Choosing the first missionaries to go to Canada required the application of discernment on the part of Eugene and his Oblate council<\/p>\n
I assure you, my very dear son, that I thought of you only as well motivated in offering yourself to me as one to be chosen to found our first establishment in Canada. I have blessed the Lord for the dispositions in which His grace has put you. Yet I hesitated on remembering the letter you wrote me when I told you that you were assigned as member of the community of Lumi\u00e8res…<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
After talking about the difficulties that Fr Bermond’s attitude had caused, Eugene continued:<\/p>\n
You know that in a far-off mission like that of Canada, one must be equal to any trial. We must be able to count on the solidity of the religious virtues of those who are going to find themselves 1500 leagues from me. Who can foresee the afflictions that one will suffer from men or events if one is not strengthened in the practice of humility and abnegation, if one is not rooted in obedience which is the basis of any religious edifice, if one is not disposed to endure the imperfections of others and especially if one has not so thoroughly renounced his own will that it no longer hurts to submit to that of a superior, which he even does without effort, without sadness, without the least murmur?<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Eugene then concluded:<\/p>\n
You will not bear me any grudge, my dear son, if I tell you frankly all I think. Give me more reassurance and you will be included in a second contingent.<\/strong><\/p>\n
I embrace and bless you.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Letter to Fr. Francois Bermond, 19 August 1841, EO I n 4<\/em><\/p>\n
“In this you rejoice, even if now for a little while you have had to suffer various trials, so that the genuineness of your faith\u2014being more precious than gold that, though perishable, is tested by fire\u2014may be found to result in praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed”\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n
I Peter 1; 6-8<\/p>\n
For more details: https:\/\/www.omiworld.org\/lemma\/bermond-francois-xavier\/\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Choosing the first missionaries to go to Canada required the application of discernment on the part of Eugene and his Oblate council I assure you, my very dear son, that I thought of you only as well motivated in offering … Continue reading