Having described the Pope’s favorable reaction to Eugene’s request for the approbation of the Oblates, he exclaims ecstatically:
Have you understood, dear friend, and may all of our dear Brothers grasp, the worth of this word uttered by the mouth of the Head of the Church of Jesus Christ!
He then proceeds to draw conclusions on how the Oblates must respond to this grace from God:
Let us renew ourselves especially in devotion to the most holy Virgin and render ourselves worthy to be Oblates of the Immaculate Mary.
But this is a passport to heaven!
How have we not thought of it sooner? Avow that it will be as glorious as it will be consoling for us to be consecrated to her in a special manner and to bear her name. The Oblates of Mary! This name satisfies the heart and the ear.
I must admit to you that I was quite surprised, when it was decided to take the name I had thought should be left aside, at being so impervious, at feeling so little pleasure, I would almost say a kind of repugnance, at bearing the name of a saint who is my particular protector, for whom I have so much devotion.
And now I see the reason; we were remiss in regard to our Mother, our Queen, she who protects us and who must obtain for us all graces whereof her divine Son has made her the dispenser. So let us rejoice to bear her name and her uniform.
Letter to Henri Tempier, 22 December 1825, EO VI n 213
“Wherever our ministry takes us, we will strive to instil genuine devotion to the Immaculate Virgin who prefigures God’s final victory over all evil.” CC&RR, Constitution 10
Part of me smiles at Eugene this morning “….a kind of repugnance, at bearing the name of a saint who is my particular protector, for whom I have so much devotion.” Don’t hold back on how you feel Eugene! But still I think I can understand what he is talking about, for certainly in my life there have been times when working through a process of some sort that something did not quite sit right, but still moving ahead until another suggested a name, a step, an action that might be more fitting. To let another(s) take part and contribute (and so letting go of control, of having to do it one way, only a particular way) – that is true openness to the will of God.
Yesterday in some of our Oblate parishes the Feast was proclaimed during our liturgy and witness given to our devotion to Mary Immaculate, our Mother, our patroness, whose guidance we live under. Last night our local Oblate family came together for a celebration of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, as well as the 10th Anniversary of OMI Lacombe Canada Province and the start of the Triennium celebrations leading up to the 200th anniversary of the congregation. It was an evening of joining together in prayer and song followed with some wine and cheese, of conversation and laughter, of catching up with old friends and meeting new ones. The spirit of Eugene, rooted in prayer and lived out with each other. Alive and well.
“Wherever our ministry takes us, we will strive to instill genuine devotion to the Immaculate Virgin who prefigures God’s final victory over all evil.” Indeed. I have been privileged to see this not only written on paper (as some lofty idealistic possibility) but lived out in the daily ordinary. Indeed as Eugene says “it is our passport to heaven.” O Happy Feast Day.