We continue our exploration of how we express Eugene’s founding vision today in our Rule of Life. The “Constitutions and Rules” (CC&RR) are the way in which the vision and spirituality of St Eugene, as lived out and developed over 200 years, aims to respond to the needs of today’s world. Our 4th Constitution proclaims:
The cross of Jesus Christ is central to our mission. Like the apostle Paul, we “preach Christ and him crucified” (1 Cor 2: 2). If we bear in our body the death of Jesus, it is with the hope that the life of Jesus, too, may be seen in our body (cf. 2 Cor 4:10). Through the eyes of our crucified Saviour we see the world which he redeemed with his blood, desiring that those in whom he continues to suffer will know also the power of his resurrection (cf. Phil 3: 10)
CC&RR, Constitution 4
I write this a few hours after having completed the preaching of a novena at our shrine in New Orleans. As one walks into the church, one sees a large Oblate Cross on the wall. The welcoming wide-open arms of the Savior became the focus of each daily reflection – as indeed they were the focus throughout the life of Eugene after he had experienced their embrace one Good Friday.
This church had been the mortuary chapel for the victims of yellow fever in the 1800’s. In the early 1900’s the Oblates were invited to take over this parish in an area that very few priests wanted to minister in. For close to a century we have been the open arms of the Savior in a particular way to people who have been on the periphery. “We” refers to all the parishioners whose concern for the homeless and the suffering has been proverbial, starting with the warmth of the welcome everyone receives as they step into the church – added to by the jazz and blues tone of the music at every Mass.
Today this Oblate Mission Center, and all associated with it, continue to proclaim in word and action that the Cross of Jesus Christ is indeed central to our mission!
“Should we not press it home upon our consciences that the sole object of our conversion was not the salvation of our own souls, but that we might become co-workers with our Lord and Master in the conversion of the world?” Lottie Moon
I find myself wanting to ask – how do I bear the death of Jesus within me? What does this look like?
Many years ago I started to pray and ask God to take my heart and replace it with his own, to fill me with God’s self. I would ask Jesus that when a person looked at me, at what I was doing and how I lived they would see only him. This was not meant to be a negation of myself for in truth it would bring the greatest of freedoms – to be myself as God created me to become. All the while I continued to ask God to make me ‘ordinary and hidden’, to make me little, as a light to my neighbour’s feet. When I think of what I was asking for!
It can be a daily struggle sometimes. How do I love? How do I allow the Spirit of God, or our crucified Saviour to live within me? I read the rest of Constitution 4: “Through the eyes of our crucified Saviour we see the world which he redeemed with his blood, desiring that those in whom he continues to suffer will know also the power of his resurrection (cf. Phil 3: 10)” The immensity of it causes my eyes to fill and and overflow with gentle tears. I am not sad. If anything I am grateful. Truth be told I am also filled with joy and hope – and with immense gratitude. A whisper of breathe escapes me – Jesus.