Eugene de Mazenod speaks to us

Can I ever forget the sight of the Cross on that Good Friday?

St Eugene de Mazenod

At the sight of the Cross Eugene understood that he was poor and needed the Savior. His years of “searching for happiness” finally found their meaning and their goal. The rest of his long and eventful life hinged on the sight of the cross and on working to bring everyone to its same saving vision.

The Oblate Rule becomes a teacher that leads of every member of our Charismatic Family to embrace the Cross and the salvation it offers. Whoever embraces it, automatically embraces the Savior. We wear it proudly and it spurs us to be transformed into this sign and means of salvation for others.

Every time I look at my Oblate Cross I am reminded of the statue of Jesus, whose arms were blown off in war and never replaced, and that has a plaque with the message: “I have no arms but yours.”

Eugene’s life changed at the foot of the Cross when he realized that he was poor and needed the Savior. He then became aware of the poverty of people in France, and later throughout the world, because they did not know Jesus Christ as their Savior and companion on life’s journey. For this reason God called him to become a priest, and later to invite others to join him in what was to become his Oblate Family.

The very first article of his very first Rule (1818) reflects Eugene’s pilgrim journey:

The purpose of the Institute of the Missionaries of Provence

is first of all to form a group of priests who live together

and who strive to imitate the virtues and examples of our Savior Jesus Christ

principally by dedicating themselves to preaching the Word of God to the poor.

1818 Rule

It is in imitating our Savior Jesus Christ in his preaching the Gospel to the poor that we find the reason for the existence of our Oblate Charismatic Family. Each of us, in his or her own specific way, is called to share our experience of the Savior’s presence in the poverty of our hearts.

Through the witness of our lives we are “preachers” of the good News to those who need Him.

In 1826 the Church officially recognized that in our Constitutions and Rules we find the means of doing this.

When Jesus began his public ministry, he announced: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring the Good News to the poor” (Luke 4, 18)

One Good Friday when the young and directionless Eugene looked at the Cross, he realized that he was poor, he was a sinner who had wandered away from God:

I looked for happiness outside of God and for too long with resulting unhappiness.
How often in my past life had my wounded, tormented heart taken wings for God from whom it had turned away!

…Can I forget the bitter tears that the sight of the cross brought streaming from my eyes one Good Friday? … they welled up from the heart, there was no checking them, they were too abundant I was in a state of mortal sin and it was precisely this that made me grieve.

He realized that he was poor and that Jesus had brought him the good news of salvation:

Blessed, a thousand times blessed, that he, this good Father, notwithstanding my unworthiness, lavished on me all the richness of his mercy.

Retreat Journal, December 1814, EO XV n.130

He founded the missionary Oblates in 1816 because he understood what it meant to be poor and in need of salvation, and wanted to bring the Good News to the poor who did not know God’s mercy and love.

We can thus say that our Oblate Rule is a shrine that preserves this ideal and helps us to live it as redeemed sinners: we recognize our poverty and allow ourselves to be transformed by God’s love and mercy.

In  focusing on the Oblate Rule as a reflection of the Gospel, Vatican II reminds us that each founding figure, and the charismatic family around that figure, reflects a particular aspect of Jesus Christ, which is expressed in their Rule:

[They] should carefully keep before their minds the fact that the Church presents Christ to believers and non-believers alike in a striking manner daily through them. The Church thus portrays Christ in contemplation on the mountain, in His proclamation of the kingdom of God to the multitudes, in His healing of the sick and maimed, in His work of converting sinners to a better life, in His solicitude for youth and His goodness to all, always obedient to the will of the Father who sent Him (Lumen Gentium 46) .

St John Paul II described this: “the various vocations are like so many rays of the one light of Christ, whose radiance ‘brightens the countenance of the Church” (Vita Consecrata 16).

Eugene de Mazenod’s ray of light, and that of the Oblate Charismatic Family, is Jesus Christ as Savior and Evangelizer. We are cooperators of the Savior in his aspect of preaching the Gospel to the most abandoned. It is this “ray of light” that is captured in our Constitutions and Rules.

“Do this and you will live” (Luke 10, 28) are the words of Jesus to us as he invites us to recognize him in the Gospel.

As members of the Oblate Charismatic Family exploring the Rule that is our inspiration, we remember that it is our reflection and application of the Gospel. In the words of St Francis of Assisi, “The Rule is the life of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”

The Vatican Dicastery for Consecrated Life pointed this out clearly for us in 2002:

It was the Holy Spirit who sparked the Word of God with new light for the founders and foundresses.

Every charism and every Rule springs from it and seeks to be an expression of it.

In continuity with founders and foundresses their disciples today are called to take up the Word of God and to cherish it in their hearts so that it may be a lamp for their feet and a light for their path (cf. Ps 118:105).

The Holy Spirit will then be able to lead them to the fullness of truth (cf. Jn 16:13). (“Starting Afresh from Christ,” n. 24)

These are the words ringing in the ears of every newly professed Oblate as he receives the book of the OMI Constitutions and Rules. These are the words ringing out in the hearts of the lay members of the Oblate Charismatic Family as they make their commitment to live by the spirit and charism of St Eugene.

Having just celebrated February 17, we now begin our journey of preparation to commemorate 200 years of the Church’s approval of our Rule and the spirit and way of life it proposes. In these daily reflections I invite you to join me on this pilgrimage.

The Oblate Brothers and priests are bound to follow every prescription of this Rule, while the lay members of our Family are invited to live by its spirit and whatever is applicable to their way of life. Our approach as we reflect on the Rule is to let its pages speak to us as pilgrims on a common journey.

“Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus said to him, “What is written in the law? How do you read it?” He said in reply, “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your being, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” He replied to him, “You have answered correctly; do this and you will live.” (Luke 10, 25-28).

Live the Gospel and you will live! The Constitutions and Rules are a reflection of the Gospel through the eyes of St. Eugene and our charism. They were recognized as such and approved by the Church in 1826.

Today we read:

The Constitutions and Rules set out a privileged means for each [member of the] Oblate [Charismatic Family] to follow in the footsteps of Jesus Christ. They are inspired by the charism lived by the Founder and his first companions; also, they have received the approval of the Church. (Constitution 163)

Our Superior General wrote for today: February 17th – 199th Anniversary of the Papal Approbation of the Constitutions and Rules. We read in C. 163:

“The Constitutions and Rules set out a privileged means for each Oblate to follow in the footsteps of Jesus Christ. They are inspired by the charism lived by the Founder and his first companions; also, they have received the approval of the Church. Thus, they allow each Oblate to evaluate the quality of his response to his vocation and to become a saint.”

To help us put Christ at the centre of our lives, we have a tool with authoritative confirmation of the Church. Our CC and RR help us evaluate whether we are genuinely following Christ, whether we are indeed responding to his call to embrace Oblate life, whether we are indeed on the path to holiness and whether we are faithful to the mission we have received.

In all humility, we must recognize that we can always move forward and do better. By placing our trust in the Lord, we can always take new steps on this pilgrimage of hope. We are not hindered by our past, nor our age, nor by our health conditions, or the circumstances around us; on the contrary, it is all this that contextualizes and makes our missionary oblation take flesh. “ #SuperiorGeneral #Letter_Febrary17 #CCRR #pilgrimsofhopeincommunion

Father Fernand Jetté OMI (Superior General 1974-1986) wrote:

It is essential for a religious family to be recognized by the Church, for it is the Church who “constitutes” us, as the Founder put it; it is the Church who gives us our “mission”, who sends us as an apostolic corps to evangelize the world.

For a religious family the issues at stake are substantial; it invites people to leave everything, to give up establishing themselves in this world in order to commit themselves in a radical way and within a group to the following of Christ. In such a project, each one stakes his own life. Who will guarantee the Gospel authenticity of the way that is proposed?

Furthermore, if new formulations and important changes occur within the Institute in the course of history, who will guarantee the authenticity of these changes?

Before one can offer people a particular way of evangelical life, it is necessary that there be signs from God, discernment and the Church’s official confirmation.

It is the Church therefore that “constitutes” us what we are. She vouches to the faithful for the Gospel authenticity of the life-project we offer them. “

A Happy Feastday to all of you.

The proposal advanced by His Excellency the bishop of Usula and Apostolic Vicar of Colombo, undoubtedly inspired by Bishop Bravi, merits our gratitude. The Oblate Congregation will consider itself fortunate indeed if it is called to that Vicariate to do the good it has been able to accomplish in Jaffna.

As we shall see later, Bishop Bravi had some strange ideas regarding missionaries.

On the other hand, I fail to understand the whim that led Bishop Bravi to be so discourteous in his exclusion of French missionaries who are not known to be any less zealous than others. In this case, the good prelate is in disaccord with Pope Gregory XVI whose words I will not repeat for the sake of discretion. Nonetheless, I would not be too concerned about his resolve and it would not be impossible to satisfy him, despite the somewhat singular nature of his manner. I had already been informed about Bishop Bravi’s prejudice and so I am not offended.

Letter to Bishop Barnabo, Secretary of the S. Congregation of the Propaganda Fide, 18 December 1850, EO V n 18

Eugene immediately applied for funds to cover the travel expenses of these four Oblates:

Propaganda has asked me for four more missionaries for the Apostolic Vicariate of Colombo on the island of Ceylon. I will not refuse them, obviously, if the passage is paid. I have been instructed to settle the matter with you…

What pleases me in this correspondence is the information it provides me on the good accomplished by our Oblates of Mary in the vicariate of Jaffna. That is the reason why their presence is so insistently requested in that of Colombo.

Letter to the President of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, Lyon, 22 December 1850, EO V n 122

The Vatican had divided the diocese of Jaffna into two and appointed Bishop Bravi to Colombo. Eugene wrote to Propaganda Fide:

While the Christians in the vicariate of Colombo are more numerous, much richer, and more generous, the schools in the vicariate receive 100 pounds sterling from the government every year. The schools in the Jaffna vicariate receive nothing at all.

Because Jaffna would be the poorest area after the division, the Oblates wanted to consolidate their missionary presence there.

I am speaking about this because I have had the occasion to write to you and the idea I would venture to submit for your Excellency’s consideration would be to obtain from the Sacred Congregation that the vicariate of Jaffna to be served totally by the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate, and that an Oblate, for example Fr. Semeria whom I have often praised, be chosen as coadjutor of the present Apostolic Vicar with the right of succession. I feel that this measure would ensure the good of that Vicariate which would prosper thanks to unity of discipline and conformity of views. It would then be possible to attach greater importance to the propagation of the faith, establish a house of education and, if possible, a seminary. All of this would be possible for a religious Congregation, but very difficult for isolated priests working on their own.

Letter to Bishop Barnabo, Secretary of the S. Cong. of Propaganda Fide, 27 February 1850, EO V n 13.

This request would only be fulfilled six years later.

REFLECTION

In those days when means of communication were so difficult, it was important to ensure a unity of approach in missionary endeavours. This is why Eugene began to request that when an area was to be confided to the Oblates, then the Bishop of that area, who also acted as the religious superior, would be an Oblate. We have had several examples of this in our history.