GOD WILL NOT FAIL TO BLESS ALL THE WORKS OF A VERY HOLY MAN SUCH AS THIS FATHER HONORAT
The Bishop of Montreal then wrote about the Superior of the missionaries, Father Jean Baptiste Honorat.
“Some of your Fathers have found that their superior does not have the tact necessary in this country where there are many matters to handle carefully, in the unfortunate circumstances wherein we find ourselves.
Yvon Beaudoin explains the “unfortunate circumstances”: “Bishop Bourget is undoubtedly alluding to the insurrection of 1837-1838 and, as a consequence, to the Act of Union of Lower and Upper Canada, voted for by the English parliament in 1840. By this act, the French Canadians lost much of their autonomy in their own province. Fortunately, Lord Elgin, governor general from 1847 to 1854, found the idea of anglicizing the French Canadians to be absurd; he revoked the clause of the prohibition of French in the Act of Union”
The Bishop continued:
He has, as a matter of fact, carried out some imprudent activities whose consequences his heart, upright and simple like the dove, has not permitted him to foresee. They consulted me in order to make sure that it would not be appropriate to request his recall to France. I counselled them to do nothing about it and to rely on Providence, which would arrange everything. I hope that I will not be mistaken in my expectation.
God will not fail to bless all the works of a very holy man such as this Father Honorat. The opinions given to him by me have always been welcomed with respect and I see with consolation that he is on his guard so as not to expose himself to those who take advantage of everything when they want to belittle a work which does not please them.
Eugene de Mazenod’s Diary, 20 March 1843, EO XXI
Eugene responded to Bishop Bourget:
Father Honorat is indeed such as you portray him to me. He is an angel of candour and simplicity, excellent religious, fully possessed of the spirit and virtues of his state. Sometimes his manner is a little hard; his voice accentuates this somewhat, but this is only his exterior. Within he is good and will ever be amenable to any good advice your paternal charity will prompt you to give him.
Letter to Ignace Bourget, Bishop of Montreal, 30 May 1843. EO I n 18
Even though we occasionally make many bad judgements and mistakes, God will not fail to bless our good intentions as we stand up and begin again.
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This morning I find myself sitting in the same chair as those who complained to Bishop Bourget as well as the seat of the bishop himself, and hopefully finding small glimmers of recognition in the words of Eugene. It is not the first time I have felt like this, and it will undoubtedly not be the last time.
Dawn has not yet arrived and along with the darkness everything outside my window is shrouded in a slowly receding mist as yet I am unable to see exactly what the city before me looks like or to be able to recognize my overall bearings except for the immediate couple of city blocks of my building.
It is in this manner that my day begins. My good morning to my Beloved is quieter and less jubilant than normal and I find myself wanting to move closer to him as the day begins. I remember what he said to me the night before last and take hope that God will bestow great love and grace so I might greet the day with its new opportunities to love and give thanks.
I look once again at those first Oblates who came to Canada, and for a moment I am reminded of some of the disciples that Jesus chose to carry and share his message; every bit as human as us. God did not seem to measure or hold their seeming weaknesses and failures against them.
There is hope and trust that comes with the dawn; and while there does not seem to be a brilliant sunrise there is enough light to see the ground where we put one foot in front of the other. As those first Oblates and Eugene experienced and Frank writes of God blesses our efforts in our standing up and beginning a new day, again and again…