LET ME TELL YOU I FEEL AN EXTREME REPUGNANCE FOR FOREIGN COUNTRIES

Posted on January 13, 2025 by franksantucci

Not everyone who came to join the Oblates had a missionary zeal to go to the foreign missions. Eugene quotes one:

Here is a masterpiece from Palle, quite a model of holy indifference! “Oh, my Father, let me tell you I feel an extreme repugnance for foreign countries and especially for England. I do not know a word of English and I believe I will never learn for I have no aptitude for languages, etc. I beg you, Reverend Father, take this burden from me…  Really, my Father, there are others you would place on the pinnacle of happiness, while I would be miserable away from France, without knowing a single word of their language, useless for such a long time and so far from you….”

The rest of it is in this vein. He ends: “Oh, the good your reply will do to me. I await it as a sweet dew to reinvigorate my soul wilting with dread”. Have you ever heard anything so wretched? What can be done with such a spirit?

Happily, the majority of Oblates had more generous hearts:

How quickly my spirits are refreshed by this excellent Arnoux. Not a word of demur, not the slightest remark. Mother, country, no such considerations have been put forward. He sets forth because he is called upon. May God bless such members and may he grant us a great number of them!

Letter to Fr Casimir Aubert, in England, 12 May 1849, OW III n. 25

REFLECTION

“We’ve strayed from being fishers of men to being keepers of the aquarium” (Paul Harvey)

May this never be said about the members of the Oblate Charismatic Family, whose characteristic is oblation.

This entry was posted in WRITINGS. Bookmark the permalink.

1 Response to LET ME TELL YOU I FEEL AN EXTREME REPUGNANCE FOR FOREIGN COUNTRIES

  1. Eleanor Rabnett, Lay Oblate Associate says:
    January 13, 2025 at 13:29

    Reflecting for a moment on the passion found in St. Eugene de Mazenod himself, his humanness along side of his holiness… His traits and characteristics making him all the more lovable and real as they inspire and bring us together as members of the Oblate Charismatic Family. As Frank wrote: “…whose characteristic is oblation”.

    Reading Eugene’s words I find myself reflecting on my own behaviour at certain times: vexing I am sure.. God has give me so much love to share and yet it has been easier for me at times to think on how others do not see things in the same light that I do.

    In being sons and daughters of St. Eugene de Mazenod we continue to respond and step forward, amidst the most abandoned and poor. We come here allowing our sorrows and struggles to drag along behind us, while there are times when we sing and dance through our time together. All of this as we stand in the light which Eugene sheds upon us. Through him and each other.

    “Lord make me little, make me ordinary, make me a light to my neighbours’ feet.” A personal prayer that became a mantra with my breathing in and breathing out. Perhaps Arnoux knew this small prayer…

    Always we are brought back to our true and lived reality of being human in the presence of the divine with our beautiful Rule of Life speaking to all of us, no matter our state or role in life.

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *