MAY GOD’S WORK CONTINUE IN THIS INTERIOR SPIRITUAL PROCESS UNTIL IT IS FULLY ACCOMPLISHED

We must never forget that the letters of St Eugene were written around 200 years ago, in a world with sensitivities very different from our own today. That was the time of “extra ecclesiam nulla salus” (outside of the Roman Catholic Church there was no salvation) – a theological attitude that was revised by Vatican II with the concept of ecumenism. Eugene viewed the separation in England with sadness because Catholics had been forced by Henry VIII to leave the Church. Furthermore, the Catholics who had remained faithful had had to suffer under strict anti-papist laws and segregational prejudices. The “Catholic Emancipation” in 1829 and the Oxford Movement promoted many conversions to Catholicism. This was the reason for Eugene sending the Oblates to the British Isles. In 1845 he had written a pastoral letter to his diocese to pray for the success of this return to the Catholic Church.

Nearly two years ago, at the invitation of an influential bishop in England, we asked you for the help of your prayers on behalf of our brothers overseas, so that grace might accelerate the progress of the true religion in this British Empire, visited from above in recent times by a brighter and more abundant light.

Eugene now thanks his people because their prayers are bearing fruit.

We have been touched to see with what truly Catholic zeal and ardent charity you have joined with us to obtain that the brethren, whom error had taken away from us, be restored to the community of the same spiritual family, in the bosom of the same fold, under the same shepherd. You have not raised your supplications to heaven in vain. The Lord has heard you from on high, and every day the Church rejoices to see the return to her of beloved children she has been mourning for three centuries.

The Oxford Movement appealed to the intellectuals of England to explore their faith and its expression in a deeper way and this is what Eugene refers to:

In the brightness that alone descends from the Father of light, those who belong to what they call the intellectuals of science and virtue recognize the direction that was hidden to them by hereditary prejudice, enter it generously, break away from opposing interests, and appeal to other intelligent persons who seek the light with sincere love in ever great numbers to embrace the truth which henceforth is in their possession.

May God’s work continue in this interior spiritual process until it is fully accomplished! May the day soon come when a nation which occupies such a great place in the world will join hands with us to embrace, in a common zeal, islands and continents, and bring them back to the unity of the same faith, thanks to the powerful influence of both countries! Continue to pray, our dearest brothers, that this future prospect, this magnificent hope may not be long in coming, and that the reign of God may come on all the earth.

Bishop Eugene’s Circular Letter to the people of Marseilles, 24 February 1847, EO III Circular n 2

REFLECTION

Two centuries later, Pope John Paul II encouraged Christians:

“The Catholic Church embraces with hope the commitment to ecumenism as a duty of the Christian conscience enlightened by faith and guided by love, Jesus himself, at the hour of his Passion, prayed ‘that they may all be one’ (Jn 17:21). This unity, which the Lord has bestowed on his Church and in which he wishes to embrace all people, is not something added on, but stands at the very heart of Christ’s mission. Nor is it some secondary attribute of the community of his disciples. Rather, it belongs to the very essence of this community.”- Pope John Paul II, (Ut Unum Sint)