MY VICAR GENERAL AND MY FIRST AND ELDEST COMPANION IN THE HOLY WORK
Father Tempier, Eugene’s right-hand man, had been sent to Nancy to finalize all the necessary arrangements for the new Oblate establishment. Eugene wrote to the Vicar General of Nancy assuring him of his support for all the decisions made.
You will settle everything with Father Tempier, my Vicar General and my first and eldest companion in the holy work that you plan to adopt in your diocese. In advance I approve everything that he may decide. You will have no difficulty in coming to an agreement with him; he is a zealous and dedicated man, very wise, very astute in business matters. By excellent qualities he compensates what may be lacking in some external graces, if you judge him by his coldness. But capable men value merit on its true scale. Father Tempier has my fullest confidence and you can give him yours without hesitation.
Letter to M. Marguet, Vicar General of Nancy, France, 15 June 1847, EO XIII n 111
REFLECTION
Eugene’s admiration for his first companion in the foundation of the Oblates is clear in this letter, as is his realism about Henri Tempier’s character. Eugene and Henri complemented each other perfectly in their leadership of the Missionary Oblate Congregation and the Diocese of Marseilles. Where one was outgoing, impetuous and a visionary, the other was taciturn and an outstanding ansd calculating administrator who had to bring Eugene back down to earth at times.
“Constancy is the complement of all other human virtues.” (Giuseppe Mazzini)
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This morning I am reminded of the companions who God gives to each of us on our journey of life; and how we are invited to complement and be a balance to each other. We are drawn towards both comfort and challenge, the interior as well as the exterior… Balance is achieved when there is a flow, back and forth.
I think of how we are drawn to both the personal and the communal… and I find myself silently singing the lyrics of Ann Mortifee’s “Born to Live”. It begins quietly and slowly but as life calls each of us to different and challenging experiences the music becomes fuller. The final verse is both triumphant and consoling.
We were born to live, to be right and wrong,
To be false and true, to be weak and strong.
We were born to live, to break down the walls,
And to know that life is to taste it all.