IT SUITS US TO SPREAD OUT SO AS NOT TO DIE OUT QUICKLY
The Founder, as Superior General, regularly held decision-making Oblate council meetings. The minutes of January 1845 start off with a long statement on the poverty of the Congregation, which had hardly any funds but spent large amounts to feed and clothe “some sixty young men.” These were the juniors at Lumières, the novices at L’Osier, and the scholastics at Marseilles. In spite of this enormous expense, it was decided to accept the ministry and administration of the shrine of Notre-Dame de Bon Secours in the Diocese of Viviers.
Eugene described this move to Father Courtès in Aix:
Things have gotten to such a point that yesterday in Council, we were just about to give up the valuable foundation at La Blachère. Especially Tempier argued strongly in favour of abandoning that project, not only because we lacked the men, but also because we do not have the money, and it is impossible for us to incur the expenses of a very costly construction.
I fought against his position which not only would prevent the Congregation from doing a good work that is in line with its Institute, but which would also deprive us at the same time of a valuable source from which we could hope for an increase in our members.
Experience has proven that wherever we have established ourselves, we have in a first period brought to our ranks a goodly number of excellent recruits; but soon these sources become exhausted and produce no more. Look at Aix, how many good candidates came from there? But for how many years now have there been no more? At Gap, the same situation occurred. Marseilles has given its share; but if we still get a few more there, it is the seminary that is bringing them to us. And so it suits us to spread out so as not to die out quickly.
Letter to Fr. Hippolyte Courtès in Aix en Provence, 4 January 1845, EO X n 864
Yvon Beaudoin comments in the footnote to this letter: ” It is interesting to note how Father Tempier, the procurator general, is concerned about bringing the Congregation into debt and consequently insists that we should not over-reach ourselves by accepting a place where housing needs to be built immediately. The Founder however shows that he has a wider view, more audacity and more zeal in allowing his sons to practise their ministry in a new region, despite the Congregation’s few resources in men and money.”
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As I sit here this morning I find myself looking at the dynamics of these two great men and balance that they seem to arrive at working together. In a certain sense a “Mary and Martha” story. Imagine if we were all given the same gifts and passions!
The Holy Spirit – we cannot leave the Spirit out of the equation for it is she who holds all of us together.
My heart focuses on our Rule of Life. “The call and the presence of the Lord among us today bind us together in charity and obedience to create anew in our own lives the Apostles’ unity with him and their common mission in his Spirit.” (C3) With daring humility and trust… “Awareness of our own shortcomings humbles us, yet God’s power make us confident as we strive to bring all people – especially the poor – to full consciousness of their dignity as human beings and as sons and daughters of God.” (C8)
It is not so much a matter of compromise as it is of balance and how with God all things are possible.
I think of the Synodal process that we are experiencing throughout the Church – not something just for the bishops but which all of the people of God have been invited to take part in. We begin looking at our local churches and parish families and as the Spirit accompanies us, there is a growing awareness of the Church at large – not just something for our own selves, our own benefits but for all of us people of God. As a facilitator I have been privileged to witness this over and over again. What began with folks sharing their experiences of our local church then grew to encompass the whole Church and the people of God of many faiths.
“We achieve unity in our life only in and through Jesus Christ. Our ministry involves us in a variety of tasks, yet each act in life is an occasion for personal encounter with the Lord, who through us gives himself to others and through others gives himself to us.” (C31)