TAKE CARE OF EACH OTHER

Eugene’s concern for the Oblates was not confined to their ministry, but he was especially interested in the quality of their lives, of their “being in order to do.” Writing to the new community in Nimes he gives them advice so as to maintain a family spirit.

See everything in a good light, speak openly only amongst yourselves. I need not observe to you that Brother Guibert, although he is not a priest, being an Oblate and in consequence belonging wholly to the Society, ought to enter into your discussions and take part in all your decisions.
I pray you to say a thousand tender assurances to this good Brother Guibert, who is very dear to me, as well as to our good Father Honorat who also knows the extent of my affection for him.
I do not say to you: love each other well, this recommendation would be ridiculous. But I do say to you: take care of each other and let each look after the health of all.

Letter to Pierre Mie, 19 June 1825, EO VI n. 183

 

“Love begins by taking care of the closest ones – the ones at home.”    Mother Teresa

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1 Response to TAKE CARE OF EACH OTHER

  1. Eleanor Rabnett, Oblate Associate says:

    I love this posting today – it is a gentle reminder from Eugene about loving, simple, ordinary, everyday loving.

    I came out here to “be” with my sister. That ‘being’ has taken place as we have each talked and listened to each other, in preparing meals and strolling through the shops, in walks along the ocean, in reading our respective books in quiet and in each of sharing the struggles and joys of our lives in God. I came out here so that I could be introduced to the book”Proof of Heaven” and find in another’s story parts and similarities with my own life and experiences. I came out here to go down to the docks when the fishing boats came in, their holds filled with 25 to 35 lb Halibuts and smaller rock Cods. Lining up along the wharf and trading stories of our lives as we waited each of us for our turn to buy fish that we ended up carrying up to the trunks of our cars and bringing them home to fillet and freeze. I came out here to go to Mass in a tiny little church, to worship and praise God and to be sent out. I came out here to get up early and look out the kitchen window as the sun started to climb up into sky. Nestled here on the side of a mountain, surrounded by magnificent trees whose only jobs seem to be allowing their branches to whisperinthe windsand allow the eagles and ravens a place to rest and be.

    All the while we have been taking care of each other in small elemental ways. Today we will most likely take a ferry to the mainland to visit and eat with my brother, to walk along the beach and visit old friends. In all of this we are taking care of each other in the small and the ordinary. It is a wonderful way of being, sort of the like the sun as it climbs in the sky bringing light to the darker greens of the trees. It’s like a smile that lights up the face of the earth.

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