Our love for the Church inspires us … We coordinate our missionary activity with the overall pastoral plan of the local Churches where we work, and we collaborate in a spirit of brotherhood with others who work for the Gospel (Constitution 6)
The Cathedral of Marseilles, with its many Byzantine domes, demonstrates Bishop Eugene’s awareness of the link between the Orient and the harbor city, founded around 2600 years ago by Greek settlers. In Eugene’s time there was constant interaction between East and West because of its maritime position. Victims of war and persecution in the Middle East found refuge in the city and settled there. There was a community of Greek Catholics and of Maronite Catholics for whom he felt a pastoral responsibility to ensure that they had churches and priests of their rite to care for them.
In this context, Yvon Beaudoin wrote: “the Bishop, in addition to his pastoral duties, was responsible for many other concerns that required patience and virtues such as hospitality, compassion, and mutual aid for Catholics whose fidelity to the true faith and courage in the face of centuries of misunderstanding, struggle, and persecution he admired.”
Today, in the desperate situation in countries of the Middle East let us remember Eugene’s concern for the refugees and the suffering of the countries they came from. May the Oblate “spirit of brotherhood with others who work for the Gospel (C6)” inspire us to fervent prayer and actions for peace and aid.
“Our love for the Church inspires us…”
It is God who initiates all love, it is God’s Church (the church to which we have been sent) that the sharing of that love which drenches me so thoroughly. It is within the realm of the Church that I am nourished and sent. And so I am encouraged to share and be inspired. We all become one within each other.
The OMI Constitutions & Rules are in a way like the Trinity – for they are unique yet totally a part of the divinity within us. There is no bravado or great star which is being followed in all of this. God is the great initiator of all light and life. We are drawn to the light of God, of Jesus our Saviour along with the Spirit who sings the songs of our being.
Constitution 6 draws us ever nearer to God and our Church. They are the stepping stones of our pilgrimage of hope in communion. God gave the Oblate Constitutions & Rules so that we might all share in the Charism of St. Eugene, within the Church and in whatever state or role we have accepted to live.
These are our compass headings for all members of the Oblate Charismatic Family. As we are impelled to move forward in this light a magnificent miracle is taking place within our midst.
This is how our love for the Church inspires us to love all others without question or judgement…