Oblates of the Immaculate Mary. But this is a passport to heaven! How have we not thought of it sooner?
The entries of the past days have taken a look back at the place of Mary in the life of Eugene and in his ministry to help us to undefstand why he as able to exclaim, “How have we not thought of it sooner?”
Having made the request for a change of name in the petition he wrote to the Pope, he reflected on his lack of enthusiasm for the name “Oblates of Saint Charles”:
The Oblates of Mary! This name satisfies the heart and the ear. I must admit to you that I was quite surprised, when it was decided to take the name I had thought should be left aside, at being so unmoved, at feeling so little pleasure, I would almost say a kind of repugnance, at bearing the name of a saint who is my particular protector, for whom I have so much devotion.
And now I see the reason; we were inconsiderate in regard to our Mother, our Queen, she who protects us and who must obtain for us all graces whereof her divine Son has made her the dispenser.
Letter to Henri Tempier, 22 December 1825, EO VI n 213
“When they entered the city they went to the upper room where they were staying, Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James son of Alphaeus, Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. All these devoted themselves with one accord to prayer, together with some women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers.” Acts 1:13-14
Thank you Frank for this past month of focusing on Mary and for helping to bring back into our awareness prayers like “O Jesus, living in Mary”, Salve Regina/Hail Holy Queen, the Memorare and even the Angelus. These are not prayers that we hear said or that are talked about (at least in my small corner of the world). They have become perhaps unfashionable in a time that we tend to think of as enlightened, and yet in thinking of them, in reciting them, their is a particular comfort that comes, there is a ‘sweetness’.
I am reminded this morning of one of the workshops that I gave last year to a group of Oblates [of Mary Immaculate] and Associates. We had been using the shortened name of “Oblates” throughout our morning discussions and one of the men stood up and said “…our name is Oblates of Mary Immaculate”. Telling! I know that it certainly caused me to stop for a moment and think about it and it has stayed with me.
It is a bit of a mystery. I come to God, to Jesus and to the Cross directly, with no intermediaries, yet at the same time I come to God with and through Mary, one and the both. One does not lessen the other at all. My point of reflection for this morning; “… All these devoted themselves with one accord to prayer, together with … Mary”.
Hello! Frank,
Thank you for your lovely insight today on Eugene – a man open to the need for affection in his life… imitating Jesus, the model of affective life. Thanks for that. Kirk