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- FOR THE REST, I DO MY BEST TO LEAVE IT TO GOD
- GOD ALONE KNOWS HOW TO REWARD WHAT WE HAVE DONE FOR HIM. SO, WE MUST DO EVERYTHING TO PLEASE HIM
- IT IS A CONSOLATION FOR ME TO BREATHE THE SAME AIR, TO OFFER THE HOLY SACRIFICE ON THE SAME ALTARS, TO BE ABLE TO PRAY AT HIS TOMB
- THERE IS NOT A CORNER OF ROME WHICH IS NOT A MONUMENT OF FAITH OR PIETY
- THE ROMAN MARTYRS ARE STILL THE OBJECT OF VENERATION OF PEOPLES
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- Eleanor Rabnett, Lay Oblate on FAITH-FOCUSED INVESTMENT GROUPS: A PRESENCE WHERE DECISIONS AFFECTING THE FUTURE OF THE POOR ARE BEING MADE (Rule 9a)
- Eleanor Rabnett, Lay Oblate on VIVAT: A PRESENCE WHERE DECISIONS AFFECTING THE FUTURE OF THE POOR ARE BEING MADE (Rule 9a)
- Eleanor Rabnett, Lay Oblate on WE SHOW A VERY HUMAN FACE OF JESUS TO THE WORLD, ONE FULL OF COMPASSION AND SOLIDARITY (Rule 9a)
- Eleanor Rabnett, Lay Oblate on JUSTICE, PEACE AND THE INTEGRITY OF CREATION AS AN INTEGRAL PART OF EVANGELIZATION (Rule 9a)
- Eleanor Rabnett, Lay Oblate on WALKING THE LINE BETWEEN PROPHETIC VISION AND SPIRITUAL SUSTENANCE (CONSTITUTION 9)
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“A father’s communication with his many children… that is one of the most agreeable occupations of my life” 1857
Eugene was living in some the most difficult and painful periods of his life, having been attacked by some of the petty ministers of the French King’s government and when Rome had silenced and seemingly abandoned him.
He was struggling to “keep his head above raging waters” around him and not forsake his fledgling congregation. The word martyrdom comes to mind. There is that image of him wanting to live out and give his entire life for God – completely dying to himself.
I am reminded of the many martyrs who over the years have given their very lives as oblation to God and the Church. But most obviously that was not God’s plan for Eugene. His struggle was no easier, no less heroic because he was fighting to find a way to continue to serve God, his beloved Church and his ‘family’.
I think of Fr. Bonga’s interview yesterday with Fr. Chicho and the three Oblates, which took place in the dark and the cold of a church in the middle of a war ground. Fr. Chicho who went to be with and serve his brothers in the midst of a war, and the Oblates who chose to remain in the Ukraine to love and serve those they had been charged with caring for.
“I do not know what he expects of me; all I know is that he governs with his wisdom those whose sole purpose is to work for his glory.”
Who is to measure another, whose effort is the greatest or the least? Last night I went to bed, allowing myself to be gathered into the embrace of the Beloved and I asked Him to hold those four and the many others in the Ukraine and around the world. I ‘called upon the Lord to find my consolation above all in the thought that it is Providence who is guiding me’.
Even our own small burdens can seem at times to be too large for us to carry on our own.