SCHOLASTICS ARE RELIGIOUS WHO, IN CONSCIENCE, ARE BOUND TO WALK IN THE WAY OF PERFECTION; AND YOUR DUTY IS TO BE FIRM IN REQUIRING THAT THEY FULFIL THEIR OBLIGATIONS

Posted on March 8, 2022 by franksantucci

One of Eugene’s guiding principles when he founded the Missionaries was to bring the most abandoned to know Jesus Christ as their Savior. In order to achieve this goal it was necessary that the minsiters of the Gsopel be holy persons who knew and loved the Savior. For this reason, he insisted that those in the formation process be aware of their call to being as perfect as possible in their discipleship.

Keep telling them in my name that they are neither students nor ordinary Christians, nor even seminarians, but religious who, in conscience, are bound to walk in the way of perfection; and your duty is to be firm in requiring that they fulfil their obligations.

You may read my letter to them. I will be glad if they know what I think and how dissatisfied I am with the little progress they have made in their spiritual life and with their many imperfections in which they stagnate.

I was going to ask you to instil into them self-denial, renouncement to their own will, obedience as it is understood by our Rules and observed in all good Congregations and Orders, zeal for their own perfection so as to deserve to work for the sanctification of others.

Letter to Father Charles Bellon, 30 August 1844, EO X n 853

Unless each member of the Mazenodian Family constantly works to come to a deeper relationship with Jesus as Savior, what do we have to offer to those around us?

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1 Response to SCHOLASTICS ARE RELIGIOUS WHO, IN CONSCIENCE, ARE BOUND TO WALK IN THE WAY OF PERFECTION; AND YOUR DUTY IS TO BE FIRM IN REQUIRING THAT THEY FULFIL THEIR OBLIGATIONS

  1. Eleanor Rabnett, Oblate Associate says:
    March 8, 2022 at 12:08

    Again this morning my eyes and thoughts stray to the Oblate Constitutions and Rules. I laugh softly to myself because their title alone once instilled fear within me, fear that they were nothing more than rules and laws that someone else would use to control me, to ‘keep me down’ or make me a little ‘mini-me’ of themselves. But through them I began to freely express the love and passion that was in me and to share it with others. With them the door to possibility was opening wider and wider with each day. I had only to be open to this Rule of Life and trust that God would do the rest. And isn’t that just how God works: my being open and God doing all of the impossible?

    “…obedience as it is understood by our Rules”: well that is something else that has been grace for me, grace that is ready to be drawn from as needed. Obedience as it has been given and received thus freeing me up to find a deeper sense of God within me.

    “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.” (Gal 2:20) This is what happens only because my relationship with Jesus, my crucified Saviour is nourished by God and by other people. It is in this way that the lived experience of the Spirit’s gift to Eugene becomes a part, a living part of who I am.

    And so as dawn begins to fill the skies I experience no small amount of joy and gratitude for how I am called to live.

    Reply

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