YOU ARE QUITE RIGHT TO SAY THAT IT SEEMED TO ALL OF YOU THAT YOU HAVE BECOME NEW MEN

For weeks after the approbation, Eugene continued to express his awe at how God had controlled the events to act in our favor.

Oh yes, we must admit it, we have received a great blessing! The more I consider it closely in all its circumstances, the more I appreciate the value of this favor.

The magnitude of the grace of the approbation for the Oblates required an equally generous response: a generous rededication to the demands of our vocation.

We will never be able to repay it except by unfailing fidelity, by redoubled zeal and devotion to the glory of God, the service of the Church, and the salvation of souls, especially the most abandoned, in accordance with our vocation…

 When the news of the approbation reached the Oblates in France, their joy knew no limits and they understood that they had become new men: no longer a group of missionaries, but a recognized element participating in the mission of the universal Church.

You are quite right to say that it seemed to all of you that you have become new men; that is indeed the case. May we understand well what we are!

Letter to Fr. Tempier in Marseilles, 20 March 1826, EO VII n. 231

May we, as members of Eugene’s Charismatic Family, indeed understand what we are in the Church!