IF THEY KNEW WHAT ALL THIS MEANS, THEY WOULD JUMP FOR JOY

As the collection and presentation of documentation for the Pope was reaching completion, Eugene once again expresses his awe at the way in which God has blessed the whole process.

My letter will leave without my being able to say anything more to you about our affair; now it remains a question of composition and formalities which necessarily are dragged out; I nonetheless pursue all details diligently; yet again this morning I went on several trips for this purpose. The composition of the brief is finished…
Cardinal Pedicini was only too right; if the good God had not intervened we would have had enough to take up more than a year. What amuses me is the surprise of the Archpriest Adinolfi who is, as I have told you, the key worker of the secretariat. He cannot believe the way this matter has gone since the beginning. “Non si è visto mai”: never have we seen the Pope, he said, take it upon himself in an affair of this kind to smooth out everything, cut through difficulties, prescribe in detail, stipulate even the wording of the brief.

He hopes that the Oblates in France appreciate what this all means!

These men of ours, do they at least know this? If they knew what all this means, they would jump for joy or be overcome with admiration.

Letter to Henri Tempier, 9 March 1826, EO VII n. 229

 

“He that takes truth for his guide, and duty for his goal, may safely trust to God’s providence to lead him on the right path.”  Blaise Pascal

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1 Response to IF THEY KNEW WHAT ALL THIS MEANS, THEY WOULD JUMP FOR JOY

  1. Eleanor Rabnett, Oblate Associate says:

    I awoke this morning with something deep within me singing, the tune known but not quite able to pull the words into my consciousness. “I will follow you, that is my promise…”. What does that mean? I am not lost, but am not sure where I am. I seem to be standing still with no discernible roads to follow. But I do not move. I think that I am waiting but I not sure what for, and it does not feel much like I am following anything. There is no sense of God and yet I know that somehow there is a deeper place which hides both God and my very self from my consciousness. The only sense I have is that of emptiness, waiting to be filled. And I know instinctively that I cannot do the filling. My imagination and thoughts are unsuccessful in conjuring up what could so easily fill this void.

    So I come here to simply be and perhaps find some inspiration, but mostly because it is my daily habit and how I greet the day. I wait. Not at all similar to Eugene’s waiting in Rome – at least that I can see. Yesterday we saw Eugene thinking of his men and the possibilities of what a retreat house and novitiate would like, and today he is giving thanks and hoping that they too realize the goodness of God. Even as I sit her writing I find myself thinking of what an Oblate said last week; “we come together to support the mission”. What does that look like for me as an Associate, what does it look like for our small group of Associates. What is hitting me in this moment is my own poverty and what that is beginning to look like. “He that takes truth for his guide, and duty for his goal” seems to fit for me right now.

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