Eugene de Mazenod speaks to us

The fruit of this particular retreat meditation on the Oblate Rule of Life:

Indeed, what did Our Lord do when he wanted to convert the universe?

“He chose a number of apostles and disciples whom he himself trained in piety, and he filled them with his Spirit. These men he sent forth, once they had been schooled in his teaching, to conquer the world which, before long, was to bow to his holy rule.”.

Thus models are available, it remains only to imitate them.

Retreat notes, October 1831, EO XV n. 163

Who are my models in following Jesus?

Eugene continues his retreat meditation notes on the Oblate Rule of Life:

But how is one to go about bringing some remedy for such great ills, for it is not enough just to desire it.

“They are convinced that if priests could be formed, afire with zeal for men’s salvation, priests not given to their own interests, solidly grounded in virtue – in a word, apostolic men deeply conscious of the need to reform themselves, who would labour with all the resources at their command to convert others – then there would be ample reason to believe that in a short while people who had gone astray might be brought back to their long-unrecognized responsibilities.”

There then we have what one has to be if one is to hope to succeed.

Retreat notes, October 1831, EO XV n. 163

Let’s substitute “priests” with “Christians” and re-read the paragraph. There is much meditation material contained in it.

In the words of the Preface, Eugene answers the question:

Who is it decreed the foundation of our Congregation? This is what our Constitutions teach me:

« … the Church, inheritance purchased by Christ the Savior… has in our days been cruelly ravaged. This beloved spouse of God’s only begotten Son is torn with anguish as she mourns the shameful defection … etc.  Faced with such a deplorable situation, the Church earnestly appeals to the ministers etc… »

Is it surprising that the sight of these disorders inspired a certain generous thought? There appeared some priests who were touched by it.

“The sight of these evils has so touched the hearts of certain priests, zealous for the glory of God, men with an ardent love for the Church…”, that they are willing to give their lives, if need be, for the salvation of souls.

May they remember what grace inspired them with. It meant nothing less than making an offering of themselves: “that they are willing to give their lives, if need be, for the salvation of souls”.

Nothing being loftier than this offering, what do I conclude? It is that nothing should seem difficult, or too painful, when one has given oneself as an offering.

Retreat notes, October 1831, EO XV n. 163

See https://www.eugenedemazenod.net/?p=2970

In the previous paragraph, Eugene had meditated on why the Oblates exist. The purpose, or end, was to continue the mission of Jesus and his disciples by imitating their methods.

The means that we employ to attain this end share in the excellence of this end, again they are unquestionably the most perfect since they are precisely those same means used by our divine Saviour, his Apostles and his first disciples, that is to say the exact practice of the evangelical counsels, preaching and prayer, a happy blend of the active and contemplative life of which Jesus Christ and the Apostles have set us an example, which is without doubt by that fact alone the pinnacle of the perfection that God has given us the grace of possessing, and of which our Rules are but the development.

It means thus steeping ourselves in the spirit of these Rules and to arrive at that one must make it the subject of our habitual meditations.

Retreat notes, October 1831, EO XV n. 163

An invitation to share in the balance and equilibrium that Jesus teaches us.

Eugene’s sentiments about the Rule of Life were not focused on the Rule itself, but how it is a vehicle that reflects God’s love and will for each of us. The importance of the Rule is that it expresses the heart of our vocation. He quotes directly from the Rule to show this:

Will we ever have an adequate understanding of this sublime vocation! For that one would have to understand the excellence of our Institute’s end, beyond argument the most perfect one could propose to oneself in this world, since the end of our Institute is the exact same end that the Son of God had in mind when he came down on earth. The glory of his heavenly Father and the salvation of souls.

“For the Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost.” [Luke 19: 10], he was sent especially to evangelize the poor “He has sent me to evangelize the poor” [Luke 4:18].

And we have been founded precisely to work for the conversion of souls, and especially to evangelize the poor, ”the end of this small Society… is … as brothers living together and seeking to imitate the virtues and example of our Savior Jesus Christ, principally by devoting themselves to evangelizing the poor.”

Retreat notes, October 1831, EO XV n. 163

Here we have the vocation of everyone connected with the charism and spirituality of Saint Eugene.

So let us hold this precious Rule in high esteem, have it always before our eyes, and even more in the heart, let us continually nourish our souls with the principles it contains, let us do nothing, say nothing, think nothing that is not in conformity with its spirit. It is only in this way that we shall be what God wants us to be and make ourselves worthy of our sublime vocation.

