YOU CAN IMAGINE HOW HAPPY I AM WHEN I CAN COMMUNICATE THE HEAVENLY GIFTS TO YOU

Eugene’s strong sense of fatherhood of his missionary family received a new expression once he was ordained bishop in 1832: he could now be the one who ordained his sons to the priesthood. It was an awe-inspiring gift for him, as we read:

I would like nothing better, my dear son, than to confer the subdiaconate on you; I would like to keep you present in my heart unceasingly. You can imagine how happy I am when I can communicate the heavenly gifts to you, especially in sacred ordination.

I am so penetrated by this thought that you know how much I would like to lay hands on you to receive the sublime priesthood, but I am delighted when, independently of the claim I make for this great order, I am allowed to give you the minor orders as well. So you see, my dear son, that we are in perfect agreement.

Now it’s a question of preparing yourself well, so that you can take advantage of your successive steps to Holy Orders to make yourself ever more worthy of your vocation by advancing in the perfection of your holy state… But you must be fervent to become a deacon! Pray to St. Stephen. St. Lawrence. and St. Francis of Assisi to suggest how you should respond. Goodbye once more, my dear son.

Letter to Brother Charles Baret, at N.-D. L’Osier, 17 July 1847, EO X n 931

REFLECTION

I am always moved when I see a parent blessing their child – this is a special gift that only the one who generates life is capable of imparting. Eugene was always conscious of, and grateful for, having been chosen by God to be the Founder who brought a religious family into existence. How much more grateful he was for the privilege of being able to be God’s channel of grace to impart ordination on some of its members.

“You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the archer’s hand be for gladness;
For even as He loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is stable.” (Kahlil Gibran)