HAVE CONFIDENCE IN OUR GOOD FATHER FOR WHOSE SAKE WE HAVE SACRIFICED EVERYTHING ON THIS EARTH, EVEN OUR LIFE

Posted on March 15, 2024 by franksantucci

Father Viala, who was complaining about his assignment, was reminded of his action of total self-giving to God through his oblation.

So, my dear Father, be patient, do not ask for the impossible, have confidence in our good Father for whose sake we have sacrificed everything on this earth, even our life. Do not doubt that he will come to your aid, that he will give you back your health and your peace of soul, on condition that you live in holy indifference, a quality which assures the happiness of a good religious… For now, attend to regaining your health and continue doing the good work you have begun to do so well. Try to overcome the little dislikes and vexations that all of us meet in our lives; be worthy of yourself and your vocation and believe me, it costs me very much to contradict you, but I appeal to your heart and to your piety.

Farewell. I greet you very affectionately.

Letter to Fr. Jean Viala at Limoges, 21 June 1848, EO X n 979

REFLECTION

Father, I abandon myself into your hands; do with me what you will.
Whatever you may do, I thank you: I am ready for all, I accept all.
Let only your will be done in me, and in all your creatures – I wish no more than this, O Lord.
Into your hands I commend my soul: I offer it to you with all the love of my heart,
for I love you, Lord, and so need to give myself, to surrender myself into your hands without reserve,
and with boundless confidence, for you are my Father. (Charles de Foucald)

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One Response to HAVE CONFIDENCE IN OUR GOOD FATHER FOR WHOSE SAKE WE HAVE SACRIFICED EVERYTHING ON THIS EARTH, EVEN OUR LIFE

  1. Eleanor Rabnett, Lay Oblate says:
    March 15, 2024 at 12:27

    This past week we have witnessed Eugene’s love for all of his sons and daughters: not only the greatest but also those who might be judged as the least.

    Eugene did not give up on Fr. Jean Viala even though had to keep helping and reminding him that it would in their shared Rule of Life that Fr. Jean Viala would experience hope and consolation, courage and healing of his wounds.

    The Oblate Mottostates: “we are sent to evangelize the poor – the poor are evangelized.” It is in how we walk together that we become pilgrims in hope of communion. And in those times of struggle, when we have little to offer, that we find others offering to carry us.

    It is in familial love there will be times when it feels like we are carrying our brothers and sisters, but this offers them an opportunity to also carry us.

    It no longer feels like a sacrifice, because we give of ourselves freely and with a love that knows no boundaries. I look at the small cross that is in front of me – in the center it is of Mary, Our Mother holding Jesus in her arms. That is the love that Sts. Ignatius, Francis, Charles de Foucauld, Mother Teresa, and Eugene de Mazenod have shared with us as their way of total surrender to God.

    Reply

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