IT WAS PRAYER WHICH SNATCHED ME FROM DEATH

Posted on October 4, 2023 by franksantucci

Eugene was no stranger to epidemics of typhus and cholera. Knowing their destructive effects, he was concerned for the Oblates in Canada who were living through a typhus outbreak

I was waiting, my dear son, with an impatience stemming from anxiety for a letter which might reassure me about your health and that of our men. I knew through Brother Trudeau to whom his mother had written that the poor Irish had brought you an epidemic of a most dangerous sort and not receiving anything from you, my anxiety grew every day although I well understood that if the mail had been missed I would have to wait patiently for the arrival of that which could only leave fifteen days later. At last your letter of the 28th reached me…

 In the meantime, since hearing the grim news, I have been saying Mass every day especially for you with the proper collect prayer which I have mandated and which I ask to be recited everywhere to obtain the Lord’s protection for you. I know what prayers are worth against this illness, as for everything, for I was stricken myself by it in a cruel manner in 1814 and it was prayer which snatched me from death. I contracted it from the poor Austrian prisoners who brought it to us in as malignant a form as that which the unfortunate Irish have possibly brought to Canada and which they are spreading everywhere. I count on you not to let a single mail leave without a letter from you for – any one of them missed would plunge me into unspeakable grief. I am already worried enough!

I have not the heart to speak of other things but as I am pressed for time and the mail is due to leave today – that is I am obliged to post my letter today if I do not want to miss the departure on the first ship from Liverpool

Letter to Father Bruno Guigues in Canada, 26 August 1847, EO I n 87

REFLECTION

“In prayer it is better to have a heart without words than words without a heart.”   (Mahatma Gandhi)

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1 Response to IT WAS PRAYER WHICH SNATCHED ME FROM DEATH

  1. Eleanor Rabnett, Lay Oblate says:
    October 4, 2023 at 12:41

    This morning, Eugene’s letter paints an image of what Isaiah’s words might look like when he said: “Enlarge the space of your tent…” only because I always read the words as “enlarge the space of your heart…” (Is54:2)

    Eugene himself had experienced the grim effects of a typhus outbreaks and was concerned for his beloved sons who were very far from him. The only recourse open to him was to pray: “…I have been saying Mass every day especially for you with the proper collect prayer which I have mandated and which I ask to be recited everywhere to obtain the Lord’s protection for you.”

    I think of the heart of Jesus on the cross as he continued to love everyone: those who stood at the foot of the cross, another next to him who asked to be remembered when Jesus came into his kingdom, and all of mankind when he asked the Father to forgive them, for they did not realise what they were doing.

    This morning I am reminded of what it is to suffer when any of those I love have assaulted me in some way: after the fear and heart-pain of the assault I must immediately forgive and pray for that person whom I love, for all persons known and unknown who I love.

    God gave/gives all of us the grace to open our hearts to the world and allow everyone to sometimes trample through our fragile hearts: and God gives us the grace to love them so greatly that we can only pray for them especially when we do not know what is truly happening within them. It is not just for the saints, but for every one of us who have said yes to letting it be done unto us as we pray for God’s kingdom in the ordinary of our daily lives. Human, Christian, Saints…

    Reply

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