THAT WOULD BE LIKE TRYING TO HIDE BEHIND YOUR OWN FINGER

A former Oblate, Fr Reinaud, was working as a diocesan priest in Ceylon and had been instrumental in suggesting to the Bishop that the Oblates be invited to the island. He was an ambitious person and did not give good advice to the Oblates once they had arrived.

Eugene warned Fr Semeria to be careful:

Let this lead you always to observe a just and prudent reserve. …I am speaking to you humanly. Perhaps this is not the case, but my experience of men obliges me to warn you in advance of any surprise and to illuminate your natural goodness for fear that it might allow itself to be deceived by appearances into believing men to be better than they are. I greatly love the simplicity of the dove, but I never like it to be separated from the prudence of the serpent.

Fr Reinaud had also advised the Oblates not to present themselves as religious and not to wear the Oblate Cross in public. Eugene’s reaction was predictable.

You have done very well in not following to the letter the advice that Reinaud gave you concerning your holy vocation. You must not boast of it or parade it without reason, but you must never hide it. Moreover, that would be like trying to hide behind your own finger.

Letter to Fr Etienne Semeria in Ceylon, 25 January 1848, EO IV (Ceylon) n 2

REFLECTION

“To call yourself a child of God is one thing. To be called a child of God by those who watch your life is another thing altogether.” (Max Lucado)