Eugene de Mazenod speaks to us

“I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me, with me in him, bears fruit in plenty.” (John 15: 5)

In the context of the last Supper, Jesus is preparing his disciples to live in the world without him being physically present. In today’s Gospel (John 15:1-8), the key word is “remain” and it is repeated 10 times. The image for “remaining” is that Jesus is the Vine and you and I are the branches kept alive by mutual indwelling in love. The sap of our daily life comes from the Vine, and it produces fruit in and through us.

St Eugene de Mazenod meditated on himself using the image of a tree:

I was a tree damaged by original sin. The head of the household could have had it cut down and thrown it in the fire. He preferred to transplant it into good soil for it to bear good fruit. Such was the effect of baptism.

…Transplanted into the blessed soil irrigated by the blood of Jesus Christ, enriched with his very substance, etc., what fruit did I produce? Great God! (1814)

We have been living and continue to live challenging days, necessitating the importance of an awareness of us being the branches and of an Indwelling that challenges us to produce fruit in an unusual context. Let us remember that Jesus said “remain” ten times in today’s Gospel – and he constantly keeps repeating it to us throughout the day.

“Peace I bequeath to you, my own peace I give you, a peace the world cannot give, this is my gift to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.”  (John 14: 27)

Peace in today’s Gospel (John 14:27-31), does not essentially mean “feel good” or “lack of violence” – it is about the covenant relationship with God that no one or nothing can take away (see Romans chapter 8, especially verse 38-39: “For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”)

It is peace with God because Jesus as Savior reconciled us on the Cross and sealed it with the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Saint Eugene writing to his mother in 1811 (XIV n 93):

But would we want to win heaven at no cost to ourselves? No; so let us place all these contradictions at the foot of the cross of our good Jesus; let us offer him throughout the day all that we are doing to please him, and after that let us be at peace.

He urges her to unite herself more often with Jesus in prayer, especially in his Eucharistic presence:

Dear mother, are you not going a little more often to the source of all consolation? Cannot you hear this Saviour, who calls to you from his tabernacle: Dear soul, why am I humbled here like this? Is it in vain that I keep on re-echoing these selfsame words that I said to my disciples: come to me, all you who labour and are heavy-laden: come and I will give you rest, and restore you; unite with me in this intimate union for which I remained with you, and balm will flow in your veins, and your soul will be filled, strengthened, renewed.

This is the same assurance that Jesus gives to his disciples at the Last Supper as he prepares them for a different way of living in a world that is rapidly changing for them. We, too, are his disciples adjusting to new realities and to us he says: Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.”

Today three versions of St Eugene Speaks appeared – sorry about the confusion.

For exactly ten years (1 May 2010) these reflections have been published, with the aim of going through the writings of St Eugene in chronological order. We have reached 1838 in this series.

With the pandemic, I decided to pause this program and rather do something more connected with what we are living in our everyday life through the focus of the Gospel of the day and a connected thought of St Eugene. This will continue until Pentecost.

On June 1 Eugene will go back to guiding us through his life and writings.

In the hope that you find this service useful.

Frank Santucci OMI

“If anyone loves me he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we shall come to him and make our home with him.” (John 14: 23)

In these days the daily Gospel in the liturgy is from the Last Supper discourse of Jesus. We see the community of disciples (the Early Church) being prepared for life without the physical earthly presence of Jesus. The community is being trained to recognize the presence of God in many different ways.

Today’s Gospel (John 14:21-26) plunges us into the dynamics of Trinitarian love by putting us into relationship with the Holy Spirit. If we love God, then God will make a home of our lives.

St. Eugene wanted his life to be God’s home:

The only way, I believe, is to act always in a perfect dependence on God’s will, in perfect liberty of spirit, in union with God by an interior movement of connection to what it pleases him at that moment, with the conviction that that is what he wants me to do, and absolutely nothing else. 

The pandemic we are living through has shaken our foundations and invites us to re-examine our life choices:
to begin by loving,
to listen to the Loved One’s Word,
to allow ourselves to be loved, and
to transform our life into the home of Love.

Come to know St Eugene in more depth in presentation 6 of “Eugene de Mazenod 101” prepared by Oblates David Muñoz Lopez, Bonga Majola and I.

We invite you to participate in this series of 20 -minute videos – the first six of which are now available online. We promise: no homework, no assignments, no exams, no teachers snooping over your shoulder to check whether you are paying attention!

Eugene 101: “Let me show you who you are in God’s eyes”

Each presentation comes with some questions for personal reflection and prayer, which could also be useful for group meetings – as well as suggestions for further reading.

If you have not already registered, you can get further information at https://moodle.ost.edu/course/index.php?categoryid=28

There is a small fee to cover the expenses of production.

(If you are enjoying the course and are feeling super-generous, we invite you to provide a scholarship or more to make it possible for the participation of those whose financial means don’t permit it. To do so visit https://ost.edu/donate/, and in the drop-down menu select “Oblate Studies”.)

