IF YOU HAVE FAILED IN A TRIAL SO WEAK AS THIS, WHAT WILL YOU DO IN THE MIDST OF THE OBSTACLES OF A DIFFICULT MISSION?

Father Bermond had begged Eugene to be sent to Canada as one of the pioneer missionaries, but Eugene had reasons to hesitate and so did not include him. In the previous entry we saw how Bermond had resisted to be changed from one community in France to another. Eugene responded to his request in a blunt, but loving way.

But after reflection I come back to your letter. I ought to tell you that it has given me much grief. Your resistance over such an easy thing, the miserable reasons you allege, the insistence with which you oblige me to revoke my decision without worrying about the trouble you may cause me, all this gives me food for thought. First, if your health is so feeble as to make you afraid of several months of a change of air from Marseilles to Aix, will it not be supremely imprudent to risk transferring you 2000 leagues away where you will live in a country of which the climate is so rigorous, so cold in winter and so hot in summer?

Moreover, in such distant missions where one can expect so many frustrations, so many vexations, and where to serve demands so much sacrifice for the will, so much fatigue for the body, men are needed who are firmly rooted in holy indifference, devotedness, absolute obedience, men of sacrifice who act promptly and willingly in opposition to their own ideas, etc. If you have failed, my dear son, in a trial so weak as the one which has been the first to present itself, what will you do in the midst of the obstacles of a difficult mission?

… My duty is to send men strong in integrity, lovers of religious discipline, jealous of the honour of the Congregation which others compromise by their murmuring, their spirit of independence and their lack of regularity… Do you feel yourself to be one of these strong men I seek?

I end, my dear son, for lack of paper yet still with enough space to embrace you.

Letter to Fr. Francois Bermond, 8 September 1842, EO I n 12

A good example of the fatherhood of Eugene: truthful and direct, yet a loving father who wanted the best for his Oblate sons.

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1 Response to IF YOU HAVE FAILED IN A TRIAL SO WEAK AS THIS, WHAT WILL YOU DO IN THE MIDST OF THE OBSTACLES OF A DIFFICULT MISSION?

  1. Eleanor Rabnett, Oblate Associate says:

    Eugene seemed to know intimately what kind of challenges his sons would meet when they arrived in Canada, or I suppose any other new missions that his congregation was to take part in. I think of Eugene’s own life and the various struggles he had to overcome in being human, in loving God and giving himself totally to God throughout his own life. And something clicks into place about how God loves each of us and how God allows whatever is necessary for each of us to eventually come into fullness with God’s self.

    I think of how in my own fervour of love I have asked God to take all that I am, all that I be for himself, for his glory. But there is within that a small unconscious thought of my own glory; being seen by others as being particularly good, holy, and even saintly. I had not realised it until I sat here reflecting on Fr. Bermond that I have secretly entertained thoughts and desires of my own goodness and holiness. Somehow putting myself above others. Not a flattering way of seeing myself, but Eugene has managed to show me another area of weakness in a loving way as only a father, mother, brother or sister can do. It is done lovingly and without condemnation. There is no word or sign written across my forehead to signify how I have failed him or am less than any other, but he speaks to me and shows me as I sit in his embrace, loved. In such a way as there is always a dignity within me that is restored each time this happens. God recognizes not only my struggles and challenges, but also my strengths and gifts; and speaks to me through Eugene and many others.

    This is the love that Eugene shows to Fr. Bermond, the love of a father, mother, brother and sister… Is this not how God speaks to and cares for each one of us?

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