Eugene had been visiting the Oblate communities in the center of France and while in the area had also taken the opportunity to do the baptism of his niece. News reached him of the outbreak of a cholera epidemic in Marseilles.
My concern is so great that I fear I will fall sick from it. The thought of what is going on in Marseilles fills my soul with bitterness. I find no happiness in finding myself among my family, my duty calls me elsewhere.
Eugene reminds Tempier that his absence is not from fear, which is something he never showed
You know me well enough to be convinced that the least thought of fear did not even enter my mind. I have all my life desired to die a victim of charity.
Letter to Fr. Henri Tempier, 12 September 1849, EO X n 1018
REFLECTION
Eugene’s love for God was so great that he wanted his whole life to be an oblation to God. This not in theory, but in loving and self-sacrificial service.
“I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” (Matthew 25: 40)