The only reason we are members of the family of St Eugene is because Jesus Christ has called us to do this.
We are not brothers and priests because we have bleeding hearts for people who suffer and are abandoned. We are not associates because we find an outlet for our philanthropic urges in helping the poor. We are not members of the wider Mazenodian Family just because we feel good when we want to be involved in and supportive of the ministry of the Oblates.
The call of Jesus Christ, heard within the Church through people’s need for salvation, draws us together.
We are CALLED by Jesus Christ – and this has to be the only reason why we become members of the Mazenodian family. It is a vocation, and we respond directly to Jesus the Savior, who calls us through people’s need for salvation.
Christ thus invites us to follow him and to share in his mission through word and work.
It is Jesus who invites us to follow him, and only because we follow him does he invite us to share his mission in whatever way our state of life makes possible as supporters and co-workers, as lay associates or as vowed religious and priests. Because we are family of St. Eugene,
Cooperating with the Saviour and imitating his example, we commit ourselves principally to evangelizing the poor
CC&RR Constitution 1
Our starting point has to be our relationship with Jesus the Savior. If not, we remain at the level of being do-gooders. With Eugene we are invited to say:
You, you alone will be the sole object to which will tend all my affections and my every action.
To please you, act for your glory, will be my daily task, the task of every moment of my life.
I wish to live only for you, I wish to love you alone and all else in you and through you.
I despise riches, I trample honors under foot; you are my all, replacing all else. My God, my love and my all: “Deus meus et omnia.”
Notes made during the retreat in preparation for priestly ordination,
December 1-21, EO XIV n 95
“You are the root, and only God knows that the flower will be.” William P. Young
“It was not you who chose me, it was I who chose you to go forth and bear fruit.” John 15:16. Frank, “Right on!”
This reflection is the heart of vocation. Discernment has to be this: have I heard Jesus calling me to follow him? There are attractive aspects to the Oblate charism that help spark one’s interest: being close to the poor; living in community; ministering as a preacher, with youth, with the poor, etc. As you have written the one essential aspect is that I have heard the Lord’s call and I can’t do anything else but respond, even when it’s not to my liking (see Jeremiah!). That’s the basis for perseverance. Thanks for this!
Strong words, forceful words. There is nothing wishy-washy or tentative about Frank’s statements and I don’t want to ignore any of them because they resonates so strongly within me. It begins and ends with Jesus and the ‘in between’ is the thread of God which is woven throughout our lives. I have spent my time this morning ‘savouring’ the words, taking them in, and letting them take root within me. My whole being wants to shout ‘Yes’ even as my heart responds with immense gratitude.
Constitution 1, broken down into a few areas. This is how the Constitutions and Rules can be taken in and become a part of our lives. At this moment I feel so very alive. I will return here throughout the day to reflect a little more deeply on how each piece of this first Constitution applies to me, how I am called to live it out.
I am so very grateful for this morning wake-up call, this invitation to look more deeply into the ‘why’ for the way of life that I have chosen (or perhaps that I have been chosen) to live. So may layers to uncover that this will be my life-long work. I don’t know the end result that God has in mind for me – only that my heart becomes more deeply tender and responsive with each breath I take. Not something that I have originated but that could only come from God’s calling my name.
And I am grateful for the guidance that Frank offers to each of us, these daily invitations to go more deeply into what we are all about as members of this Mazenodian Family, looking at how we live it out. I dare to repeat; “My God, my love and my all: “Deus meus et omnia.”
What a gift you have, Frank, in making so clear, what in one sense, shouldn’t be as complicated as we can make it. I wouldn’t have known the biblical reference but Fr Lougen started with what came to me as well – not choosing but being chosen. Blessings!
Frank, yes, as they say at home, you are right on the money! though soul-work is much more fulfilling through reading clear, powerful insights such as this… I like it! Going straight for the juggular! Jesus Christ is our centre, St. Eugene is our pathway to him.
Stay Blessed! Looking forward to seeing you at our Oblate Summer School in July.
Kind regards Kirk
It is strange to be reading this a year later, a year in which I have grown and gone deeper. I look back on what I wrote a year ago and there is no conscious memory of it. I am in a different space this morning.
To be called by Jesus Christ – there was a time when I could not have conceived that God would “call” me to anything. This could start as an ‘ego’ thing – ‘look at how much God loves me – for he has called me to…’ – secret hidden flashes of that hidden in the shadows. But there is no ‘ego’ this morning, only a small recognition of the humility that comes in reflecting on this.
This morning I opened the Constitutions and Rules to Constitution 1 and read it through in it’s entirety – without skipping any words, without hoping that one day the Oblates will change some of the wording to include people such as myself, to change them to suit me, to accommodate me…
I return to the text above. Excitement and fear at the same time. I have struggled off and on for the past year – with wanting to go more deeply into the Constitutions and Rules. I have started to do that – bit by bit. But bit by bit has not been enough, I have needed to commit myself to this. I have needed to admit to myself that I cannot do it on my own. I have needed to ‘ask’ (not tell) if I could do this, not demanding, simply stating that I wish to make them part of me, a part of my life, to live more directly in a quite specific way because I am quite unable to ignore this call, this part of God’s call (and as I write this I realise that God of course would not call me to something/anything and then simply leave me on my own to do it). So I asked, facing the small secret fear that I would be denied and yet confident at the same time that I would be accepted. And I have asked another who I will speak to more deeply about walking with me on this, ‘mentoring’ me is the word I think I. And I will need a way to ask all of the Oblates to pray for me.
I have not so much as reflected this morning on Constitution 1, but rather on my coming to this point on my journey – looking at how I will take the next steps forward. Fear and excitement both at what lies ahead for me. I thank God for the excitement for without it the small secret little fears might grow to unmanageable proportions.
I dare to repeat: “You, you alone will be the sole object to which will tend all my affections and my every action. To please you, act for your glory, will be my daily task, the task of every moment of my life. I wish to live only for you, I wish to love you alone and all else in you and through you. I despise riches, I trample honors under foot; you are my all, replacing all else. My God, my love and my all: “Deus meus et omnia.”