I HAVE BEEN ABLE TO RECOGNIZE THE GOOD SPIRIT THAT ANIMATES ALL OF THEM

At the end of the General Chapter, Eugene met individually with each delegate. Each encounter became an experience of joyful gratitude for the gift of their missionary vocation and zeal.

I left the seminary only last evening in order to give time to meet with all the Fathers gathered together with me.

It is in these intimate communications that I have been able to recognize the good spirit that animates all of them. I have said to myself several times that we had nothing to envy in any other society. Let us thank God for having brought ours to the point where it is, and may each recognize that he has been placed on a way of perfection where it depends on him to advance with great strides.

Eugene de Mazenod’s Diary, 14 July 1843, EO XXI

As a result of God’s gifts, it is important for each of us to continue with zeal along the path of discipleship in our particular walk of life.

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1 Response to I HAVE BEEN ABLE TO RECOGNIZE THE GOOD SPIRIT THAT ANIMATES ALL OF THEM

  1. Eleanor Rabnett, Oblate Associate says:

    From time to time my spiritual director will remind me that life is a journey, and that we have not yet finished and reached the end of our journey. It is a shared journey and we both somehow become renewed and filled with gratitude and zeal to continue.

    I remember watching how at the end of the 35th General Chapter in 2010 the delegates came forward one by one to be greeted by their Superior General and how he had been filled with a grace that was reflected in his smile as each man approached him to offer love and support.

    And when those same delegates arrived home, they shared with us how they had been touched and what they had received. And how the Acts of the chapter were then shared with each of us, that we could each advance with renewed zeal in our steps forward. We allowed the Spirit to carry the words to our hearts, lighting our way forward as we took/take part in lighting the way for each other.

    It was deeply personal for Eugene and yet he wanted/wants to share that with his sons and daughters, standing in his light and living out our discipleship from that light. Not just men and women of his time but becoming men and women for all seasons.

    This is why we return here each day, to step into the light and be renewed and filled with a particular type of zeal, preparing to set out on a new day’s trek in our journey of life.

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