The letter from the Diocese of Digne offering the care of Notre Dame du Laus to the Missionaries stated that two priests would be needed. In the summer they would devote their whole time to the many pilgrims who came every day, and during the winter, they would evangelize the neighboring villages.
Based on the Mémoires of Marius Suzanne, Rey describes the discernment around the requests:
The Founder evaluated them. To avoid uncertainty, he decided to consult the companions that God has given him. He gathered around him the six priests that make up the small Society. He read them the letter from M. Arbaud, reading slowly and stopping at the most significant passages he urged them to give their opinion.
He was careful to point out that acceptance of this foundation would lead to huge consequences. Among others, that of the transformation of the Society, which would cease to be diocesan, and which could continue to exist only if all members committed themselves to it by religious vows.
This proposal did not alarm anyone, says Father Suzanne, and all gave their assent with enthusiasm to the foundation of the House of Our Lady of Laus.
Rey I, p. 228.
Eugene was thus able to write to the Diocesan authorities of Digne:
… if you think that the plan you have thought of might gain some glory for God and contribute to the salvation of souls, I am totally disposed…
Letter to M. Arbaud, 23 August 1818, O.W. XIII, n. 16
Today our Oblate Constitution 26 reflects this process:
As individuals and as a community, we have the responsibility to seek the will of God. Decisions which express this will are best reached after community discernment and prayer.
Using today’s vocabulary, a great collaborative decision!
Yes, the process was one of collaboration. And as each province and district are call into the process we can us this text as a model.
What is powerful is that the founder and the community of 5 others knew things were going to change radically, and they did it anyway! May we continue in this spirit of “daring adaptability”!
This today comes as a small relief to what we’ve been looking at and reflecting on in the current year. But it does not free us, or me at least up from applying it to my life now. I wonder what Eugene would say if he were around today, what would be his counsel. “… if you think that the plan you have thought of might gain some glory for God and contribute to the salvation of souls, I am totally disposed…”
I am thinking of course of this in the context of being an Oblate Associate and the sometimes difficulty in living that out in truth and light. It is not always comfortable. It is not something that is universally accepted, by the Oblates or by the the laity. It is not universally understood, defined, there is not a solid structure or framework. “is that something like a 3rd Order?” “what exactly is an Oblate Associate?” “What makes you distinctive?” “How can one tell by looking at you that you are an Associate?” “Perhaps you should start your own order.” “What you really need to do is separate yourself and start a 3rd order.” It wants [or perhaps I want it] to be all neat and tidy and well defined. I don’t think that has ever been a part of my life [the neat, tidy and well defined].
What does community discernment look like? What does “collaboration” look like? Is it simply a passive agreement (I don’t necessarily agree but you want it but go ahead – I won’t be a part of it, but I won’t actively hinder you) or is it something active and alive (I might not have thought of it myself, but I do see God in this and I will support you, even if it be but in prayer).
Some endless questions to be asked I guess, without having a ready nice comfortable answer to give. Another part of this walking and living in faith? I must continue to walk as I am, on the path before me even when there doesn’t seem to be a lot of light. And if there are others with me then I need to lead as I can. For sure I must live as I feel called. I wonder if Eugene ever grappled with questions like this? Do others ever grapple with questions like this? Is this all a part of discernment, on-going discernment? And of course in the middle of them is that basic fear, basic what-if. What if all these questions are really just doubts and so meaning that it isn’t true and it goes back to a very basic primal wound?
This was not what I envisaged my Sunday morning to start out as. I thank you Lord, even if is be loud and lively. I will not let my questions, my doubts or struggles stop me from loving today, from sharing with all my joy in You. Perhaps it is all just a part of the “both and”.
Having been in “formation” (whatever that is) for over three years now, this is exactly what I have been saying for some time now and have been put down for over and over. However, like you, I press on “knowing” I am on the right path, at least for me. Even though I feel lost (there is no defined direction on this journey), I hope this is all leading somewhere I just can’t see YET.
Heh John – don’t give up. Remember those Identifiers that I gave to all of you last May – look at those. Remember that formation is just one part of it all. There is also and foremost a sense of call as discerned by both the person [read you, me and others like us] and by/with the community – of Oblates; there is of course the formation which I think will most likely always be ongoing; shared life [however that looks] with the community [again of Oblates]; participation in Oblate mission; and the ritualized commitment – again to the Province [with us it will be OMI Lacombe] and so to the Congregation. And remember all that Frank gave us on that retreat in 2011 – it is an intentional way of living a specific spirituality. So much rolled up into one.
And although some of the questions repeated above come from others, some of them come from me, from how I must look at myself and be true to me, to who I am. I have to say that I am supported [for the most part] and not put down. It’s not all automatic just because that is the way I want it to be. It’s not nice, neat and tidy – but them neither am I. I do not want anyone to think that I am being held back in some way. In following Frank’s recent postings on the blog we’ve been learning that it was not nice and easy for Eugene and the very first members of the community, why would it be for you and I? I guess I believe that we all have to die a little [sometimes a lot] to ourselves. Does that mean we can’t talk about it? I don’t see why not. I think of St. Eugene and the Oblates, then and now and living our lives to try and be “co-operators of the Saviour”. I don’t know – maybe if it was too easy I would not find myself so increasingly alive as well as human [pretense and masks are slowly dropping away].
I only know that I cannot do it on my own – it is with the community, with the Oblates respecting their humanness as well as mine. Sometimes I hurt and I speak that out, but hopefully I am not angry or bitter or blaming [at least not too much] for that is not what I want to be. I can say I know the direction of my journey, just not always the terrain that is up ahead.