visiting pastor.

Diary, January 13 1856, EO XXII

We will always be close to the people with whom we work, taking into account their values and aspirations. 

Constitution 8

In the midst of a war with Austria which France had won, the old Bishop Eugene ministered to the injured of both sides of the conflict. In moving words, he wrote:

I officiated pontifically. It was at the end of the High Mass that we sang, sadly, the Te Deum as requested. How is it possible to rejoice over a heap of dead bodies, over so much blood shed for such a bad cause!

Therefore, after the Te Deum, I added prayers for peace and I recited in a loud voice the Fidelium animae per misericordiam Dei requiescant in pace. I had, beforehand, had the intention of offering the indulgence of the Mass just celebrated for the poor souls of the French and Austrians who were sacrificed on the battlefield.

My heart was so weighed down at the thought of so many victims, that I sought some relief by fulfilling a paternal duty of charity and by going to visit the wounded from both nations who have been brought to our military hospital. The inspiration proved to be good.
 
All those interesting young men were singularly touched by my visit. I approached the bed of each one and showed a lively interest in them. The Austrians, whose faith is more demonstrative, took my hand to kiss it. I could have willingly kissed their faces so strongly did I feel their catholicity which made them so dear to me.
The sight of one of these wounded men whom I had before me filled my heart with compassion and sadness; and these men, with one exception, had only lesser wounds, or least not life threatening. What must be, I thought, the sight of those thousands of men terribly mutilated piled up in heaps of corpses? What an awful sight! Is it not sufficient to make one curse all wars and even more so those undertaken as this one of today, under such vain pretexts and for such a detestable cause!

Diary, 12 June 1859, EO XXII