Before making his perpetual oblation, the 18-year-old Charles Baret had written to Eugene, who responded:

You were just a novice, my dear son, when you wrote me on August 5. Today you are a child in the Congregation which justly glorifies itself in having the Most Holy Virgin Mary Immaculate as a mother.

Now you are consecrated to God for life and beyond by your oblation; and I must add in all humility but with great consolation, that thereby I have become your father. I do not know you personally; but since the affection that unites me with my children is essentially supernatural, it is enough for me to know that the Saviour Jesus Christ, our common Master, has received your vows, has adopted you and has marked you with the seal that makes us what we are, so that we are united in the most intimate bonds of charity and that I am bound to you forever as you are to me.

Letter to Brother Charles Baret, at Notre Dame de L’Osier, 18 August 1843

What a beautiful meditation on the relationship between every member of the Mazenodian Family and our Founder and Father, Saint Eugene!

It is impossible to have more generous sentiments, more perfect dedication, more thoughts that are supernatural. They are sacrificing their most natural and legitimate affections with a true joy arising from their faithfulness to and love for their holy vocation. They are convinced that they will never again see their homeland, and they would reproach themselves for any regrets they might have about it.

The Lord has given us our marching orders, they said to me; nothing else should come to mind. Truly I have a bit of difficulty to hide my emotion and admiration. These are truly disciples who honor their Master.

This is what Eugene had written admiringly about the three Oblate scholastics who were preparing themselves to go to Canada. Now he invited Father Vincens, who had been responsible for their formation, to rejoice in the fruits of his formation ministry.

Let good Father Vincens rejoice and turn his thoughts on them when he encounters some difficulty. The Lord, our divine model had many griefs from his well-loved apostles, who were so often intolerable and bothersome.

Letter to Father Bruno Guigues, 18 August 1843, EO X n 812

Those involved in Oblate formation ministry recognize that there are many difficulties that are encountered and we tend to remember the difficult times. Eugene counsels Father Vincens to remember his successes whenever he feels overwhelmed by difficulties and failures.

Ten years before, Eugene had encouraged Father Mille in similar circumstances:

They will repay what you have done for them when, come to the end of their studies, they begin to work in our Father’s vineyard; it is then you will harvest what you are now sowing. You will have a double portion in all their works and it will amply repay you for the sacrifice you are making for them.

Letter to Jean-Baptiste Mille, 21 April 1832, EO VIII n 420

Daring to Listen to God’s Call

Four twenty minute videos, beginning on October 4 and you can watch at any convenient time.

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A technical glitch regarding translations has forced us to take a break until October 4.

I invite you to revisit some of the older entries (there are 2565 to choose from)

In the previous entry we saw how Eugene committed the three young Oblates destined to be missionaries in Canada, Brothers Brunet, Garin and Laverlochère, to Mary’s protection. He wrote about them to Father Guigues, the superior of the community where they received their first formation. Father Vincens had been the one responsible for their formation.

Last Sunday they were ordained subdeacons together with Brother Nicolas. The day after tomorrow, I will ordain them deacons… tell Father Vincens that I am very happy with these young men.

It is impossible to have more generous sentiments, more perfect dedication, more thoughts that are supernatural. They are sacrificing their most natural and legitimate affections with a true joy arising from their faithfulness to and love for their holy vocation. They are convinced that they will never again see their homeland, and they would reproach themselves for any regrets they might have about it.

These young men knew that they would probably never see their families or their country of origin again. They understood and accepted that this heavy sacrifice was the consequence of their oblation.

The Lord has given us our marching orders, they said to me; nothing else should come to mind. Truly I have a bit of difficulty to hide my emotion and admiration. These are truly disciples who honor their Master.

Letter to Father Bruno Guigues, 18 August 1843, EO X n 812

They had understood and taken to heart Eugene’s words, spoken 25 years before:

Our Lord Jesus Christ has left to us the task of continuing the great work of the redemption of mankind. It is towards this unique end that all our efforts must tend; as long as we will not have spent our whole life and given all our blood to achieve this, we having nothing to say; especially when as yet we have given only a few drops of sweat and a few spells of fatigue.

Letter to Henri Tempier, 22 August 1817, EO VI n. 21

Our Founder, as a result of being an Oblate of Mary Immaculate, had a special love for the Marseilles shrine of Notre Dame de la Garde – Our Lady the Guardian of the city and of those who travel by sea from the port.

Mass at Notre Dame de la Garde according to my custom, which is to go up to the sanctuary on Thursday during the octave of the feast….

In a special way Eugene was accompanied by three young Oblate scholastics who were to leave for Canada, and who would be ordained to the priesthood in that country where they would be missionaries.

