{"id":5762,"date":"2024-04-25T01:00:03","date_gmt":"2024-04-24T23:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eugenedemazenod.net\/?p=5762"},"modified":"2024-04-23T16:26:26","modified_gmt":"2024-04-23T14:26:26","slug":"it-is-the-first-time-since-the-start-of-the-congregation-that-i-have-heard-such-an-evil-sounding-word","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eugenedemazenod.net\/?p=5762","title":{"rendered":"IT IS THE FIRST TIME SINCE THE START OF THE CONGREGATION THAT I HAVE HEARD SUCH AN EVIL-SOUNDING WORD"},"content":{"rendered":"

Father Lavigne, who was part of the mission community at the sanctuary of Osier, \u00a0had written to Eugene, formally refusing to obey his instruction. Eugene was horrified as this was the first time that he had experienced something like this from an Oblate! As we will see later, it would not be the last time that Father Lavigne would do this. (On December 10, for example, Eugene wrote in his diary: “Letter of conceit and of self-indulgence from Fr. Lavigne, truly na\u00efve”)<\/h3>\n

There is one point on which I can give a decision without any other explanation. You speak to me of formally refusing the position which was confided to you. It is the first time, my dear friend, since the start of the Congregation that I have heard such an evil-sounding word: a formal refusal. <\/strong><\/em><\/h3>\n

Dear son, retract that word, it is not religious. It is a principle in our Congregation that we neither demand nor refuse any position at any time. The will of the superior is seen as the will of God. We should be perfectly detached, always disposed to give the example of that sort of submission which does voluntarily that which is prescribed. <\/strong><\/em><\/h3>\n

Letter to Fr Joseph Lavigne at ND de L’Osier, 27 October 1848, EO X n 991<\/em><\/h3>\n

REFLECTION<\/strong><\/h3>\n

“When we learn to say a deep, passionate yes to the things that really matter… then peace begins to settle onto our lives like golden sunlight sifting to a forest floor.” (Thomas Kinkade)<\/h3>\n

In this regard our OMI Rule of Life prescribes: “In the Superior, we will see a sign of our unity in Christ Jesus; through faith, we accept the authority he has been given. We will give our loyal support once a decision has been made and, in a spirit of cooperation and initiative, we will devote our talents, our activity, our very lives, to our apostolic mission in the Church.” (Constitution 26)<\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Father Lavigne, who was part of the mission community at the sanctuary of Osier, \u00a0had written to Eugene, formally refusing to obey his instruction. Eugene was horrified as this was the first time that he had experienced something like this … 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-5762","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-writings"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eugenedemazenod.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5762","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=5762"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.eugenedemazenod.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5762\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eugenedemazenod.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5762"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eugenedemazenod.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5762"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eugenedemazenod.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5762"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}