Our mission puts us on constant call to respond to the most urgent needs of the Church through various forms of witness and ministry, but especially through proclaiming the Word of God…
Constitution 7
The very first two constitutions are so important because they give the sense of direction for all the Constitutions and Rules that follow. Constitutions 1 and 2 remind us very clearly that everything that we do is to be done as a cooperator of Jesus Christ. He has called us, he sends us, and it is his mission that we fulfill wherever we find ourselves and in whatever state of life.
All the Constitutions and Rules that follow build on this reality. Constitution 7 emphasizes that our main ministry is to witness to and proclaim the Word of God. To do this effectively, we are drawn “to know him more deeply, to identify with him, to let him live in us” (Constitution 2).
The way to know him is through the Scriptures, and this is why, as we preach the Word of God, we have to be soaked in it. Our message has to come through our relationship with him, because it is he who speaks to us.
Eugene was constantly aware of this role of Scripture in his life as he wrote at the age of 55:
I give you thanks, O Lord, for having made shine forth this light from the sacred deposit of your Holy Scriptures. As you show me the way I should follow, and give me the desire to follow it, you will also give me the powerful help of your grace.
Retreat preparatory to taking possession of the episcopal see of Marseilles,
May 1837, EO XV n. 185
May we have the grace to make these words our own.
How do each of us “proclaim the Word of God” in the world today? It matters not if we are unable to recite the Book, chapter and verse (we can use Google for that) as long as we preach it with our lives. I am reminded of Henri Tempier’s response to Eugene’s invitation to come and live together with a few like-minded friends. He wrote to Eugene that he would join them and even if he wasn’t a great preacher like Eugene, he could teach catechism or do whatever else he was sent to do.
It is in this way that we too will get “to know him more deeply, to identify with him and allow him to live in us”
It is not our role in life that defines us, but rather how we live our role in the light of the charism which has been shared with us. God has given each of us what we will need on our pilgrimage, our journey of life.
The years of 1832 to 1836 were dark and painful for Eugene. Yet we see in his May 1837 retreat the light that is being offered to him, to lead him out of his own dark night of the soul. Here he describes the light shining on the Word of God and thanking God he knows within himself that it will show him the way he is to be led (just as the Star led the Magi to a new born Saviour). He will be filled with the desire to follow that light and allow himself to be filled with God’s grace.
We too are offered the grace, all we need do is to accept and live it. We are invited to look into the depth of the light in today’s world and then share that