THE POPE GAVE ME HIS PERSONAL BLESSING, WHILE IMPLORING ME TO PRAY AND TO HAVE PRAYERS SAID FOR HIM

Posted on June 5, 2024 by franksantucci

In November 1848 the situation deteriorated and the Pope had been forced to leave Rome. Eugene and the people of Marseilles renewed their invitation to him to take shelter in their city and many were convinced of his imminent arrival. This never happened, but Eugene noted in his diary:

All the same, I must not pass over in silence the gesture of extravagant kindness which I received from His Holiness who gave Fr. Hugues, bursar of the Redemptorists, the express order to stop in Marseille in order to visit me, to give me greetings from the Pope, and to tell me that he was giving me his personal blessing, while imploring me to pray and to have prayers said for him. That’s what decided me to publish a brief pastoral letter which will be the first published in France, as I was the first to order prayers at the time of the crisis in which the Pope found himself several months ago.

Eugene de Mazenod’s Diary, 28 November 1848, EO XXI

REFLECTION

“However, since the Supreme Pontiff possesses in his sacred person the fullness of apostolic power, and thus sums up in himself all the rights of the mission entrusted to Peter and the other Apostles, it is to him that we must direct our highest feelings of filial piety. He is the common Father, the Head of the great family of God’s children on earth.” (Bishop Eugene’s Pastoral Letter to the Diocese of Marseilles, 16 February 1860.)

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1 Response to THE POPE GAVE ME HIS PERSONAL BLESSING, WHILE IMPLORING ME TO PRAY AND TO HAVE PRAYERS SAID FOR HIM

  1. Eleanor Rabnett, Lay Oblate Associate says:
    June 5, 2024 at 12:35

    Once again this morning I am invited to reflect upon the Pope, every bit as Eugene did. I am reminded of my own joy and excitement when Pope Jean Paul II came to Ottawa in 1984, travelling down the Canal and then the next day saying Mass at LeBreton Flats and staying on after most had left; waiting for his car to pass by us who had waited on the side of a small road where his car passed so close to us that we could almost reach out to touch the vehicle as he blessed the few of us who remained. It was only after he returned to France that doubts and fears arose from the reported news, and it is only in looking back that I realize that I demanded utter and holy perfection of the man, not allowing him to be a human.

    I somehow managed to make the same silent demands of Pope Francis who is a wonderful man, but recently fears and doubts have intruded my thinking and again I have struggled with him – demanding holy perfection and the need for him to be above all humanness.

    Now I begin to realise that I have been trying on the same cloak for myself -trying to deny that any goodness within me because I am so human.

    I am always amazed at how gently God pulls the veils of denial away from my eyes. It is lovingly, gentle and more beautiful than any caress or kiss as it brings light to the darkest corners of my heart.

    It is for this reason that I return here each morning, spending time listening and reflecting as St. Eugene speaks to all of us, guiding and inviting us to let go of our doubts and fears so as to know the freedom of being human within ourselves and with all in this world. Eugene is my model, my founder and in so many ways my father (and I one of his daughters) as he teaches and guides me in the way of his charism and love.

    Again this morning I pray:
    Lord have mercy
    St. Eugene intercede for us
    Mary, our Mother, intercede for us.

    Reply

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