PREACHING: WHO YOU ARE SPEAKS SO LOUDLY I CAN’T HEAR WHAT YOU’RE SAYING

In our exploration of the 1818 Rule , we have seen how Eugene set out the goals of the Missionaries: preach the Gospel to the most abandoned, make up for the loss of the Orders and to correct the ravages caused by corrupt priests. Then 15 pages follow on the preaching of parish missions. [These have been dealt with in detail in the entries above from November 6, 2010 to March 26, 2011]

The following section of the Rule is entitled “Other exercises – Preaching.” He situates what he is about to say on the topic of preaching within the context of the ends of the Congregation that he has dealt with before:

 Since the end of the Institute is not only to give missions, but also to replace, insofar as our weak means permit, the religious orders and to repair the evils that have crept in among the clergy..

He then comes to the heart of everything – the message that he constantly hammers home as being the only possible secret of the success of preaching:

all should be persuaded that it is easier to achieve this end by example than by words. Hence, we must convince ourselves that it is indispensable that we should practice all the virtues, and not be unacquainted with any of them.

Said in other words, Eugene is saying: who you are speaks so loudly I can’t hear what you’re saying.

…Since there is nothing more reliable than the preaching of the word of God and the wise administration of the sacrament of penance, all will take pains to fit themselves for the worthy discharge of these important works.

1818 Rule Part 1, Chapter 3, §1 Preaching

 

“Modern people listen more willingly to witnesses than to teachers.”    Pope Paul VI, (Evangelii nuntiandi n. 41)

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3 Responses to PREACHING: WHO YOU ARE SPEAKS SO LOUDLY I CAN’T HEAR WHAT YOU’RE SAYING

  1. Eleanor Rabnett, Oblate Associate says:

    “Said in other words, Eugene is saying: who you are speaks so loudly I can’t hear what you’re saying.” I had to read this a couple of times, perhaps because it is still fairly early in the day. But finally I was able to get it. I think that it was first in AA that I heard the term “walking the walk and not just talking the talk” (and it took more than a little time to figure out exactly what it really meant). And so I went back and reread : “…. all should be persuaded that it is easier to achieve this end by example than by words. Hence, we must convince ourselves that it is indispensable that we should practice all the virtues, and not be unacquainted with any of them.” Eugene was, from all accounts, a great preacher, an extra ordinary speaker. And yet, for me at least, it was also how he lived his life, of all the little ordinary day-to-day things that he did with and for his people (his brothers in community and all those around them, rich and more importantly the poor). Eugene truly gave witness to the love of God and his response to that love. And that is what I ‘listened’ to – his life.

    It gives me hope – I am not a great orator, I cannot ‘preach’. I can though, try to live out the incredible love that God fills me with. For many years my prayer has been to God to ’empty me and fill me with Your love so people who look will see You’. Allowing God to come alive in me – that is certainly what Eugene did. I never attended any of his preached missions, but I read his words and heard them in my heart, and I recognized in his way of life his great incredible witness to the love of God.

    And as I write this I think back to yesterdays “Be in order to Do”, and it ties in somehow. Today my thank you to Eugene is softer and less sulky, thank you Eugene for who you allowed yourself to become. And thank you Frank for allowing me to use Eugene de Mazenod Speaks as part of my daily reflection and ongoing formation.

  2. John Mouck says:

    This posting causes me to reflect back on Fr. Jack’s regular Wednesday evening contemplative mass at Galilee. At these masses Jack does not “preach” but rather chooses a topic which we are free to discuss. This week the topic was from the reading of the General regarding freedom, ” We must ask ourselves whether or not we are free for God’s mission.” And the questions to consider were, “How free am I; are we?
    Have I come with my plans, my attachments and my non‐negotiables?”

    While I know how I feel about this, it is almost too simple to express in words but…
    I think almost everything we say and do ‘in God’s name’ comes with an attachment, our hidden agenda, even if that agenda, subconsciously, is to please God, to be admired and ultimately rewarded by Him. I think this is ludicrous because there is nothing I can say or do to make Him love and admire me any more than He already does.

    Whatever good I accomplish has to happen almost by accident. I cannot set out to do what I think is God’s work but rather I have to freely let Him, who already dwells in me, do His work through me. In other words, don’t block or hinder Him.

    Paradoxically, I think true freedom lies in giving up my freedom to Him.
    Easier said than done since this is against human nature or at least my nature.
    I’ll just keep trying.

  3. Eleanor Rabnett, Oblate Associate says:

    I certainly think Eugene lived this out. He was of course an excellent preacher for he had a way with words. But his actions spoke even louder than his words. He was flamboyant in a way. There is a statue in the General House in Rome of Eugene and he is standing tall and holding up the cross in his right hand. I picture him that way, marching through the small little streets in Aix, or even heading down to the docks of Marseille, through the panier district. I picture him spending endless hours with the poor, the fishermen of Marseilles, the fishwives down at the docks, the servants and tradespeople who came to him to be heard, to ask for help. He was all about loving and serving. What spoke [and still speaks] volumes to me though was his intentionality in giving his all to God and how he did that. Nothing less than all.

    I look at [Pope] Francis today, at the pictures and listen to the words and jokingly ask if perhaps he is not an ‘Oblate’ [not to take away from the Jesuits but because I see in him many of the characteristics of an Oblate]. This is a man whose actions and how he lives speaks volumes, from his black shoes, to his gold plated ring, to his availability to the people whom he shepherds. [Small everyday things and yet so huge.] I see his humility and his love of the poor. Even what he said about living with the cross. I have heard some say that it is ‘not enough’ and still others who say it is ‘too much’.

    Eugene wasn’t perfect in his life but he sure aimed for that. Francis [the Pope] has not been perfect either, but who he is, as much as what he says, speaks incredibly loudly. What does my life say about who I am? Do I allow God to work in and through me? How do I give witness to God? How am I a living gospel? May who I am in God, who God is in me, proclaim more loudly than any words that could ever leave my mouth, or be written by my pen.

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