THE RULE AS A REFLECTION OF THE GOSPEL

Posted on July 3, 2024 by franksantucci

The foreign missions were a challenge for Eugene. The Oblates who went to Canada and Ceylon were very young and had not received sufficient years of human and missionary formation and needed guidance. Letters from Marseilles took months to reach them, but it was the only way that the Founder could encourage them. He constantly urged them to use two fundamental principles to keep them focused: their Oblate superior and faithfulness to the Oblate Rule.

I recommend that you seek ever to be united amongst yourselves and to have the greatest deference for those who stand in the place of God […]

Secondly, and most important, the Oblate Rule of Life that synthesized and applied the Gospel to every aspect of the Oblate life.

 Ah, if only one would reflect a little more on the Holy Rules that the Church has given us, how many faults would be avoided and what progress would not be made in the way of perfection!

Letter to Fr Augustin Gaudet in Montreal, 29 April 1848, EO I n 94

REFLECTION

Augustin Gaudet had written to Eugene on the eve of his departure as a foreign missionary:

” Besides, I will bring my Rule Book. It contains your saving advice, your will, all that your heart contains. You shall therefore always be present with your son, I shall read it often and I shall often press it to my lips. It will be my refuge and my consolation in suffering. I am convinced that I shall sanctify myself by the Rule and that is through it that I shall sanctify souls. I swear fidelity to it and love forever…” (https://www.omiworld.org/lemma/gaudet-augustin/)

As a member of the Mazenodian charismatic family, do I recognize my spirituality and mission in the charism and way of life expressed in the Oblate Constitutions and Rules? For the Missionary Oblate priests and brothers, it is our Rule of Life that sheds light on our every action. For the lay members of the Family, the parts that apply to their state of life are meant to be light and life-giving.

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1 Response to THE RULE AS A REFLECTION OF THE GOSPEL

  1. Eleanor Rabnett, Lay Oblate Associate says:
    July 3, 2024 at 14:20

    Of course I had to read history of Fr. Augustin and his life in North America, so that I could somehow carry it with me as I entered into prayer. His life was one of being sent, of receiving and accepting the obediences he was given. It is God who chooses the time and way we are sent out.

    I was so touched by how Gaudet shared with Eugene what the Rule of Life meant to him: “You shall therefore always be present with your son, I shall read it often and I shall often press it to my lips. It will be my refuge and my consolation in suffering. I am convinced that I shall sanctify myself by the Rule and that is through it that I shall sanctify souls. I swear fidelity to it and love forever…”

    This beautiful Rule of Life which is most surely a gift of the incarnated and living expression of the Charism which has been shared with all of us in this Family. I open it often, to be reminded and renewed and when I am finished praying with it I bring it to my lips, just as I do with the Word of God in my morning prayers, and with my own small Oblate Cross upon putting it on and taking it off ( and those moments when I find myself caressing it with a touch and bringing it to my lips). Moments of an interior caress and kiss…

    I do recognize my spirituality and mission in the charism and way of life expressed in the Oblate Constitutions and Rules. They have become foundational within myself and within many of my brothers and sisters. It is in the light of St. Eugene de Mazenod and his charism that we stand, allowing these to become a part of our beings, our breathing in and breathing out.

    Moments and lives of oblation and communion…

    Reply

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