The need of the villagers was great and Fathers Tempier and Mie did not return to Aix after the mission in Fuveau, but stayed an extra ten days to fulfill their promise to the inhabitants of Gréasque and St-Savournin. These people had made heroic efforts to attend the mission at Fuveau. They travelled a long distance and when they arrived, the church was too small to accommodate all. Henri Tempier generously promised them that some missionaries would come to them after the Fuveau mission.
We have just finished our little mission this evening; the harvest was rich. I can quite assure you that I heard so many confessions during the week that, in order to absolve all these people, I had to spend from eight o’clock Saturday morning, after my Mass, till eight o’clock Sunday morning; that is no exaggeration; I only left the confessional for dinner and supper, taken hastily. Only after having heard confessions all night, did I, this morning, take a half-hour’s rest on my bed, from four thirty to five, which I still regret, since that half hour forces me to leave seven or eight people unattended.
Communion took one hour.
Letter of Henri Tempier to Eugene de Mazenod, October 1816, Oblate Writings II, 2 n.3
I remember how after preaching Jesus would withdraw from the crowds to a place of quiet to pray and to rest. I think of the lyrics in Jesus Christ, Superstar when Jesus is in the garden praying; “I’m not as sure, as when we started. Then, I was inspired…, now, I’m sad and tired. […] After all, I’ve tried for three years, seems like ninety…”
That is Oblation!
I can only imagine how exhausted the missionaries were after giving the mission in Fuveau and then for Tempier and Mie to spend an extra 10 days with the people of Gréasque and St-Savournin. The hours preaching and then listening in the confessional for another 23 hours followed by Mass and then Communion for another hour. There were no automobiles or buses, I imagine they walked home to Aix.
That is Oblation!
I think of the early Oblates who came to this land, and how difficult it was just to survive. And how hard they worked to share the Good News. I think of Lacombe, Brother Anthony, Blessed Joseph Girard and so many others throughout the world who made and then lived their Oblation.
Today I recognize the many members of the Mazenodian Oblate Family who are sent and who give themselves as priests, brothers and lay persons: all who give their lives with work, family and the care of others. The hours of accompaniment with others, listening, always the listening and being instruments of God…
That is Oblation!