MISSIONS: YOUR SINCERE WISH TO PROVIDE FOR THEIR EXISTENCE AND CONTRIBUTE TO THEIR DEVELOPMENT
“True charity is the desire to be useful to others with no thought of recompense.” (Emanuel Swedenborg)
As generous and zealous as the Oblates were, this was not sufficient for the success of their overseas evangelization. They needed money with which to finance their work among the poor and most abandoned. It is here that the Missionary Society for the Propagation of the Faith came in with generous subsidies. The letters that Eugene regularly wrote to them are full of gratitude as well as providing interesting details about the progress of the missions.
I wish to thank you as well, Gentlemen, for the kind reception reserved to our requests for assistance on behalf of our missions in America, and for including them in the annual distribution of subsidies by the Missionary Society whose executive administration is entrusted to your care. In my eyes, this represents further proof of the interest you harbor for the missions of our Congregation in foreign countries and your sincere wish to provide for their existence and contribute to their development.
Letter to the Central Council of Southern France for the Missionary Society of the Propagation of the Faith, 27 October 1845, EO V n 96
Today we continue to rely with gratitude on the generosity of our Mazenodian Family in the mission of evangelization
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Today is Thanksgiving Day in Canada.
I find myself questioning what that means, in light of Eugene’s gratitude to the Missionary Society of the Propagation of the Faith, in making it possible for him to send Oblates to places not only in Europe, but in the new world and in particular to what we now call Canada.
I rejoice in where God planted me and gave me life. I rejoice in where God planted my friends who are Muslim or Jewish, Hindu and Buddhists, Lutherans or Anglicans…
How perfect the life God gave me and the family that I was invited by Eugene de Mazenod himself. It was to the Oblate family that I was called and invited to be a part of; for I myself had spent time away from the Church, feeling untouched by the very structures of the Church. Every day I give thanks for this, for being invited to walk with him and his sons and daughters.
Again this morning, as I do every morning, I give thanks to God for having called me as I am: for being a part of this family and being able to renew and live my oblation – to God, to the Church, to the congregation and family and in a small way to the world.
It is about more than just wealth (or lack of), it is about the goodness of many others throughout the world sharing what they have in order that I and others are able to learn and walk with, be sent and share our experiences of God. I can say that I myself have relied on the generosity of the greater Mazenodian Family in the mission of evangelization. “We are sent to bring the Good News to the poor: the poor are evangelized.” Even as I am sent to share the Good News with the poor, I myself continue to be evangelized by those poor.
I am so grateful for all that I have been given and so I give thanks also for all of you – you are a part of my joy. Happy Thanksgiving Day!