I hope, I am even confident that not one of our men is blind to the importance and grandeur of your mission. The future of the Congregation in the New World is in your hands.
Writing to Father Honorat, superior of the first community of Oblate missionaries outside of France, Eugene reminds them of the importance of their mission. If their ministry is successful in Canada, then their future is assured. If the first community turns out to be a failure, that would destroy all future missionary endeavours. The eyes of the Canadian Church were focused on this community.
The secret to success was to be found in their spiritual and community life – in the way in which they lived their spirit of oblation.
Be what you should be, that is,
truly good religious,
disciplined in your whole behaviour,
perfectly united,
of one heart and mind,
moved by the same spirit under that ordered regularity which marks you in the eyes of all as men living up to the demands of their Rule, in obedience and charity, devoted to all works of zeal conformed to such obedience and not otherwise, never seeking their own interest but only what pertains to the glory of God and the service of the Church.
Letter to Fr. Jean Baptiste Honorat, 26 March 1842, EO I n 10
“Be what you should be” as members of the Mazenodian Family, living the spirit of oblation of Jesus the Savior in the everyday demands of our state of life. We are all disciples through our baptism – let us help each other to “be what you should be”
Eugene emphasizes the base from which those first early missionaries lived and moved out to a new world; their lives being about the glory of God and service of the Church and how they lived that in the light of their Rule of Life and as part of a community. It was and is never for their own aims but always in the light of the “missio Dei” which was (and continues to be) adopted as our own. The aim was not to have to dream up and discover a new mission which might pertain to Canada, but rather they would need to dream up ways of living the mission as stated in their Constitutions and Rules. They shared in the same Spirit as their Founder and their brothers back in France just as did the first apostles and disciples as they spread across the known world to which surely felt like the ever-expanding edges of the earth.
Fast forward to our present time as Frank reminds us what this must look like in today’s world and for our continued existence here in Canada and in all other areas and corners of the world where we have been planted. The secret to how we will do more than just survive but rather how we as a family, as members of the Mazenodian Family will thrive and flourish, sharing our spiritual and community life. How we as clergy and lay persons will live our spirit of oblation, that same spirit with was shared with us more than 200 years ago.
Our future is assured if we are true to our spiritual and community life and if we live with the regularity of a shared Rule of Life and a shared sense and spirit of oblation. In a spirit of obedience and love we take up the cross that began with Jesus, our crucified Saviour and walk with his apostles and disciples.
I laugh gently with myself. It is never about just me, but always about us as individuals in the here and now. It began with Jesus our crucified Saviour and his disciples, was picked up by Eugene and his founding companions and continues to be our model of living in today’s world.