Day ONE: Passion for God

+ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Text from the Cardinal:

“A strong and ardent attachment to Our Lord”

Ultimately, under a variety of forms of expression, a single sentiment inspired them. This is the one Our Lord asked of Peter to make him Head of his Apostles; the one St. Augustine, the Doctor of our Africa and of the whole Church, proclaims the unique law of Christians; the one I took myself for my motto (Caritas): love, the love of God and that of so many abandoned souls. This love has supported me, in the midst of the hardships and privations that have worn my life out before its time. It is also this love that will give you strength, heroic self-sacrifice, and perseverance. Love them, then, as a mother loves her sons, in proportion to their misery and their weakness (I.209-210).

Reflection:

Lavigerie had a passionate commitment to the salvation of Africans. The source of this commitment was his love for a God who offers his mercy to every human being. His spirituality is centred on Christ. Shortly before his death, Cardinal Lavigerie told the Students from St Eugene School to be mad about Jesus Christ as he Himself was. He says that the sanctification of a Missionary – which is his first task – assumes two things that are equally necessary. The first is detachment from human realities and the second is a strong, fervent attachment to Our Lord (I.237). Christ is the one from whom everything comes and towards whom everything converges. It is his Kingdom that the Missionary is called to extend to the whole of Africa. It is Christ who supports the discouraged Missionary, who asks from his Father on his behalf the strength to be faithful to his precepts. To Marie Claver (then postulant), who later became assistant to Mother Salome Lavigerie said: The sap and the really essential point of the consecrated life is what the Lord asks of the Apostles: to love Him and to love nothing but Him and for Him, and especially the souls to whom He sends to them. This is the only condition he imposes on Peter to choose from: Peter, do you love me? The day you say it with truth, everything will be done – but to truly love Jesus, you have to detach yourself from all the rest (R.515).

Intention:

Let us us pray for the sanctification of the the Missionaries that they may have the same passionate love for God, source and fountain for their apostolic life.