Two young Oblates, from Gap, were preparing for their priestly ordinations on 30 July 1826: Joseph Alphonse Martin and Victor Arnoux. The latter was young and needed a dispensation from the Bishop in order to be ordained.
I hope that Ferrucci will send you the dispensation of age for Arnoux although he has forgotten to have me sign the request. With what impatience I wait for the ordination of these two priests, Martin and Arnoux! It is like rebirth for me to see these two children raised to the priesthood.
As Eugene rejoiced in the addition of two new priests, he recalled that Jacques Marcou was on his deathbed and reflected on a community of Oblates around the presence of the Lamb in paradise.
May the good God keep Marcou with us! Losing him is not what we want but the Lord knows our needs. Perhaps it is necessary in Heaven that there be in the presence of the Lamb representatives of all the families who combat on earth for the glory of his name: in this case, we could count on our poor Jourdan, who was very saintly, and whose death was of a kind that could not be imputed to his will.
Letter to Henri Tempier, 24 May 1826, EO VII n 242
“A friend who dies, it’s something of you who dies.” Gustave Flaubert
Here we have Eugene, his dear friend Jacques Marcou who is dying, and Eugene almost seems to be looking for reasons why, he is struggling with the impending loss of his dear friend. I took time this morning to look up Marcou because Eugene has mentioned him a few times and there was not much written about him – but he was originally a member of Eugene’s Youth Group.
I have spent my time this morning reflecting on ‘friendship’ and what that means in my life. Part of Google’s definition of friend is ‘second self’. Loving another(s) so intimately and deeply as to be sharing your very self, and when that friend dies it feels as if a part of you has also died. This love that is in and through Christ, this connection and joining with one another in God so that we are all one makes the ‘the body of Christ’ very real and not just some pious and holy words. When a friend dies, a part of goes missing . I leave thinking of the lyrics from Les Miserables of ‘Empty Chairs and Empty Tables’.