“The Church, that glorious inheritance purchased by the Saviour at the cost of all his blood, has in our days been cruelly ravaged…
… The truth of the matter is that for a century already, through devilish tactics, an effort has been made to undermine the foundations of religion in the hearts and minds of the people. It is truer still that the French Revolution has made an extraordinary contribution to the advancement of this iniquitous work. Nevertheless, if the clergy had remained firmly that which they should never have ceased being, religion would have sustained the blow and not only would it have withstood this terrible shock, but it would have triumphed over all these attacks and would have emerged from the conflict even more beautiful and glorious.”
His recipe for the clergy remaining “firmly that which they should never have ceased being”:
“What did Our Lord Jesus Christ do? He chose a certain number of apostles and disciples whom He formed in piety and filled with His spirit; and after having trained them in his school and the practice of all virtues, He sent them forth to conquer the world which they soon brought under the rule of his holy laws.
What must we, in turn, do to succeed in winning back for Jesus Christ so many souls who have cast off his yoke? We must work seriously to become saints, walk courageously in the footsteps of so many apostles who have left us such fine examples of virtue in the exercise of a ministry to which, like them, we are called; renounce ourselves totally, maintain in view exclusively the glory of God, the building of the Church, the salvation of souls; renew ourselves constantly in the spirit of our vocation; live in a habitual state of self-denial and in an unremitting determination to achieve perfection, working unstintingly to become humble, gentle, obedient, lovers of poverty, repentant, mortified, detached from the world and our families, brimming with zeal, ready to sacrifice our goods, our talents, our rest, our persons and our lives for the love of Jesus Christ, the service of the Church and the sanctification of our neighbour. Then, filled with confidence in God, we must enter the lists and fight unto death for the greater glory of God.”
from the Nota bene (1818 Rule)
“What must we, in turn, do to succeed in winning back for Jesus Christ so many souls who have cast off his yoke?” The language is a little daunting and yet the question is valid. I might want to change the wording a little – ‘win back for Jesus’ does not work for me for I am quite sure I am incapable of winning anything or anyone back. The most I can do is share, perhaps in a way set an example of what God in my life looks like and then be and walk with others, support them,
What follows though is like a recipe for success. I found myself a little surprised that it was a bit of a description of how I am trying to live now – except for the “live in a habitual state of self-denial” part. I am not at all sure I make the grade on that one. There is the reality of having to support one’s self. But the rest – yes. It might look different from what Eugene described, but it is that in a nutshell. Far from perfect and quite often one step backwards for every two forward.
There is the ongoing struggle with some of the Church’s teachings and beliefs. A week ago Joan Chittister wrote: “… the church never treats women as fully independent adults, let alone as fully baptized disciples of Jesus.” The other day I was talking with a girl friend about women in the church and why women were denied many roles in the Church and she said it was because “Jesus was a man therefore only men could lead, be ordained, be true followers of Jesus.” How very sad to deny a person anything on the basis of gender or colour of skin, of eyes and of hair, of their heritage and where they come from. Yesterday during my personal time for scripture study I was reflecting on Jesus and what he said at a particular moment and realised that I was connecting with it in newly realised way. I realised that I was following Jesus, as the apostles had done, that I was in a way being ‘apostolic’, not as a man, just as myself and there was joy in that. It meant I did not have to be less of a woman, less of a person, less than myself. There was real joy in this and incredible gratitude.
Thank you Eugene for sharing your Nota Bene with us, for laying out the framework, guidelines that we can but try to follow to the best of our capabilities and as much as we are allowed by this Church that we love so fiercely. This could only be of God otherwise it would have been long forgotten and dropped. Perhaps this is the poverty, the self denial that I live in.