I ACCEPT WITH ZEAL AND EAGERNESS THE MISSION YOU ASSIGN ME.

Eugene writes to Hippolyte Guibert to appoint him to the mission of Corsica as Superior of the Oblate community and of the seminary

But who shall we send to found this important establishment? Professors are needed, above all a very capable superior is needed. We have no one in the Society but yourself, my dear friend, who unites in his person the qualities required to make this foundation. I say it before God and after wearing myself out with every conceivable possibility. I am all too conscious of the gap you will be leaving elsewhere; but I repeat, the foundation can be made by no one but you. You won’t expect me to give you proof; your modesty would have you rest while at the same time the spirit of obedience that fills you would impel you to accept.
We are going to be upside down for a year; no one more so than myself, but it is a necessity that must be submitted to in view of the immense good which must result from it.
Goodbye, pray to the holy Virgin for yourself, for me and for the whole family, that we may receive light, strength and perpetual help. With my affectionate embrace and blessing. + Charles Joseph Eugene, Bishop of Icosia.

Letter to Hippolyte Guibert, 18 October 1834, EO VIII n 493

Beaudoin writes: “Father Guibert was fourth assistant general; he replied to his Superior General: ‘I accept with zeal and eagerness the mission you assign me. In doing so I am motivated both by my loyalty towards the Society to which I unreservedly belong and by the filial love that I have pledged to you. This does not imply that I am worthy’ …”

Fr Guibert was living the norms that Eugene had written in the Oblate Rule of 1818:

“…Obedience in our Institute will be prompt, humble, complete.
In following the directives of superiors let our members keep before their eyes
God himself, for it is out of love for him that they obey and to him alone that they submit in the person of their superiors.”
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1 Response to I ACCEPT WITH ZEAL AND EAGERNESS THE MISSION YOU ASSIGN ME.

  1. Eleanor Rabnett, Oblate Associate says:

    I am reminded of how the Spirit, the Holy Spirit works through and speaks through the Superior General of a society; how she works with and through the Capitulants of the General Chapter. Always it is the Holy Spirit who is in charge, and we, each and every one of us, are her instruments.

    Reminding Fr. Guibert of the “spirit of obedience that fills you would impel you to accept” Eugene helps him to accept fully. I keep reminding myself that missionaries are ‘sent’ by the Spirit; and this morning we have the Spirit speaking through Eugene as he sends Hippolyte Guibert out knowing how difficult this will be for Guibert, for the ‘whole family’, and for himself. I want to think that this is how it was for Eugene as he sent each member out, especially those that he would eventually send out across the oceans and around the world. “…pray to the holy Virgin for yourself, for me and for the whole family, that we may receive light, strength and perpetual help.”

    Guibert’s response is filled with love and obedience. His ‘yes’ is most beautiful especially as it is seen in the light of the Rule of Life. He is doing it out of love that he has pledged to Eugene, Superior General and also to his brothers. No matter what other feelings he might be experiencing he responds as he must.

    The immense freedom that is ours when we commit ourselves to obedience for it is only God who knows the total ‘why and how’. I think of the disciples and apostles of Jesus. “Come follow me” he said and they did.

    “In following the directives of superiors let our members keep before their eyes God himself, for it is out of love for him that they obey and to him alone that they submit in the person of their superiors.”

    It is the Spirit that invites all members of this Family to respond out of love and zeal and allow ourselves to be sent. I dare say it looks as different to each one of us as it did to those early and current Oblates. “The charism of Saint Eugene de Mazenod is a gift of the Spirit to the Church, and it radiates throughout the world. Lay people recognize that they are called to share in the charism according to their state of life, and to live it in ways that vary according to milieu and cultures. They share in the charism in a spirit of communion and reciprocity among themselves and with the Oblates.” (OMI Constitutions and Rules, R 37a)

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