{"id":5972,"date":"2025-02-12T01:00:02","date_gmt":"2025-02-12T00:00:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eugenedemazenod.net\/?p=5972"},"modified":"2025-02-10T03:28:48","modified_gmt":"2025-02-10T02:28:48","slug":"up-till-now-you-have-not-told-me-of-a-single-conversion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eugenedemazenod.net\/?p=5972","title":{"rendered":"UP TILL NOW YOU HAVE NOT TOLD ME OF A SINGLE CONVERSION."},"content":{"rendered":"

After three years of Oblate presence, Eugene wrote<\/h3>\n

I cannot see that you are doing much there, that you are still only beginning\u2026 and up till now you have not told me of a single conversion.<\/strong><\/em><\/h3>\n

Letter to Fr. \u00c9tienne Semeria in Jaffna. 17 January 1850, EO IV n 14<\/em><\/h3>\n

In response to Eugene\u2019s desire to see quick results, Father Semeria responded in April 1850:<\/h3>\n

\u201cWe must make up our minds to be almost martyrs of patience. The good that we will do here will not be apparent for quite a long time. To treat the Indians as you would Europeans would be to risk spoiling everything. Nevertheless, good can be done and is being done. Jaffna is proof of this. When the Goan priests were ministering here, the most fervent Christians scarcely went to confession even at Easter, and those fervent ones were rare. Now we have about thirty communions in our church every day. Before, the Sacred Presence was not kept. Now, many persons visit the Blessed Sacrament every day. Before, it was impossible to assemble the children for catechism. For the past two years, I have succeeded in doing so and grown ups also attend those lessons spontaneously. Within a short period, I have baptized between sixty and seventy adults.\u201d<\/em><\/h3>\n

Three years later, in 1853, Semeria wrote:<\/h3>\n

\u201cI think that, sometimes, it is easier to convert an idolatrous people who are suddenly touched by previously unknown truths which are taught them, than to regenerate half-Christians who have abused the grace they had received. Nevertheless, although we cannot flatter ourselves that we have done all the good we wanted to do, the change brought about in the thinking and behaviour of many of our Christians is really marvellous. Anyone who was familiar with the city of Jaffna five or six years ago, would certainly have good reason to praise the Lord if he examined the enormous difference which exists between the Christians of that time and those of today.\u201d<\/em><\/h3>\n

(https:\/\/www.omiworld.org\/lemma\/semeria-bishop-etienne\/)<\/h3>\n

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

“We will always be close to the people with whom we work, taking into account their values and aspirations. To seek out new ways for the Word of God to reach their hearts often calls for daring; to present Gospel demands in all clarity should never intimidate us.”<\/h3>\n

OMI Rule of Life, Constitution 8<\/em><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After three years of Oblate presence, Eugene wrote I cannot see that you are doing much there, that you are still only beginning\u2026 and up till now you have not told me of a single conversion. Letter to Fr. \u00c9tienne … 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,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5972","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-writings"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eugenedemazenod.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5972","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=5972"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.eugenedemazenod.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5972\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eugenedemazenod.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5972"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eugenedemazenod.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5972"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eugenedemazenod.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5972"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}