CLOSE TO THE PEOPLE FROM THE BEGINNING OF OUR EXISTENCE (C8)

Posted on September 24, 2025 by franksantucci

We will always be close to the people with whom we work, taking into account their values and aspirations.

Constitution 8

Eugene transmitted his methodology of being close to the people to his newly-founded group of Missionaries who were founded to preach prolonged parish missions in the small villages. In the diary of one of their earliest missions in 1816, Eugene wrote:

After breakfast, the missionaries resumed their visits until midday.
These visits are not very entertaining but they are very important, for they bring the missionaries close to the people they have come to evangelize.
They let themselves be seen in all the warmth of a charity which makes itself all things to all men, in this way they win over the most distant among them; they are able to give encouragement, to spur people on, to meet head-on some resistance, and, as they make progress, they end up discovering and to begin the process of remedying disorders that have often escaped the watchful care even of a zealous pastor.

Diary of the Marignane Mission, 18 November 1816, EO XVI

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2 Responses to CLOSE TO THE PEOPLE FROM THE BEGINNING OF OUR EXISTENCE (C8)

  1. Eleanor Rabnett, Lay Oblate says:
    September 24, 2025 at 14:20

    Eugene at his best – not content to have the first meeting be as they stood at the pulpit to speak to them rather than with them. Joining others and being where they were at…

    Jesus who gave his life for all, especially for the poor. The faces of the woman at the well, the lepers, the blind and the deaf: his oblation as he hung on the cross for all of us.

    Paul Sion, OMI stated that “We were made for the poor.” Eugene and his founding community followed the example of Jesus and his first followers, creating relationships with all they met. I dare to say this is how we are called to be as members of the Oblate Charismatic Family in how we serve. No judgements, simply entering into the most simple of relationships…

    We meet and love the poor where they are at – in their homes and neighborhoods. We see them on the streets, no shelter, no health care, nowhere to go. It is here that we are called and dared to see and respect their dignity as human beings. To meet their eyes just as God’s eyes meet ours.

    Reply
  2. Cecelia Barragan says:
    September 30, 2025 at 05:30

    A gift that has changed the world .
    To receive love and then impelled to share!
    The gift of an Oblate❣️❣️

    Reply

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