Eugene\u2019s focus, in fact, is not on sin but on the Saviour. Ina retreat meditation of three years\u2019 earlier, before his ordination, he wrote a beautiful text on himself as the prodigal son, basking the Father\u2019s embrace and loving forgiveness. His whole Good Friday experience is mirrored in these words, and it clearly was present in the 1814 retreat we are currently exploring:<\/p>\n
\nMeditation on the prodigal son. To my shame, this parable never applied to anyone better than it does me.<\/strong><\/h5>\n
I left the house of my father, after having, even while I still lived there, heaped up every sort of bitterness on my father. I wasted my patrimony, if not with the daughters of Babylon, as the Lord, with inconceivable goodness, has always preserved me from that kind of stain, at least it was in the tents of sinners that I made my dwelling on my exit from the house of my father.<\/strong><\/h5>\n
I wandered eventually through arid deserts; and, reduced to beggary, I ate and fed myself on the food destined for the pigs, whose company I had freely chosen. Did the thought even occur to me of going back to my father, this good father whose excessive tenderness I had so often put to the test? No, he had to come to me himself, thus crowning his gifts, to lift me up, and rescue me all heedless as I was, or rather he had to come and get me out of the mire in which I was immersed and from which I could not extract myself unaided. I hardly ever even conceived the wish to leave aside my rags and put on again my nuptial robe.<\/strong><\/h5>\n
O blindness! Forever blessed, O my God, be the sweet violence that in the end you did to me! Without this masterstroke, I would still be wallowing in my sewer or perhaps have perished there; and in that case, what would have become of my soul? O my God, don\u2019t 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?<\/strong><\/h5>\n
For by how many titles do I belong to you? Not only are you my Creator and Redeemer, as you are all men\u2019s, 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, etc.<\/strong><\/h5>\n
Good God, merciful Saviour, a thousand lives employed in your service, sacrificed to your glory, would be the least compensation your justice would be entitled to demand of me. May the desire to make up for my impotence to render you what I acknowledge I owe you, etc.<\/strong><\/h5>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Retreat notes before his ordination, December 1811, O.W. XIV n.95<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Eugene\u2019s focus, in fact, is not on sin but on the Saviour. Ina retreat meditation of three years\u2019 earlier, before his ordination, he wrote a beautiful text on himself as the prodigal son, basking the Father\u2019s embrace and loving forgiveness. … Continue reading