THEIR AMBITION SHOULD EMBRACE THE VAST EXPANSE OF THE WHOLE EARTH.
Eugene de Mazenod was a busy person! Superior General of many Oblates in France and elsewhere, Bishop of a large and demanding diocese, and also the power behind the Oblates breaking new ground in the foreign missions. Going through his writings chronologically can be confusing because they deal with all three of these areas at the same time. For the sake of clarity over these past months, I have been reflecting on the writings regarding France and the diocese of Marseilles. A lot was happening in the Oblate world outside of France at the same time, so this will be our focus now.
In 1818, Eugene had expressed his vision of the missionary congregation:
What more sublime purpose than that of their Institute?
Their founder is Jesus Christ, the very Son of God;
their first fathers are the Apostles.
They are called to be the Saviour’s co-workers, the co-redeemers of mankind;
and even though, because of their present small number and
the more urgent needs of the people around them, they have to limit the scope of their zeal, for the time being, to the poor of our countryside and others,
their ambition should, in its holy aspirations, embrace the vast expanse of the whole earth.
1818 Rule
REFLECTION
In 1818 the missionaries were few and focused on Provence but with a founder’s intuition, Eugene saw beyond his corner of the world. Thirty years later, in 1848, that prophetic vision was being fulfilled. The Oblates were in Corsica, England, Canada, the United States and Ceylon.
“True missionaries, who never cease to be disciples, know that Jesus walks with them, speaks to them, breathes with them, works with them.” – Pope Francis
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With the God-given and Spirit-shared Charism that Eugene first shared with his son, and now shared with his sons and daughters, we realize that our foundations point to the immensity of our shared mission with the Church and God (missio Dei).
Somehow, the whole world appears to be deeply and intimately personal and in the same breath based in Community.
I think of OMI Lacombe Provence Convocation this past May. Coming together under the theme of “Dare We Hope”, we faced and accepted our challenges and struggles as well as our deepest communal joys.
Daring to hope we found ourselves moving together, strengthening our community in ways that alone we might not have been able to imagine. With Jesus as the ultimate model of our love and lives ended the convocation filled with hope.
Returning home I was filled with new hope and joy. I felt full of gratitude, replenished and renewed. This would be how I could continue to “BE” so as to be able to “DO”.
We are “sent” to each other and the world. The image before me is that of Jesus with a burning heart being shared with the apostles and disciples like interwoven threads and then continuing out to all of us. “Are not our hearts burning within us…”