Eugene clarifies that even though Bruno Guigues was the diocesan bishop, he was living the Oblate charism and was to rely on this identity and spirituality to fulfil his new role.
The diocese which has been confided to you and the people who will form your flock, far from turning you away from your vocation, on the contrary establish you therein in a more perfect manner. You can well say now that you are by divine right the first missionary of this vast country of which you are the pastor. You are wholly by nature the superior of the missionaries who work under your direction; you are the chief who marches at their head. Were I in your position, I would change nothing in my habits, nor in my relations with those who are your brothers by vocation and your collaborators in the great work of the conversion of souls… Your missionaries and you then form but one and the same family, having only the same views, the same interests.
Letter to Bp Bruno Guigues, 26 September 1848, EO I n 103
REFLECTION
There is an expression used in many countries that always applies. For example: “You can take a person out of Italy, but you can never take Italy out of that person.” This is the message of Eugene to the members of his religious family: “once you have embraced the charism that God has given you through my instrumentality, it always remains in you.”
With gratitude for all that St Eugene gives us today, let us live our particular vocations fully with that focus.
What a beautiful letter Eugene writes to Bishop Guigues as he reminds the new bishop that his foundations as an Oblate missionary do not lessen with this new title and role, but rather they are deepened and strengthened so as to nourish him in this new role and mantle he is to wear. He will draw from his identity and spirituality so that he can lead his flock. This is exactly how Eugene as the Bishop of Marseilles remained true to the charism that the Spirit shared with him, which nourished who he was. It was this that allowed him to enlarge the space of tent (Is 54:2) His heart continued to grow and love all who he met, especially his Oblate sons.
I think too of his “founding community” – it was not just about him and him alone, but about the community that he surrounded himself with – he did not walk alone.
Today Eugene continues as Founder and father of all of his sons and daughters. The gift of his charism is shared with all of us who are called. This is a gift of freedom. I am not quite sure how to word this, but it is somehow a part of the gift of life that was kissed into each of us before we were born. A gift which we grow into; a gift of our identity, spirituality and our DNA.
“The diocese which has been confided to you and the people who will form your flock, far from turning you away from your vocation, on the contrary establish therein in a more perfect manner.” It may not be a diocese that we are called to serve, but that does not lessen the fact that we are all called according to the charism that is confided to us as members of the Oblate/Mazenodian Family. It is in this nature that we will become fruitful to each other and to all we meet on our journey of life. This is our identity and spirituality.