THESE GOOD FATHERS ARE MY CHILDREN, ALL THE MORE CHERISHED BECAUSE OF THEIR DEDICATION TO THE SERVICE OF GOD AND NEIGHBOR
On November 20 the five Oblates, destined for Texas, reached New Orleans, where they remained for a few days. All the correspondence between the Oblates in Texas and Eugene have been lost, so we are lacking in details.
A priest, whose name we do not know, had been kind to the Missionaries. Eugene wrote to thank him:
Permit me, Monsieur, to address my thanks to you at the same time as to the saintly nuns whom you direct, at New Orleans. I will conjoin in one and the same letter the sentiments of gratitude I owe you as well as to these Ladies for the charity which you have so kindly exercised in regard to the dear children who are going to work for the salvation of souls in these remote regions wherein you dwell. Father Telmon, superior of this little contingent, has not left me unaware of all your kind actions and I am truly touched. I owe to you and these Ladies the same gratitude as if you had done all this good to me personally.
These good Fathers are my children, all the more cherished because of their dedication to the service of God and neighbor. At the great distance they are from me, it is a very sweet consolation for my heart to feel them protected by a priest like yourself and cared for in their infirmities by Sisters so worthy of their holy vocation and so wholly given to charity.
Letter to the Reverend…, 10 May 1850, EO I n 134
REFLECTION
No matter how troublesome, the Oblates remained the children of a loving Father because they gave their lives “to work for the salvation of souls.” That was what mattered for Eugene during his lifetime, and assuredly he intercedes for us today as members of his missionary Family.
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How is it possible to recognize ourselves in this picture? It is totally impossible if we measure and compare; but if we trust and accept then we will find ourselves becoming like our brothers and sisters in this Charismatic Family. This is when we might struggle for words to describe how we love and how the doing will come about by that way of being.
To try and think of ourselves as “working for the salvation of souls” we might ask if that is even possible, especially as we age and daily discover that although our hearts continue to grow, our bodies seems to be in decline. It is in this way that we experience love more deeply and offer ourselves as small broken gifts…
Perhaps this is how we have been kissed into life by our creator. This is how we experience love in a deeper and most beautiful way. Jesus, saying to us that unless we become a child again we won’t be able to enter God’s Kingdom. (from Matthew 18)
We who spent most of our lives trying to become worthy and enough are now being reminded of Jesus as a baby in the manger.
Love is a mystery that we can only share with others. This morning we might find ourselves full of a joyous gratitude to have been formed by God, raised by St. Eugene de Mazenod who shared his God-given charism with us and invited Mary to be our patroness. May they continue to intercede for each of us.