The railway line to Marseilles was completed and inaugurated in January 1848. It was an awe-filled experience for all as most people had never seen a steam locomotive before. Bishop Eugene, who had fought for this with the French Government was one of the guests of honor. Rey describes the event:
On Saturday the 8th, the city’s clergy… set off in procession from the Minor Seminary to the railway station, where an altar bearing the cross had been erected on a vast platform; to the right and left were seats for the priests and authorities, a little further down an enclosure reserved for those specially invited; beyond were the rail tracks and locomotives over which the Bishop’s blessing was to be given.
The ceremony began with a speech by Mr. Wulfran Puget, Chairman of the Board, in which the religious note was expressed with moving eloquence: “Without the manifest protection of Providence,” he said, “such work could not have been accomplished in so few years, and with such happiness. Our first act should therefore be one of thanksgiving and gratitude to God. Bishop, you are so kind as to call down heaven’s blessings on the railway we are inaugurating; we thank you for it. Your lofty ministry has never been given a finer mission. You will consecrate this work, completed at the cost of so much sacrifice and effort. You will bless these animated and almost intelligent machines, which seem to be the last and most complete expression of man’s genius, and these railroad tracks to which so many human lives will be entrusted.
“This consecration will not only be a thanksgiving for the past, it will also be a prayer for the future. It is the duty of religion, which blesses the harvest of the earth and the fruits of agriculture, also to call down heavenly protection on the fruits and harvests of this other branch of labor, commerce and industry, and on the railroad which will fertilize them.
A small “aha” moment this morning as I realise that I do no always connect the joyous gratitude that inspires me to give full glory to God, at what we, I have achieved only because of the gifts that God continues to lavish upon us… And then in the same breath to move forward, even if there be a mist in front of us so that only our next step is possible, and the next, etc. as we continue in the same breath; and give all the glory to God who then inspires our next feeble steps.
I remember Blessed Joseph Girard OMI who spoke of loving always, it is that love that allows us to look to the past and allow our beings to become a witness to the Light which has led us our of darkness and into the light that is God is inviting us to give life to.
This is how we give glory to God. It is no longer one small separate step at a time, but rather a flow that our very beings and lives take part in…
This is to give continuous glory to God.