BEING CLOSE TO THE PEOPLE AS THE WAY OF LIVING OUR OBLATION FOR THEM (Constitution 8)
We will always be close to the people with whom we work, taking into account their values and aspirations.
Constitution 8
When Eugene became Bishop of Marseilles in 1837 he made a statement that was to sum up the next 24 years of his episcopacy. It was his commitment to live his ministry as bishop always close to the people of Marseille:
However, I must attach myself to this people as a father to his child ren. My existence, my life, all my being must be consecrated to it, I must have no thought but for its good, no fears other than I have not done enough for its welfare and sanctification, no other solicitude than that which must include all its spiritual interests and even in a certain way its temporal welfare.
I must in a word consume myself for it, be ready to sacrifice my leisure, my desire, rest, life itself for it.
Retreat preparatory to taking possession of the episcopal see of Marseilles, May 1837, EO XV, n. 185.
“I must attach myself to this people as a father to his children!” How much closer to his people was it possible to come? Following the example of the closeness of Jesus, his Savior, Bishop Eugene was prepared to give everything for his people, to consume himself, to be ready to sacrifice even life itself. Here the diocesan bishop’s Oblate heart shines through: being close to the people meant living a life of oblation for them. “I must in a word consume myself for it, be ready to sacrifice my leisure, my desire, rest, life itself for it.”
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I think for a moment of Dali’s painting of the Jesus on the cross looking down upon the world, and I wonder what we might look like if we were capable of seeing ourselves through his eyes.
As I read St. Eugene’s words of finding his place in God and the world he does not appear to have any doubts: “I must in a word consume myself for it” That is the way it is within myself – all of myself for God – that is the only way that will work – if I give all of myself to God then I might be able to love the world through God.
I again glance at the title. I do not live my oblation just to look better than or even to please myself. Nor is it for some distant God that I do not really know. In truth the only way that I can live my oblation is by loving all those I meet, all those I serve, all those I love…
Wondrous gratitude for new words that I can chew, making them a part of me and then eventually finding my own expression of them as I see them in the light of those I am close to, for whom I live my oblation.
Jesus never did it for himself, but for us. Can we do any thing less than that?