Remember the context of these particular daily reflections: Eugene is meditating on the Oblate Constitutions and Rules each day during his annual retreat in 1831. This is the focus through which he looks at his life \u2013 and that of his religious missionary family that has \u201cat heart our salvation.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Missionaries preach and guide others along the ways of salvation, but they are in danger of burning themselves out or of losing focus unless they use the Rule to maintain their single-mindedness. From the Latin word, \u201cregula,\u201d<\/em> regularity means following the spirit and norms of the Rule.<\/p>\n Never forget that the Rule of Rules is the Gospel \u2013 and that the Constitutions and Rules of any religious congregation and its associates is nothing more than a particular reflection and application of the Gospel. Thus, what Eugene says about the Rule, anyone can apply the same principles to their reading of the Gospel.<\/p>\n Healthy community life helps its members to live the \u201cregularity\u201d of the Gospel:<\/p>\n Retreat notes, October 1831, EO XV n. 163<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Remember the context of these particular daily reflections: Eugene is meditating on the Oblate Constitutions and Rules each day during his annual retreat in 1831. This is the focus through which he looks at his life \u2013 and that of … Continue reading \n
Thus, if we have at heart our salvation, if we are unwilling to run the risk of being ourselves cast away after we have preached to others, so far from experiencing the slightest distaste to this regularity, which is the best preservative of virtue in our souls,<\/strong><\/h5>\n<\/blockquote>\n
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let us rather feel sorry that the duties laid on us by charity remove us so frequently, and for such long periods, from the community in which regular discipline reigns, and for a great part of our life deprive us, to our regret, of its wholesome influence.<\/strong><\/h5>\n<\/blockquote>\n