Resources

‘Impassioned for Christ’ & ‘Walking with the Lord’ Resources

Saint Eugene de Mazenod

Our Church gives us Eugene De Mazenod, a very human saint, a great Bishop and Founder of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate as an example of heroic faith, hope and charity. St. Eugene is a saint for our times and for our age and what he wanted to achieve was that, in Christ, each individual could become ‘a fully complete person, an authentic Christian, a credible saint’. He wished that all people would experience the same relationship with Jesus the Saviour that he himself had and which gave meaning and direction to his life.

To help people discover the richness of the story of St Eugene and of the Congregation that he founded, the Partners in Mission of the Province of Ireland and the United Kingdom prepared a formation resource material in 2011 which was appropriately named, “Impassioned for Christ”. Over the period of a year, participants are invited to explore the many different dimensions of the spirit of St. Eugene and the charism of our Oblate Family. At the end of that period an option is offered to people to discern how this encounter with St. Eugene can help them live as faithful witnesses to the Good News of Jesus Christ in their own time and places.

Many of the Friends of St. Eugene have continued to embark on that journey and encounter with Christ through the living of the Oblate spirituality in and through their daily lives.

This year a new resource book entitled “Walking with the Lord” has become available for the Oblate Family to mark that point of their journey. This new book builds on the Partners in Mission’ original formation programme “Impassioned for Christ”. It is suitable for groups who meet together to share and support one another in living the spirituality of St Eugene.

The programme is the fruit of much work done by the Partners in Mission team in co-relation with their different “Friends of St. Eugene” groups. It has been developed to support the various groups that come together in faith to respond to the present moment in the spirit of St Eugene. It is our hope that it will help all who use it to grow in their faith and enable them to reach out to those who may be struggling on the margins of our Church and society.

Around the world people are discovering different ways to follow the example of St Eugene as they seek to walk in the footsteps of the Lord. So, no matter what path we may all take let us look to the future with hope and continue to remember the words of St. Eugene that we should “never waver in trusting God completely.