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<\/a>\u201cI had looked for happiness outside of God and outside him I found but affliction and chagrin\u201d,<\/strong><\/em> he writes a few years later (1814) during a retreat. In his emptiness he encounters someone who loves him without measure. His sins melt away amidst tears in the embrace of Christ, and this experience marks him for the rest of his life. \u201cCan I forget the bitter tears that the sight of the cross brought streaming from my eyes one Good Friday?\u201d \u201cBlessed, a thousand times blessed, that he, this good Father, notwithstanding my unworthiness, lavished on me all the richness of his mercy.\u201d<\/strong><\/em> The experience did not stay just inside of him. \u201cLet me at least make up for lost time by redoubling my love for him.\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\nAfter a short time, St. Eugene wanted to share the mercy he experienced with others. Such zeal for souls finally led to the birth of the Oblates. The word \u201cOblates\u201d means people ready to give themselves for the love of God.”<\/p>\n
W. Steckling OMI, OMI Information<\/em> n 462, Rome, February 2007<\/p>\n \u201cJesus on the cross feels the whole weight of the evil, and with the force of God’s love he conquers it; he defeats it with his resurrection. This is the good that Jesus does for us on the throne of the cross. Christ’s cross, embraced with love, never leads to sadness, but to joy, to the joy of having been saved and of doing a little of what he did on the day of his death.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0<\/em>Pope Francis<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Former Superior General, Wilhelm Steckling OMI, wrote in 2007: “It was probably in 1807, on Good Friday of that year, that Saint Eugene had a special encounter with the Crucified One that changed his life. It essentially made him an … Continue reading