Thought for the Day – 21 May
“I have a sensitive and excessive heart”
In the personal view that he presented to his spiritual director, on entering the major seminary in 1808, this characteristic was a very good reflection of his personality. Eugene was a “man of heart”. He loved passionately, as he himself admitted. He loved his family. “I am an idolater of my family… I would allow myself to be beaten with an axe for certain of its individuals… I would give my life for them without hesitation” he once wrote. This tendency of love for his family was equally manifested in behalf of the children of his religious family, the Oblates of Mary Immaculate. His most ardent desire was to see them love one another as brothers. This intent was so profound within him that he inscribed it in his spiritual testament. On his deathbed, May 21, 1861, to a few Oblates by his side awaiting a parting instruction from their venerated father, Bishop de Mazenod repeated three times, as if to be well understood: “Charity, charity, charity”.
This great capacity for love allowed St Eugene to open that loving heart to the grace of God which bore rich fruit in his life. That required a certain amount of flexibility as well as courage to face the problems every growing group encounters. We look to saints like Eugene not to borrow their love, courage and zeal but, with God’s grace, to discover our own, always seeking first God’s kingdom (see Matthew 6:33). And a thought that fills us with hope, our passionate love, may just be the impetus and grace of God which forces us to rush headlong into His work and to convert that love into charity too!
St Eugene Pray for us!
AnaStpaul 