Retreat notes, October 1831, EO XV n. 163

Eugene writes about the Rule – but can I replace the word “Rule” with “Gospel”? Can I express the same sentiments about the Word of God, which is THE Rule of Rules.

What a consoling thought, by observing our Rule we are obeying the Church. And as our Rule embraces every action of our lives, and the spirit which must animate them, all that we do shares in the great merit of obedience to the Church. And as the Church commands nothing but good, what is conducive to salvation, by observing our Rule we are walking in the way of heaven. There is no room for argument.

Retreat notes, October 1831, EO XV n. 163

The Oblate Constitutions and Rules, whose foundation is living the Gospel, are at the foundation of the spirit of each expression of the Mazenodian Family. Eugene was convinced that everyone who lived their life by the Rule was assured of eternal life. He often expressed this sentiment about the Oblates.

Surely he continues to believe this of all those who follow inspiration today.

On 17 February 1826, the Oblate Constitutions and Rules, had been approved by the Pope – the Church had recognized the hand of God in Eugene’s actions of bringing the Oblates to birth – and the Rule was the expression of God’s handiwork.

I said to myself while meditating on our Rules that we will never be able sufficiently to thank God’s goodness for having given them to us, for God alone indisputably is their author. The person who consigned them to writing does not recognize anything in them as coming from himself; so it is in full liberty that he passes judgment on them, as of a work which is outside of himself. But how can I even speak of judgment where the Church has spoken in the person of its head!

“We hereby with a ready and willing mind, establish it, and wish it to be known by the name of the Congregation of the Missionary Oblates of the Most Holy Virgin Mary, conceived without sin….We, with the plenitude of Our Apostolic Authority, approve and confirm its Constitutions…”

That is how Pope Leo XII put it, in the Apostolic Letters of institution. Judgment is thus rendered by infallible authority

Retreat notes, October 1831, EO XV n. 163

See https://www.eugenedemazenod.net/?p=1260  Today we continue seeing Our Constitutions as belonging to the Church and not to us – we cannot make any changes unless the Church authorizes them.

An invitation to reflect on God’s presence in the Mazenodian vocation of each of us.

The reflective reading of our Rules I have just made during this retreat has filled my soul with wonder, and has raised in my mind a number of disquieting thoughts that I have to put down on paper.

The shame of having in one’s hands so perfect a rule, and of not having grasped its meaning!

When Eugene and the first Missionaries, had written the Rule in 1818, he had wanted to capture in writing the experience that they were living in response to the call of their God-given charism. See https://www.eugenedemazenod.net/?p=1285

Every time he re-read the Rule he touched something of that original experience of God – and therefore his wonder and awe at the power of the Rule to bring him into the presence of God.

Then a note of realism crept in – for some this Rule of Life was a closed book that was not as used as it should.

Are there not indeed some among us for whom this rule is a sealed book? I want to believe that there are none any longer, but it is enough that there were some for my reflection to stand and make it food for thought.

Retreat notes, October 1831, EO XV n. 163

Source of life or a sealed book – our expression of the Gospel? And the Gospel itself for me – source of life or sealed book?

In October 1831, Eugene made a private retreat and took as his meditation material the Oblate Rule, which had been written 13 years earlier, and which was the guiding light of the life of the Missionaries.

The reflective reading of our Rules I have just made during this retreat has filled my soul with wonder

He kept notes on the main aspects that struck him in his prayer:

I thought it would be useful to extract from the book of our Constitutions the articles that express most explicitly why we were founded and what we ought to be.

Retreat notes, October 1831, EO XV n. 163

November 2018 marks the 200th anniversary of the writing of our Oblate Rule of Life. For this reason I would like to reflect in detail on Eugene’s retreat notes in the coming days, so that “our souls will be filled with wonder” too.

For the Mazenodian Family, and all its component Oblate branches, this Rule has various meanings.

• For the Missionary Oblates it expresses the way of life that we publically commit ourselves to live by, through our vows and oblation.
• For all those associated with the Mazenodian charism, the prescriptions as such do not apply, but the guiding spirit at their foundation helps us to live the spirituality in our different ways of life.
• For the readers of these reflections not associated with the Missionary Oblates in any direct way, we remember that the Rules of  religious congregations is a specific reflection of the Gospel. They are the Gospel perceived through a particular light. I thus invite you to read these reflections as an invitation to enter deeper into your relationship with the Jesus you love in the Gospels.

For each of us, may Eugene help us to let God fill our souls with wonder.