WHY ARE THE APOSTLES WITH JESUS PRESENTED AS OUR MODELS TO LIVE THE CHARISM? (C3)

The community of the Apostles with Jesus is the model of our life.
Our Lord grouped the Twelve around him to be his companions and to be sent out as his messengers (cf. Mk 3:14).
The call and the presence of the Lord among us today
bind us together in charity and obedience
to create anew in our own lives the Apostles’ unity with him
and their common mission in his Spirit.

Constitution 3

Why did Eugene insist on this so strongly?

From the first day when he entered the seminary in 1808 until he left it as a priest in 1812, he prayed several times each day in front of a painting of the apostles in the upper room with Mary.

Fr. Jean Olier was the founder of this seminary of St. Sulpice, about whom is written:

 “Adopting the view that the seminary was like the Cenacle where the Spirit of God would descend afresh to form apostolic men who would revitalize the knowledge and love of Jesus Christ, it was M. Olier’s desire that all the clerics would take on the sentiments and attitudes of the holy Apostles and that they would become perpetual students of the Apostles’ virtues. He had them depicted […] in the chapel’s main painting so that the seminary would have recourse to them as to full flowing channels of apostolic grace whose first fruits they had received for future ages, and so that they should honor them with a special devotion as being, after Jesus Christ, the foundations of the Church […]” (https://www.omiworld.org/lemma/apostles/#_Ftnt2)

As I reflect on how Eugene, in his formation, unquestionably imbibed this spirit, I pause to reflect on what image it was that inspired me and molded me, and continues to do so.

And yours?