THE EFFORTS HE MAKES TO RENEW HIMSELF IN THE SPIRIT OF HIS VOCATION

Posted on August 25, 2021 by franksantucci

Young Father Lucien Lagier was 27 years old when he arrived in Canada. He was impressionable and had been unduly influenced by the negativity of Fr. Baudrand. Now that the latter had been removed, Lagier was able to come to terms with his shortcomings and mistakes.

Eugene wrote to Father Honorat, his superior in Canada:

In thus agreeing amongst yourselves, in esteeming each other, in loving one another as you ought, you will inevitably lead the young Father Lagier, who needs it, in the right direction with this good example. Father Telmon can be very useful to him in correcting his compositions which the latter should submit to him with simplicity and gratitude for to give him this family training is to render him great service. I have always thought that this youngster would not be so unruly as he has been in his letters and presumably as he has shown himself in conversation, had he not before his eyes the aberrations of Father Baudrand. 

Neglect nothing to put him back on the right path but, to the efforts he makes to renew himself in the spirit of his vocation, let him join a serious application to study. Persuade him that it is not given to everyone to have the talent of Father Telmon and that so far from being humiliated in following his advice, he should count himself fortunate to have so close to him in the family a brother who shares his knowledge with him and who helps him to develop.

Letter to Jean Baptiste Honorat, 31 May 1843, EO I n 19

The caring approach succeeded, and Father Lagier became an accomplished and successful preacher in Canada and in the United States. He certainly managed to rediscover the “spirit of his vocation.”

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One Response to THE EFFORTS HE MAKES TO RENEW HIMSELF IN THE SPIRIT OF HIS VOCATION

  1. Eleanor Rabnett, Oblate Associate says:
    August 25, 2021 at 11:32

    It is the last sentence that Eugene writes that I find myself reflecting on this morning: “Persuade him that it is not given to everyone to have the talent of Father Telmon and that so far from being humiliated in following his advice, he should count himself fortunate to have so close to him in the family a brother who shares his knowledge with him and who helps him to develop.”

    In today’s language we might call the Father Telmons of our lives our teachers, formators, friends, mentors, parents, brothers, sisters… In some cases, there will be many such gifts from God and in others they may only be one or two such people who help us to discover or rediscover the “spirit of his (or her) vocation”. It is never simply a one-time event, but rather ongoing throughout our lives here on earth.

    As I read this piece this morning I thought it one of the living examples of how we attain our salvation, through the salvation of others, whether we be Lagiers, Honorats, Telmons, or others in this Mazenodian Family.

    This morning I look at a piece I have on my desk, always before me a beautiful piece shared with me by a dear friend, at a time when my world had fallen apart, and I did not know if I would ever be okay.

    “Now go slowly and be like a beautiful piece of driftwood going with the current wherever it takes you. God’s river is beautiful – the current will take you to beautiful shady places, lovely flowing water, bulling streams, the occasional knock with a rock which will then deflect you along the water, and sometimes to get stuck in the mud and just have to wait for the next wind or rain to move the mud. Float gently and know that the Holy Spirit and St. Eugene are blowing, and that the current knows where it is leading you to.”

    I treasure this but it is time now for me to share it with another…

    Reply

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