WOULD TO GOD THAT WE HAD SO SWIFT A MEANS OF COMMUNICATING WITH CEYLON

Posted on January 7, 2025 by franksantucci

Eugene always marvelled at the inventions of his time. A few years earlier the telegraph had been invented by Morse and others, and Eugene marvelled at its speed of communication:

Would to God that we had so swift a means of communicating with Ceylon: the telegram, which was composed in Paris at 2 o’clock today, reached me at 8 minutes past 5; three hours and eight minutes for a journey of two hundred leagues is wonderful.

He had just received a letter from Ceylon 42 days after it was sent! His letter continued:

We have as yet no news of Fr. Lempfrit’s arrival in Oregon, and it takes eight months for a letter to arrive.

Letter to Fr Etienne Semeria, 21 February 1849, EO IV n. 10

REFLECTION

Eugene wanted to have a constant relation with his missionaries, and we often come across his frustration at having to rely on delivery by slow ships crossing oceans as his only form of communication. Had he lived today, he would have made constant use of social media to stay in touch with his missionary family.

“Writing, to me, is simply thinking through my fingers.” (Isaac Asimov)

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1 Response to WOULD TO GOD THAT WE HAD SO SWIFT A MEANS OF COMMUNICATING WITH CEYLON

  1. Eleanor Rabnett, Lay Oblate Associate says:
    January 7, 2025 at 13:16

    It is easy to understand Eugene’s stifled impatience when it came to remaining in contact with his sons as they moved about in places that were physically far from France. He loved his sons, not just because he was their founder, but because he gave himself so freely to all of them.

    We need not look any further that the writings in his diaries which was his privileged way of allowing his heart to speak with God, his crucified Saviour, his Beloved… And then listening to God’s response, in the shared moments of Oraison with his community as a whole no matter where his sons and daughters were/are.

    Oraison -so much more than just a silent recitation of prayers to drown out undesirable thoughts: it is a way of being and sitting in the presence of God and allowing God to speak to us, in our hearts. That true sense of communion that we yearn for ourselves and each other.

    Eugene inviting us to stand with him in the shadow of the Cross… and become bridges for each other and all those who would trample through and across to join us…
    I finding myself smiling at Asimov’s words for I seem to have enlivened them again this morning

    Reply

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