![]() This was at the origin of some passages he wrote that are still an inspiration for us: “The one who would like to become one of us must be on fire with the desire for his own perfection, he should blaze with love for our Lord Jesus Christ and his Church and with a fervent zeal for the salvation of souls.” It was not by accident that the basic text of the Preface situated zeal at the very heart of the Oblate vocation.įrom the collection of the letters and spiritual writings of Eugene de Mazenod published to date we can find some expressions which will enable us to describe accurately enough the evolution of the meaning of apostolic zeal for him.Įugene de Mazenod nourished in his heart a steadfast desire to do the will of God, to serve the Church. But we will immediately notice that as far as the Founder is concerned, zeal is the expression of charity’s fervor and of fraternal love. In the writings of the Founder we must understand the word zeal in the typical meaning attributed to it in the spirituality of his time. In the Church, the Oblate is a man of charity, a man whose whole life is filled with love.” ‘Among yourselves practice charity, charity, charity – and outside, zeal for the salvation of souls.’ First and foremost, this is where our basic spirit is found. ![]() This text would lead Father Jetté to write in his commentary on the Constitutions and Rules: “ the article refers us to our Founder’s testament: charity is at the heart of our lives it is fraternal charity which ‘should sustain the zeal of each one’. We find this usage in article 37 of the 1982 Constitutions and Rules, contained in the testament of the Founder which Oblate tradition has preserved for us to this day. This quote enables us to see that Bishop de Mazenod’s use of the term as well as the way it is used in the Oblate tradition is akin to what Francis de Sales says. Even if ‘zeal is a burning fervor of love’, it ‘leads one to the desire to remove, to distance oneself from or steer away from that which is in conflict with the object of one’s love’.” “This distinction is quite apparent in the writings of Saint Francis de Sales, for example: zeal is an attribute of action, of the ‘devout life’. Fervor is an interior phenomenon coming from the heart, being more a sentiment of the heart, whereas zeal animates the active intelligence, expressing itself in concern, in service and faithfulness. Both zeal and fervor are respectively defined as “ardor”. This can already be seen in the spiritual writings of the seventeenth century. But the sense of each term tends to assert its distinct character. ![]() Consequently, zeal appears rather linked to fervor.” ( Dictionnaire de spiritualité, vol 5, col. This is what we read in the Dictionnaire de spiritualité: “Currently in the French language when it is a case of speaking of human jealousy, the focus of the word is almost exclusively on the aspect of capital sin. We opted for what seemed to be the most evident to us while keeping in mind the ambiguity of the term as it is used in contemporary spirituality. In the course of writing this reflection on zeal it became apparent, from the very outset, that this kind of study would be limited by the constraints imposed by the meaning of this term as well as by the availability of sources. Zeal in the writings of the Superiors General.Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation. ![]()
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