UP TILL NOW YOU HAVE NOT TOLD ME OF A SINGLE CONVERSION.
After three years of Oblate presence, Eugene wrote
I cannot see that you are doing much there, that you are still only beginning… and up till now you have not told me of a single conversion.
Letter to Fr. Étienne Semeria in Jaffna. 17 January 1850, EO IV n 14
In response to Eugene’s desire to see quick results, Father Semeria responded in April 1850:
“We must make up our minds to be almost martyrs of patience. The good that we will do here will not be apparent for quite a long time. To treat the Indians as you would Europeans would be to risk spoiling everything. Nevertheless, good can be done and is being done. Jaffna is proof of this. When the Goan priests were ministering here, the most fervent Christians scarcely went to confession even at Easter, and those fervent ones were rare. Now we have about thirty communions in our church every day. Before, the Sacred Presence was not kept. Now, many persons visit the Blessed Sacrament every day. Before, it was impossible to assemble the children for catechism. For the past two years, I have succeeded in doing so and grown ups also attend those lessons spontaneously. Within a short period, I have baptized between sixty and seventy adults.”
Three years later, in 1853, Semeria wrote:
“I think that, sometimes, it is easier to convert an idolatrous people who are suddenly touched by previously unknown truths which are taught them, than to regenerate half-Christians who have abused the grace they had received. Nevertheless, although we cannot flatter ourselves that we have done all the good we wanted to do, the change brought about in the thinking and behaviour of many of our Christians is really marvellous. Anyone who was familiar with the city of Jaffna five or six years ago, would certainly have good reason to praise the Lord if he examined the enormous difference which exists between the Christians of that time and those of today.”
(https://www.omiworld.org/lemma/semeria-bishop-etienne/)
REFLECTION
“We will always be close to the people with whom we work, taking into account their values and aspirations. To seek out new ways for the Word of God to reach their hearts often calls for daring; to present Gospel demands in all clarity should never intimidate us.”
OMI Rule of Life, Constitution 8
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This morning I noticed a piece on the Constitutions and Rules – the OMI Rule of Life in the most recent Cor Unum which speaks to us about a call to a second conversion and how we might use the recent “Animation Material” which we received via email.
We are not being invited to change the Constitutions and Rules, but to look at them, reflect and pray with them in a new light, allowing our hearts to recognise all that we are and do as members of our Oblate Charismatic Family.
Even though we are quickly approaching the 200th Anniversary of Approval of the OMI Rule of Life and we are all playing one part or another in how we as human beings care for each other. Yesterday I dared to send out a call to the Oblate Associates in Lacombe Province to consider praying with this material, using it to come closer together and as a way to strengthen us along with others around the world where ethics, values and morality seem no longer exist because I knew that I could not do it alone. Perhaps as an ongoing conversion.
Fr. Étienne Semeria, OMI wrote to St. Eugene, describing what he saw in using a different lens to portray the amazing changes happening within the hearts of the many Christians in Jaffna.
My words are not as eloquent as those of Fr. Semeria and Fr. Asodo. Today I dare to quote: “Let us begin in our hearts. Let us make the Constitutions and Rules “user-friendly” for each of us. Let us integrate the values of our Book of Life into the very core of our being… for our second conversion!” (Fr. Asodo, OMI, Assistant General for Formation)
“We will let our lives be enriched by the poor and the marginalized as we work with them, for they can make us hear in new ways the Gospel we proclaim. We must always be sensitive to the mentality of the people, drawing on the riches of their culture and religious traditions.” (R 8a)