SPIRITUAL GROWTH NEEDS TIME AND MISSIONARY PATIENCE

Eugene’s return to France had been lengthened by negotiations for a possible amalgamation with two groups of religious who were doing the same missionary work as the Oblates. The first group was that of the Oblates of the Virgin Mary, with whom he had met in Turin on his way to Rome (cf https://www.eugenedemazenod.net/?p=2254). Now on his return journey he informed Tempier that the missionary methods of this group were not compatible with those of the Oblates.

I think no more of those whom I saw on my way down. The head is a man of the greatest merit but he is aged and weakened, and led by the nose by one of his three or four companions. Their method, to which they cling obstinately, could not be employed by us; they only give retreats of eight days and they do in those eight days what we would have difficulty doing in thirty. For the rest, the one idea held by Fathers who are esteemed in these parts and certainly one that is encouraging for us, although it must upset poor M. Dalga, is that eight days suffice to finish the task. They get a lot done when they prolong it up to fifteen and that is the method of all – Jesuits, Passionists, Lazarists, and religious of all orders.

Letter to Henri Tempier, 24 May 1826, EO VII n 242

 

“The great awareness comes slowly, piece by piece. The path of spiritual growth is a path of lifelong learning.”   M. Scott Peck

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1 Response to SPIRITUAL GROWTH NEEDS TIME AND MISSIONARY PATIENCE

  1. Eleanor Rabnett, Oblate Associate says:

    Somethings just cannot be rushed. Am I really saying that? I who have tended to rush in where angels fear to tread, I who was so very good once upon a time at multi-tasking. But I have begun to slow down.

    I have looked at my own life and my love affair with God. I have certainly at times tried to rush God but God wouldn’t rushed. I have tended often to taste what has been put before me but not wanted to take the time to savour it, to appreciate it, to truly experience it. St. Paul talked about ‘putting on Christ’. Putting it on, wearing it, until it be comes like a second skin, until it becomes an integral part of us. Experiencing the love of God is something that we learn slowly, we take in what we can bit by bit. I think of Jesus with his apostles, his disciples – he fed them bit by bit, to give it all to them at once would have been too much. They came to know him, really know him over time – it had to sink in and become a part of who they were.

    I will often go on a retreat or attend a workshop and when I do I take notes, I try to tape it and get it down on paper so that I can go back later to look at what I missed hearing or appreciating the first time around. I must remember this the next time I am sharing my love of God with another (or anything especially that which I am passionate about) – it took me a lifetime to get to where I am, who I am and I must accord them that same opportunity. True love implies great patience.

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