I made our young Oblates accompany me there, Brothers Brunet, Garin and Laverlochère, who came to place themselves and their missions under the protection of our good Mother. Brother Nicolas was detained in bed by a passing illness. En route, the confirmation of a sick person. I come back to these excellent young people; a person cannot have more worthy sentiments about their vocation. They are going to leave for Canada.

Eugene de Mazenod’s Diary, 17 August 1843, EO XXI

Eugene was to build a magnificent basilica for Notre Dame de la Garde, to whose maternal care he entrusted all his Oblate missionaries who were to leave France.

 In the letter to the Bishop of Quebec, which we saw in the previous entry, Eugene has one sentence which it is important to focus on:

They are essentially men of the bishops. It is with this in view that I have founded them and, thanks be to God, they are all imbued with this spirit that belongs to their Institute.

Letter to the Bishop of Quebec, 10 August 1843, EO I n 22

The phrase “they are men of the bishops” has been misused at times. It does not mean that Oblate priests are to be treated by the local bishop as diocesan priests, to be used as he thinks best. The second part of Eugene’s statement gives the key to understanding this assertion: ” they are all imbued with this spirit that belongs to their Institute.” Oblate priests have a specific charism and spirit that they contribute to the local diocese and with which they do their ministry. On several occasions, Eugene withdrew Oblates from a place or refused an invitation to take on a ministry because the specific aspect of being missionary preachers, in an apostolic community, to the “poor with their many faces” was absent.

Our approach is to minister according to our charism in communion with the diocese and to be mindful that our vocation is different from that of the diocesan priests in their administration of the Word and the sacraments. When we are assigned to parishes we are called to fulfil the same ministry but as missionaries in apostolic community.

From our Rule of Life:
“Our love for the Church inspires us to fulfil our mission in communion with the pastors whom the Lord has given to his people; we accept loyally, with an enlightened faith, the guidance and teachings of the successors of Peter and the Apostles.
We coordinate our missionary activity with the overall pastoral plan of the local Churches where we work, and we collaborate in a spirit of brotherhood with others who work for the Gospel.” OMI Constitutions and Rule, Constitution 6

At the end of the General Chapter, the Founder gave Father Telmon a letter to deliver to the Bishop of Quebec, the diocese adjoining the one where the Oblates were already ministering.

More than ever, Bishop, I am conscious of the worth of the charity which unites us over the great distance which separates us. My children have crossed the seas to work with all the zeal of which they are capable in that part of the vineyard of the Father governed by our venerable colleagues in the episcopate of Canada. This is one more bond which unites me to the bishops for whose service I am so happy to be able to confide a small detachment of the troops I have trained for the battles of the Lord.  have learned with joy from my holy friend the Bishop of Montreal, who is a father to them, that they have already done much good in his vast diocese.

Realizing how much good God was doing through their ministry, the heart of Eugene (often described as being as large as the world) expanded to dream to share this with the whole of Canada.

My whole ambition is that this good be propagated, if possible, throughout the whole of Canada which has been so understanding in their regard.
They are essentially men of the bishops. It is with this in view that I have founded them and, thanks be to God, they are all imbued with this spirit that belongs to their Institute.
So were it ever convenient to you, because of their proximity, to have recourse to their ministry, do not hesitate to avail yourself of it in keeping with the principles which guide them and of which I shall inform you if occasion arises.

Letter to the Bishop of Quebec, 10 August 1843, EO I n 22

This missionary zeal has been our hallmark for over 200 years – initially with a small group of Oblates, and now through the enthusiasm and generosity of all those who make up the Mazenodian Family throughout the world.

Our Rule of Life captures this well:

“…we have complementary responsibilities in evangelizing. We will spare no effort to awaken or to reawaken the faith in the people to whom we are sent, and we will help them to discover ‘who Christ is’. Our mission puts us on constant call to respond to the most urgent needs of the Church through various forms of witness and ministry…” OMI Constitutions and Rule, Constitution 7

Eugene never gave importance to celebrating his birthday.

Patience! Still another year. I must thank God for the health that he maintains in me and ask his pardon for the bad use of 61 years of life.

Rather, he put the focus on the anniversary of his baptism, the next day. It was his custom to celebrate this important day each year with the Capuchin Sisters in their contemplative monastery.

Customary stopover with the Capuchins where I am going to say community Mass on the occasion of the pardon of Saint Francis.[ed: Allusion to the indulgence of the Portiuncula granted by Pope Honorius III to the faithful who would be visiting, on August 2, 1221, the sanctuary of the Portiuncula, first house of the Order of Saint Francis near Assissi. This indulgence was subsequently made perpetual.]

I always begin my new year in this fashion surrounded by the fervent prayers of these angels in this world who have so much charity, so great an attachment for me. Their church has been filled all morning, so edifying is their assistance.

Eugene de Mazenod’s Diary, 2 August 1843, EO XXI