The biography of Saint John Eudes (1601-1680) reads like that of many other saints, writes Casey Vandenberg, pictured above, the new Director of Evangelization at the Diocese of Lansing.
Born in France at the beginning of the 17th century, he entered religious life at an early age. During a pair of plagues, he cared for the sick at the risk of his own life. He was a great preacher and confessor who led parish missions that revived local congregations throughout France.
He also founded the Congregation of Jesus and Mary (known as the Eudists) to provide seminary formation for priests, as well as the Sisters of Our Lady of Charity of the Refuge to care for women trying to escape from poverty and from various kinds of exploitation. His life involved an extraordinary amount of apostolic activity and fruitfulness that may seem completely unattainable to most of us.
Yet everything he accomplished flowed from a very simple spiritual truth. In a letter to some of his fellow priests, John wrote: “These few lines are only to assure you that you are all present in my heart, which is filled with unsurpassed affection and tenderness for you. But that is nothing; your real cause for rejoicing is that you are present in the Heart of Our Lord and His most holy Mother.”
John knew that the only thing of ultimate importance was living in the love with which Jesus and Mary, whose hearts are in perfect harmony, embraced him.
Living in that love gave John the total freedom to let the Lord lead him, day by day. I’m sure he was just as ignorant of the Lord’s plans as we are. But if we make it a point to live in the love of Jesus and Mary daily, God only knows what we might find ourselves doing.
John closed the letter above by writing, “I beseech Our Lord and His most holy Mother to dispose of us all according to their Heart, in whose love I embrace all of you together and individually and remain with all sincerity.” From the place of his rest, we can be assured that he is interceding for us in the same way now.
Saint John Eudes, pray for us!
