Writing to Fr. Courtès, superior of the Aix community, about Marius Suzanne gives Eugene the opportunity to look at the role of community for an Oblate. How tempted we are today to give in to the temptation of only looking outside of our community (or in our computer or television) for happiness. It is a temptation that touches families too…
I revert to the subject of Fr. Suzanne. You are afraid he is bored at Aix. You will admit that is quite wrong for, if I am not mistaken, we ought to find our happiness within the confines of our houses; far from seeking out and taking pleasure in the outside disturbance and relations that circumstances necessitate with persons outside, we ought, if we have the spirit of our calling, to groan, to be upset and do all that depends on us to extricate ourselves from it as soon as possible.
Marseilles would however only present to Fr. Suzanne distractions of this kind, I cannot believe he pines for them. The house of Aix as a community offers all the advantages that we can desire; the priests who live there are virtuous and exemplary, regularity is maintained, much good can be done there, the house is beautiful, the church is devout, all those who dwell therein are devoted to the Society, you yourself are there, for it is not forbidden to consider as an advantage to find oneself close to a veteran brother who deserves in every respect all our confidence and our friendship.
There is more than enough to please a good religious. That will not prevent me from recalling him to Marseilles as soon as he is strong enough to endure the journey.
Letter to Hippolyte Courtès, 8 March 1827, EO VII n 265
Our Rule of Life reflects Eugene’s ideal:
“A spirit of simplicity and joyfulness marks our communities. In sharing what we are and what we have with one another, we find acceptance and support. Each of us offers his friendship and places his God-given talents at the service of all. This enriches our spiritual life, our intellectual development and our apostolic activity.” CC&RR, Constitution 39.
I am reminded a little this morning of Eugene who a one point in his life after returning to France from being in exile saying that he had been looking for happiness outside of God (and of course he did not find it). And I remember my grandmother telling me not so long after I stopped drinking and drugging that if we look for happiness outside of ourselves or in something else we are doomed for dissapointment. I know first hand how distractions and escapes do not work. But if I can turn my thinking around, if I can change my attitudes then I will be okay. If I stop feeling sorry for myself, if I stop measuring and counting, if I can let go of whatever I am trying to hold onto and use as a substitute for the love that I am called to live then I will never find true and real joy and contentment.
Eugene writes “there is more than enough to please a good religious”. Or for that matter, or any of us. If we are looking for escapes or distractions even the most exciting of computer games or the allure of a different location or the beauty of new clothes will not satisfy. Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz had to learn that there’s no place like home.
If I look to where God has planted me, – that is where I will be good. Constitution 39 is simple but but so very true. And for me it seems to take my communities to remind me and help me to recognize and live the truth of that. There is much joy and excitment, much life and beauty right where I have been planted.
Yes and ….
It is very important to remind ourselves that community brings challenges as well as joy. My family connect me with the world and the Spirit. But they also tempt me to anger and frustration. I often wonder what my children would say about our family if they could do it without too much risk. Eugene’s situation seems similar – he states the ideal but I wonder how the other members of the community heard that.