In March 1821 we find Eugene and the Missionaries involved in their third successive prolonged parish mission in five months. Eugene was physically exhausted and also had to handle one of his companions who was not coping with the level of catechetical teaching that the people required.
So I have begun to give the morning instructions and I will give them in the evening to the extent that circumstances permit (for one must observe correctness even on missions, by having my companion preach from time to time) but I will repair, in the announcements which follow the prayers, the omissions of my confrere.
The Missionaries had a responsibility to give a solid and complete presentation of the contents of the faith to these people who had been abandoned since the Revolution. With this duty in mind, Eugene gives himself fully to the mission:
And who will give me the strength? The good God, I hope… I am quite tired, my voice is hoarse and only with an effort can I raise it but what else can I do? After all one has to continue.
The source of his strength is his relationship with God – his living “all for God” in closeness to the people.
The good God knows our needs, that is what consoles me in our distress.
… But God knows what his people needs. We have to leave matters to him, without however ceasing to ask him earnestly: “ut in messam suam mittant operarios secundum cor suum.” [ed. Mt. 9, 38: Rogate ergo Dominum messis, ut mittat operarios in messam suam, I Sam. 13, 14: Quaesivii Dominus sibi virum juxta cor suum. “Pray then the master of the harvest to send workers”… “after his own heart”]
Letter to Henri Tempier, 13 March 1821, EO VI n. 63
May today be peace within.
May you trust your highest power that you are exactly where you are meant to be…
May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith.
May you use those gifts that you have received, and pass on the love that has been given to you…
May you be content knowing you are a child of God…
Let this presence settle into your bones, and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise, and love.
It is there for each and every one of you.” Mother Theresa of Calcutta
Ahhhhh. Another aspect, another view of Eugene living his all for God. I imagine that Eugene pushed and tried to cover all that could be said because he was passionate and strong and a driving force. There was also that aspect of wanting to ensure that the complete message was spread, that he gave as much as there was to give so that the people he was giving the mission to received it all. I picture some people I know who are so very alive and passionate, these leaders of us all – they are trying to share what gives them life and to make sure that nothing important is missed. I might not always immediately appreciate their passion but I am able to take it away and it stays with me.
I think that in this case it would have been a good way for Eugene’s companions, his co-missionaries, to hear and take in all he gave and it would be remembered and shared the next time they all went out. Having just come from a retreat and hearing the “Word of God”, of being led to “taste” it and “savor” it, to look at it and imagine it and experience it alive today has changed how I will read it, how I will experience it the next time it is proclaimed, how I will live it and share it.
This prayer of love from Mother Theresa of Calcutta says it all. Was she perhaps Gaelic because as I take in her words I hear them with a lilt. It was also what I came away from the retreat with – a deeper sense of living my call from God, of who I am and how good that is. And in it there is contentment and the freedom to sing and dance for joy and praise God.
What a wonderful way to start this day. Thank you Frank for we have come back down from the mountain of our time away to dwell on how we be and not having to get caught up in the doing. For this morning with grey clouds covering the skies this prayer has been like the sunrise, full of the soft ever changing colours and threads of light spreading across this part of our world. So just as happens when we look at the early morning sky we savor this prayer and thank God indeed for all of life and the start of yet another day with him.