ONE MORE OF THE CHOSEN OF OUR FAMILY IS IN HEAVEN
Father Frederic Perron was 35 when he died of typhus, and had spent three years in England. He had worked in Penzance and then as superior of Grace Dieu in Leicestershire, and then was appointed superior of the community in Everingham, Yorkshire. He was an Oblate on whom Eugene had placed his confidence, and whose death was a cruel blow.
Yet Eugene was able to trust in God: “May the Lord be blessed in all things.”
Father Cooke writes me that our late Father Perron regained consciousness a few days ago, and that he never stopped talking about heavenly things right up to his last breath. This is another cruel loss, especially as we need ten more workers in England. May the Lord be blessed in all things. One more of the chosen of our family is in heaven; the assurance that our departed give us of their eternal happiness is truly remarkable. We can rightly apply to ourselves the words of Saint Alphonsus de Liguori who promised heaven to all who die in his Congregation. We have the same reason for confidence because it is perseverance in faithfulness to the commitment made with God, and the saintly death of all our members whom the Lord has called to himself confirming us in this reassurance.
Letter to Fr Ambroise Vincens at N.-D. de L’Osier, France, 27 February 1848, EO X n 969
REFLECTION
The Book of Leviticus 19:1 states, “Be holy as I am holy,” and shows that the way to ensure this is through observance of the God’s Word. Eugene was convinced that every Oblate who lived by the Rule (which is our particular way of living the Word of God) and had been faithful to his oblation would join the Oblate community in heaven.
Religious life is a way of living our baptism as are all ways of life. All who “have been claimed for Christ our Savior” at baptism can have the same confidence: if we are faithful in life, God will be faithful at the time of our death.
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A “particular way of living the Word of God…”
I find that each day I continue to experience new ways to live in the light of Eugene’s shared charism. The Kingdom of God is not just for those who have died, but is an integral part of our everyday life here on earth. And no matter our state of life, we are all invited to take part in it. My assurance of this is nothing less than the words that I heard from Jesus, our crucified Saviour at the moment of my conversion: “…I love you. I have called you by name and you are mine.”
It did not mean automatic entrance into heaven, but rather it shows me and others to live in the present moment, in the presence of Gof, in the light of Eugene’s charism.
Had we lived in the medieval times people like us might well have been seen in the light of the mendicants. But we are called to live in the present, in the moment…, it is here that we find true life and love. It is here in the now that we are called and given the courage to go out to the very edges of life where we will find those who have been abandoned by society, sometimes by the Church, and where we find ourselves when we have given up on ourselves…
Salvation is not just for “those people over there”, but for each and all of us. The Spirit leads us to where we are called to be today…