{"id":5607,"date":"2023-11-23T01:00:52","date_gmt":"2023-11-23T00:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eugenedemazenod.net\/?p=5607"},"modified":"2023-11-18T02:46:44","modified_gmt":"2023-11-18T01:46:44","slug":"how-can-we-refuse-this-gift-of-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eugenedemazenod.net\/?p=5607","title":{"rendered":"HOW CAN WE REFUSE THIS GIFT OF GOD?"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3>1847 was a year of unexpected expansion for the Oblates in France. Firstly, establishing themselves in Nancy, in north east of the country. Then came the unexpected and providential invitation to open a house for mission preachers in Limoges in the center of France, 700 kilometers from Aix en Provence.<\/h3>\n<h3>Eugene noted in his Diary:<\/h3>\n<h3 style=\"padding-left: 80px;\"><em><strong>October 3: What thus does Divine Providence ask of us? The kindness of God! Here is a letter which the Bishop of Limoges wrote to me to offer me a superb establishment in his episcopal city. The house is ready for receiving the missionaries which he is requesting of me&#8230;<\/strong><\/em><\/h3>\n<h3 style=\"padding-left: 80px;\"><em><strong>How can we refuse this gift of God? An establishment in the centre of France, where the people have such a great need for being evangelized.<\/strong><\/em><\/h3>\n<h3 style=\"padding-left: 80px;\"><em><strong>But, in addition, how to establish a staff in this establishment, at the moment when we are engaged in establishing that of Nancy and when it is necessary to send so many missionaries both to Canada and to Ceylon? There is something therein about which to rack one\u2019s brains.<\/strong><\/em><\/h3>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: right;\"><em>Eugene de Mazenod\u2019s Diary, 3 October 1847, EO XXI<\/em><\/h3>\n<h3>To Fr. Vincens he enthused:<\/h3>\n<h3 style=\"padding-left: 80px;\"><em><strong>Take out your map and find out where Limoges is located. You will find it in the center of France, touching several good dioceses, but with others as neighbours who have more need for missions than others do: Angoul\u00e8me, Bourges, etc. I prostrated myself before the Lord when I received the first letter from this good Bishop who was offering us this vast field we are to cultivate with such great advantages.<\/strong><\/em><\/h3>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: right;\"><em>Letter to Fr Ambroise Vincens, 19 October 1847, EO X n 949<\/em><\/h3>\n<h3><strong>REFLECTION<\/strong><\/h3>\n<h3>&#8220;We cannot measure Divine Providence by the yardstick of human mentality.&#8221; (A.J. Cronin)<\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>1847 was a year of unexpected expansion for the Oblates in France. Firstly, establishing themselves in Nancy, in north east of the country. Then came the unexpected and providential invitation to open a house for mission preachers in Limoges in &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eugenedemazenod.net\/?p=5607\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/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-5607","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-writings"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eugenedemazenod.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5607","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=5607"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.eugenedemazenod.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5607\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eugenedemazenod.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eugenedemazenod.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5607"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eugenedemazenod.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}