During the months of October and November, the Missionaries had joined the Jesuits for a mission to the city of Gap, near the Alps. The language of the mission was French and in this connection Eugene refers to a letter he received from the Jesuit superior of the mission:
As for Father Thomas, he thanks me and acknowledges that you have responded kindly to all that has been asked of you; but he tells me nothing about the results of your cooperation, he only says that having been forewarned that Father Mie and Father Touche would not be popular, being accustomed only to preach in Provencal, he had not made them preach; that they had the goodness to give catechetical instructions, which are much more useful to the uneducated than beautiful discourses.
Letter to Marius Suzanne, 29 November 1823, EO VI n 121
Each Missionary was expected to respond to the needs of the mission according to his ability, while always maintaining the principal Oblate focus of preaching the Gospel to those who were the most abandoned by the structures of the church.
“With realization of one’s own potential and self-confidence in one’s ability, one can build a better world.” Dalai Lama
This mornings writings seem to leave me with more questions than answers. Part of me wants to ask Eugene what is he saying – or is he just repeating what a Jesuit wrote? My own inadequacies, my own wounds poke through this and try to colour it all. [Will they ever be gone or is life a matter of stepping out in spite of them?]
“Each Missionary was expected to respond to the needs of the mission according to his ability, while always maintaining the principal Oblate focus of preaching the Gospel to those who were the most abandoned by the structures of the church.” I think that this is true for each of us. Perhaps the challenge is to be able to look and see what are our strengths and gifts and to live those out as we are called. So if I translate this to myself then to accept who I am and the gifts God has given to me and to share them, live them out. I do not need to be anything or anyone other than who I am. The greatest teacher was not for me the catechism, but rather those who shared how it worked for them [am thinking AA here]. It is not just that the Gospel be preached, but how its preached.