{"id":5162,"date":"2022-08-10T02:00:55","date_gmt":"2022-08-10T00:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.eugenedemazenod.net\/?p=5162"},"modified":"2022-07-25T20:05:11","modified_gmt":"2022-07-25T18:05:11","slug":"eugenes-youth-ministry-shaped-by-mary-as-model-of-faith","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eugenedemazenod.net\/?p=5162","title":{"rendered":"EUGENE’S \u00a0YOUTH MINISTRY SHAPED BY MARY AS MODEL OF FAITH"},"content":{"rendered":"

“Mother Mary, the Theotokos (‘God-bearer’), ushers in a time of justice and an ordered social advocacy. She proclaims that God is on the side of the oppressed, the disenfranchised, and the hungry, the poor and the broken-hearted. She reveals the promise of the mercy of God.” (Valerie D. Lewis-Mosley)<\/span><\/p>\n

After his ordination to the priesthood, Father Eugene returned to Aix and dedicated his ministry to bringing the most abandoned to relationship with Jesus the Savior. His key mission was to the youth of Aix. Some 300 High School and University students participated as committed members in his youth congregation. Eugene trained them to be “yeast” in their society, to be aware and reach out to those who were poor, suffering and in need (cf Luke 2:46-55): to bring them to know Jesus Christ the Savior. Mary figured prominently in their lives and mission.<\/h3>\n

Fr. Lubowicki shows how the early ministry of the young priest with the youth was conscious of the presence of Mary:<\/h3>\n
\"\"

Statue in the Madeleine Church, where the youth prayed for Eugene’s recovery<\/p><\/div>\n

On April 25, 1813, Eugene founded the Association for Christian Youth, sixteen months after his ordination. The rules and statutes that he wrote are filled with Marian thinking.<\/em><\/h3>\n

\u00a0From the very first lines, it is stated that the society in question is one \u201cestablished under the intercession of the Immaculate Conception of the most Holy Virgin<\/strong>\u201d.<\/em><\/h3>\n

Eugene got his young people in the habit of seeing in Mary the Mother of Jesus<\/strong> and \u201cours as well\u201d, a mother filled with tenderness, who in virtue of this title desires \u201cto cooperate in [our] salvation\u201d.<\/strong><\/em><\/h3>\n

In the Association, \u201cpublic declaration was made to honor and love\u201d Mary<\/strong> with \u201cunbounded filial tenderness\u201d. There is a clear idea of what love is: the trust that leads to a total surrender of oneself into the hands of the person who is loved. That is why it states that the association members \u201copenly declare the most complete devotion [to Mary]<\/strong>\u201d.<\/em><\/h3>\n

The highest point in this devotion to Mary is reached in the recommendation to \u201cconsecrate oneself [\u2026] to the Most Holy Trinity [..] through the intercession of the Mary Immaculate, the most holy Virgin<\/strong>\u201d. For Eugene, consecrating oneself \u201cto the Most Holy Trinity\u201d is the most basic way of following Mary, totally dedicated<\/strong> to the Trinity and available for the plan of salvation.<\/em><\/h3>\n

On the other hand, consecrating oneself \u201cthrough the intercession [of Mary]\u201d\u00a0is the fullest expression of our trust in her because this attitude is born of the certainty that the Holy Virgin will not keep us to herself, but will offer us to God!<\/strong> (Corinthians 3:21b-23).<\/em><\/h3>\n

C. Lubowicki, \u201cMary\u201d in the Dictionary of Oblate Values,\u00a0http:\/\/www.omiworld.org\/dictionary.asp?v=9&ID=1056&let=M&pag=4<\/a><\/h3>\n

These young men were not future priests – they were laymen preparing themselves for secular careers. Does their level of commitment inspire us to re-examine our own?<\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Mother Mary, the Theotokos (‘God-bearer’), ushers in a time of justice and an ordered social advocacy. She proclaims that God is on the side of the oppressed, the disenfranchised, and the hungry, the poor and the broken-hearted. She reveals the … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5162","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-writings"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eugenedemazenod.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5162","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eugenedemazenod.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eugenedemazenod.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eugenedemazenod.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eugenedemazenod.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5162"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.eugenedemazenod.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5162\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eugenedemazenod.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5162"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eugenedemazenod.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5162"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eugenedemazenod.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5162"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}