Once Eugene had been named as Bishop of Marseilles it was necessary to conclude a number of lengthy formalities with the Vatican and with the Franch Government before being formally installed. The last of these to go to Paris to take his oath of allegiance to the King.
I took my oath standing, the minister of worship read the short formula. The king said very courteous things about it; he made me sit beside him.
Eugene de Mazenod’s Diary, 30 November 1837, EO XVIII
A few days later he met with the King again. Together with the Queen, whom Eugene had known when he was a young man in exile in Sicily some thirty years earlier. He made good use of this opportunity.
In that same audience, I spoke to the king about our need of a cathedral at Marseilles, proportionate to the grandeur and importance of the city. The king agreed and was not at all startled by my proposal that he provide us with a million francs over a period of ten years; I intend to ask the Chambers for triple that amount, but of that I said nothing.
Eugene de Mazenod’s Diary, 8 December 1837, EO XVIII
Marseilles was the second largest city of France, and had a tiny cathedral, so Bishop Eugene wanted to ensure having an appropriate building to honor the presence of God in his city. It took several decades to build, and Eugene never lived to see the completion of his project.
Solomon’s prayer at the dedication of the Jerusalem Temple: “Is God indeed to dwell on earth? If the heavens and the highest heavens cannot contain you, how much less this house which I have built!” (I Kings 8:27)
For Eugene even more important than a building were the words of Paul: “Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” (1 Corinthians 3:6)
I have visited the cathedral of Marseilles sitting upon a hilland overlooking the harbour. And I have walked through it with others and spoken in hushed tones of reverence and awe. There is within it a lovely little chapel, Eugene’s Chapel where it is quiet and peaceful. It was there that I sat and rested with Eugene; as if I could somehow capture his spirit there before heading back out into the street.
During this pandemic many of us have had to spend our time at home, or in our rooms and live from those rooms. Many of us were barred from going out, and the doors to our churches were closed and locked and we had to look elsewhere for a place to be with our Beloved.
We had to look inward; that was the only place left for many of us to meet up with our Beloved.
As I’ve sat here thinking and writing about the grandness of Eugene’s cathedral and of the quiet peacefulness of my church’s apse which houses the Blessed Sacrament, I have felt the pull to look also of a place that is not totally devoid of grandeur or solemn reverence. I have entertained and thought of the lowly manger where Jesus was born and of the wise men, the kings who visited and met him there. And I am reminded of how often I have heard the words “return to your Galilee where it all began”. My Galilee during this pandemic has been my room; and as I look around me this morning I find it suits me, it expresses who I am and what is important to me.
I look at the line from scripture that Frank has chosen for us this morning, the one from Paul’s letter to the Corinthians. Perhaps some of the greatest gifts that we will ever receive in our lives have come from this pandemic and its lockdowns. For it has offered us a very unique opportunity to look inward and to realise how we are each the temple of God and how God lives within us.
Imagine: we have been created to become cathedrals within ourselves.