TAKE OUR NEW FOUNDATIONS IN AMERICA UNDER YOUR PROTECTION
In the previous entry we saw how Eugene had described the new missions in Canada to the Council of the Propagation of the Faith. His letter continues:
I feel, gentlemen, that I have sufficiently illustrated for you the needs of the Bytown foundation and its importance in the light of the various ministries carried out by the missionaries there, an importance which increases every day considering the position of this city at the very center of communications between Upper and Lower Canada, the United States, and the North of this part of America.
The renowned zeal which inspires you and associates you to any enterprise whose object is the propagation of the faith and the good of religion, the generosity with which you have granted abundant alms to various foundations opened in the United States and elsewhere by other missionary societies, and the goodness with which you have accepted our requests in favor of the Cornwall mission entrusted to the Oblates of Mary Immaculate in England, leads me to hope and assures me that you will be so kind as to take our new foundations in America under your protection and include them among the missions supported by the admirable Missionary Society you administer with such wisdom and devotion.
Letter to the Council of the Propagation of the Faith, 23 December 1844, EO V n 90
From the very beginning, without financial support, the Oblate missions to the most abandoned would be impossible. Today we recall with gratitude the countless benefactors who support and make possible our mission of evangelization
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Trust. I think of the immense trust that is required of all of us who allow ourselves to be sent as missionaries. Trust that is a part of our acceptance of God’s invitation and our response of offering ourselves in oblation so that we might play a part in the propagation of faith. We too join in making our oblation and living it out in response to God’s call.
Not something that just happened two hundred years ago: we see it today as we watch our Oblate brothers and others of good will who have remained in the Ukraine to help those who are unable to leave the country for whatever the reason. I have a friend who keeps demanding that the Oblate congregation pull those men and women out of the war zone ang bring them to safety.
I think of how Eugene never sent a missionary to the new world who did not want to go there. These young men who volunteered to be a part of that particular adventure and way of sharing and doing good so that there would be salvation for all. Then as now they entrusted themselves to the care of God as they requested permission to stay and help those whom they had been sent to love and serve.
My understanding is that those men and women who have stayed have done so because they truly believe they are where God has planted them to be. They are trusting that God will look after them. They are trusting that others will send money and supplies so that they can feed, shelter, give a measure of medical help and supplies where they are need, and most importantly offer the sacraments.
In this sense we are all a part of the propagation of faith: as members of this beautiful Mazenodian Family find ways to offer ourselves to grow and support the care of those we love.