WHEN THE VOICE OF SIGNIFICANT OTHERS THREATENS TO BE LOUDER THAN GOD’S VOICE

Madame de Mazenod had ambitious plans for her 25 year old son. He consequently didn’t have the guts to tell her face-to-face that he wanted to go to the seminary. So he chose a roundabout way and gets her cousin, Roze Joannis, his grandmother, and his sister to break the news and prepare the way for him. Here he writes to his sister, Ninette, on June 21, 1808:

“I don’t dare write yet to mother on the matter I asked uncle to speak to her about, until I know he has done so. Supposing as I presume that she knows about it when you get my letter,
I am asking you to play down anything she could construe as being over-harsh in this decision which is neither premature nor precipitate;
to begin with remind her we are all bound to submit to the Master’s will and obey His voice,
then have her see that we are not talking about separation but only of an absence of eight or nine months; stress this point which is the exact truth and disposes without more ado of the distorted picture one gets when one sees everything from one single viewpoint.
I asked uncle not to speak about this matter except to mother and you. I am asking you the same thing; please, not a word about it in the house. When it has been looked at from all angles, and the moment comes, then will be the time to speak.
In the meantime let us speak about it only between ourselves and with God. I will say no more on this topic, we will talk at greater length and to better effect face to face.”

(O.W. XIV n. 26)

How often do the desires or strong opinions of others get in the way of the Master’s will for me? In the short term it is a temptation to pussy-foot and be indirect. Surely if I believe in “His voice” strongly enough, it is that conviction that will carry the day when I share it face-to-face and act on it?

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1 Response to WHEN THE VOICE OF SIGNIFICANT OTHERS THREATENS TO BE LOUDER THAN GOD’S VOICE

  1. Eleanor Rabnett, Oblate Associate says:

    Today is Saturday, what better day to start back at the beginning. It is here that Eugene speaks and as I reflect it is not hard for me to find an area of my life that is similar. This place is always so relevant in my life (even if I do struggle at times with recognizing that) and that always surprises me a little. It is here that I am able to ponder and muse, to reflect on who I am as a daughter of God, daughter of Eugene himself and how I live out that great spirit that he shares with all of us.

    For some time now I have be listening for God’s voice to tell me where I belong. Eugene I would say, show me the way, I need some help here. I have been drawn/compelled/invited/called to look truly at those around me, within my own parish. It seems that so often one person or another would invite me to join this or that ministry. Don’t get me wrong – these were all good things – and for a time they fit with me, and I with them. Some were popular efforts of the time and others not so well known. They were not wrong, but they also were not right – for me I and I found myself silently wondering what was wrong with me that I could not settle down with one particular ministry – especially one that “I was good at”. And when asked to join other ministries it became increasingly hard to gently say no – it is so good to be wanted, to be invited by this or that person/group to join them, to belong. It is so good to be recognized and told how good I am, even if that cause was somehow quite hidden and small because surely others would notice that I was loving the people most commonly ignored and forgotten. It was not all that, but there was that element in there – even as God embraced me a thousand times over. How imperfect has been my love for God and my living that out. I have been growing into it I guess. I feel a little like Peter in yesterday’s Gospel as he admitted that Jesus was the Christ of God. And how he would move with that and yet even later would deny him three times – he was growing into who he was, who God created him to be. And so it took that most wondrous gift ever from God – my own experience of Jesus on the Cross that was given to me at the retreat – it took this to allow me to have the courage and to say to a group that I would like to walk with you. And in so doing I know that I will take my place among you and that I may likely be so judged as are you. The Cross offers often such a cruel and daunting face to love – and yet there is the resurrection, how can I say no.

    For too long I have danced around, flitting through but not staying long, always being sure to stay on the edges where it is safe. “How often do the desires or strong opinions of others get in the way of the Master’s will for me? In the short term it is a temptation to pussy-foot and be indirect. Surely if I believe in “His voice” strongly enough, it is that conviction that will carry the day when I share it face-to-face and act on it?” Perhaps I should have read this reflection a couple of years ago? These questions are the very ones that I ask myself. No matter I, like Eugene I know my own frailties and weaknesses and intuitively know that there must be a time that is right. I have listened to the voices of fear and of judgement, allowing them to all but drown out the voice of my God, now it is time to listen to another. At the back of my mind I hear two voices, quiet but with incredible strength . The first is from the Lacombe Province Mission Statements which reads: “In so doing, we risk finding ourselves among the marginalized of our community, …..walking with those who, like us, hold within themselves tremendous beauty, strength and gifts as well as weakness, brokenness and limitations…” The other is those famous words spoken by Eugene who I hear so often in my mind: “…My brothers [and sisters], dear brothers, respected brothers, listen to me. You are God’s children, the brothers [and sisters] of Jesus Christ, heirs to his eternal kingdom….”

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