ST EUGENE: PILGRIM OF HOPE DISCERNING THE MOST URGENT NEEDS

Posted on May 16, 2023 by franksantucci

(Eugene’s eighth “road sign” for the pilgrim)

Eugene, like Jesus, had a sharp eye for discerning where the most abandoned were and then responding to the best of his ability.

It seems to me that our duty is to rush to where there is the most urgent need

Eugene’s letter to the Pastor of Barjols, 20 August 1818, EO XIII n 14

“They will have a compassionate charity for the misery of the poor and they will count themselves happy to be able to relieve, in their needs, these suffering members of J.C.”

Eugene de Mazenod’s Rule for the members of his Christian Youth Association  EO XV, n. 135

He described his missionary family as persons

who are always ready to move quickly at all times and at the least sign to that place where obedience shows us that some good is to be done

Eugene’s letter to the Archbishop of Aix, 16 December 1819, EO XIII n 27

THE WORD OF GOD

And let people learn to devote themselves to good works in order to meet urgent needs, so that they may not be unproductive.

Titus 3:14

“Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?”
Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them.” [“pauperibus evangelizantur” of the OMI crest)

Matthew 11:3-4

PRAYER

God our Father,
by the grace of the Holy Spirit,
you called St. Eugene de Mazenod
to gather a missionary family
to respond to the most urgent needs.

May we ourselves be your eyes to look with compassion on the world
and be your hands and hearts in responding.

May we receive through the intercession of Saint Eugene
the particular graces we ask for as pilgrims of hope.

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One Response to ST EUGENE: PILGRIM OF HOPE DISCERNING THE MOST URGENT NEEDS

  1. Eleanor Rabnett, Lay Oblate says:
    May 16, 2023 at 12:46

    For some reason I find myself returning again and again to two lines from the prayer: “May we ourselves be your eyes to look with compassion on the world and be your hands and hearts in responding.” There is an immensity, a depth to this request calls be go back a little further as Eugene writes: “…always ready to move quickly at all times and at the least sign to that place where obedience shows us that some good is to be done.”

    These movements flow within each other and I am drawn to open up my small green copy of the Constitutions and Rules, idly noticing the small amount of wear and tear on it’s edges – no longer pristine and its spine once rigid opens and lays at ease for at least the first quarter of the book. I am able to go with very little searching to the pages which speak of the vow of obedience.

    “As individuals and as a community, we have the responsibility to seek the will of God. Decisions which express this will are best reached after community discernment and prayer.” (C26) “Members will confirm their lives and their missionary activities to the Constitutions and Rules of the Congregation. They will make them the object of their reflection in prayer and fraternal sharing.” (C28)

    I try to live this, not according to its “letter of the law”, but rather to hear the Spirit speaking through it. I have not joined a community, a Church or a family to do things on my own, but rather with. This is what God has called me to – this is the immense gift of love that God has given to me, to you, to all of us…

    “May we receive through the intercession of Saint Eugene the particular graces we ask for as pilgrims of hope.”

    Reply

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