“Do not let your hearts be troubled”  (John 14:1)

Today’s Gospel (John 14:1-6) gives the reason why distressed disciples have hope and meaning in their lives: Jesus assures them “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life”

The “Way” – was how discipleship was expressed from the time of the earliest followers of Jesus. (Acts of the Apostles)

The “Truth” – “You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free” (John 8:32)

The “Life” – “And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” (John 17:3)

Bishop Eugene de Mazenod wrote to the people of Marseilles:

We have told you, united to Jesus Christ we are established in a happy solidarity with Him, on which our salvation depends. The Christian life is simply a perpetual communion with Jesus Christ.

(Pastoral Letter, February 1846)

These are not empty theological ideas: Jesus lived these in his love for people, giving his life to teach, serve and redeem. We are seeing reflections of the Risen Christ continuing this around us every day – highlighted during the pandemic in those who continue his actions of teaching, serving and saving.

After he had washed the feet of his disciples, Jesus said to them: ‘I tell you most solemnly, no servant is greater than his master. (John 13:16)

Today’s Gospel (John 13:16-20) begins at the conclusion of one of the most dramatic gestures of Jesus, when he washed the feet of his disciples at the Last Supper. It was a very necessary action performed by the lowliest servant when people came into a household after wearing sandals in filthy streets. A necessary action that became highly symbolic. Jesus then teaches that whoever welcomes the servant, welcomes him.

Eugene de Mazenod’s response:

I will meditate on Jesus my love in his incarnation, his hidden life, his mission, his passion and death; but especially in his Sacrament and Sacrifice. My chief occupation will be to love him, my chief concern to make him loved. To this I will bend all my efforts, time, strength, and when after much toil I have succeeded in winning but a single act of love towards so good a Master, I will rightly consider myself very well paid.

Retreat notes, December 1812, O.W. XV n. 109

Today our feet are washed by every one of the generous people who contributes to our welfare and hope in any way.

Let us look at them with new eyes.

Let us recognize this gesture of Jesus loving us through them.

“I, the light, have come into the world” (John 12:46)

Jesus speaks about choices in today’s Gospel (John 12:44-50): between human praise or God’s approval, between politically-correct ideals or the values of God, between the darkness of sin and death or the light that helps us to see God’s presence, guidance and promise.

If all but knew the gift of God!

Exclaims Eugene, recalling his conversion:

… Judging by the consolations God was pleased to give me at that happy moment when I chose him as my inheritance.

From the vantage point of the Savior, he looked at those around him who were lost and directionless.

A single glance, fixed with courage on God and on all that God contains, would undeceive them to their great advantage. Unfortunately, they dare not raise their eyes to see the light that shines in every direction.

Letter to his mother, 18 December 1808, EO XIV n 36

We have choices to make in these ongoing scary and uncertain days: lockdown, personal freedom, masks, precautions and respect for those around me, the desperation of people to work, the long food lines… The Light has come into the world, how do I allow it to enlighten my choices, to reflect light and to spread light today in response? Remember St John Newman’s magnificent prayer: “Lead, kindly Light, amidst the night’s encircling gloom…”

“The sheep that belong to me listen to my voice; I know them and they follow me. I give them eternal life; they will never be lost” (John 10:27-28)

The Shepherd has two credentials: his intimacy with his sheep (he knows them and they know him) and his total dedication of proving his unconditional love by laying down his life to protect them.

To “know” in today’s Gospel (John 10:22-30) refers to a deep mutual relationship which is built on personal contact and the experience of communion.

“I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.” says the prophet Jeremiah (31:3). Isaiah reminds us: “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you!” (49:15)

Eugene expressed the same experience reflected on himself as having been the prodigal son:

O my God, don’t I have every reason to devote myself entirely to your service, to offer you my life and all that I am, so that all that is in me may be employed and spent for your glory? For by how many titles do I belong to you? Not only are you my Creator and Redeemer, as you are all men’s, but you are my special benefactor and applied your merits in an altogether special way to me; my generous friend, you forgot all my acts of ingratitude to help me as powerfully as if I had been always faithful to you; my tender father, who carried this rebel on your shoulders, warmed him against your heart, washed his wounds. (XIV:95)

Today, let us focus on that intimacy that we know and are known by the Good Shepherd. Let us make time to savor that intimacy today – proved by his not abandoning us in difficulty, but laying down his life for us. In our dark and difficult days, he sustains us and gives everything for us.

“I am the good shepherd; I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for my sheep.”    (John 10:14-15)

The Shepherd has two credentials: his intimacy with his sheep (he knows them and they know him) and his total dedication of laying down his life to protect them

There is no need for words to explain today’s Gospel (John 10:11-18). Just open your eyes and look around you today. Look at those who endanger their lives to provide us with essential services – here is the presence of the Good Shepherd.

Look at those who literally and figuratively give their lives as first responders, as medical personnel, as accompaniers of the dying and the grieving – here is the presence of the Good Shepherd.

Open your eyes to see the presence of the Good Shepherd all around you saying: “I have no hands but yours, I have no heart but yours, I have no mouth but yours…”

In a letter to his mother in December 1808, St Eugene wrote:

I will just tell you that the Lord is rich indeed and above all very generous, for indeed he amply repays us for the poor little deeds we offer him. What does the world amount to? Indeed, far from setting any value on the sacrifice we make of it to God, ought we not to count ourselves most blessed that he lets us strip ourselves of all that is contemptible, abject, perilous, to receive in exchange all that is greatest, most consoling, in a word his very self.

If people but knew the gift of God!