ONE HAS NO INFIRMITIES AND FEELS AS THOUGH ONE WERE ONLY THIRTY YEARS OF AGE

The end of my 67th year. I am entering my 68th. Thus the years add up without one being aware of it. We go forward to the tomb year by year. Nevertheless, it is possible to measure the distance travelled on the day on which our attention is fixed on celebrating the anniversary of our entry to the world. What does it matter that one has no infirmities and feels as though one were only thirty years of age. One is obliged to take account of the day which recalls that of one’s birth.

Eugene de Mazenod’s Diary, 1 August 1849, EO XXII

REFLECTION

Eugene had had some severe health complications earlier in his life which had necessitated long periods of recuperation. Once he became Bishop of Marseilles, in addition to being Superior General of the Oblates, he had a heavy schedule of commitments that seemed to have rejuvenated him – making him feel as if he were still 30 years old!

We call this the “grace of state” where God gives us the graces and strength necessary to fulfil his work. St Paul refers to this when he exclaims:

“The Lord said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.’ So, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.” (2 Corinthians 12:9)

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1 Response to ONE HAS NO INFIRMITIES AND FEELS AS THOUGH ONE WERE ONLY THIRTY YEARS OF AGE

  1. Eleanor Rabnett, Lay Oblate Associate says:

    I feel as if St. Paul is writing to me personally just as the Word speaks to me directly when I allow myself to listen.

    As we get older and our bodies age they seem to be going in the reverse direction from that of our spirit, our being… This is the very time that wisdom becomes our friend and our passions grow deeper rather than fading away. Our thoughts and reflections deepen and our spirits are renewed. And rather than complaining about the mountains that grow on our horizons of life, we look for ways to walk around them (rather than over them). There is a certain amount of surrender in these which is not to be thought of as “giving up” (on life, people or circumstances).

    St. Eugene shared these experiences in his letters and his diary throughout his life and I have always felt that he invited and continues to do that with all of us who are his sons and his daughters, no matter how small or ordinary we are. His invitations and reminders are nothing less than the beating of a heart that is as big as the world.

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