The Oblate chosen to inaugurate the mission in the United States was 41 year-old Fr Pascal Ricard. Eugene wrote to inform him of this choice:
The new diocese of Walla Walla is in rather a beautiful country where the harvest of souls will be very abundant. I must have a man to put in charge of this mission who is mature and experienced and whom I can recommend to the new Bishop, who has already become one of our friends, as a dependable and wise religious since, for the time being, our Fathers are to educate nearly all his clergy.
And for my part I need to confide the direction of our men only to an elder son of the family on whom I can rely entirely since he must be placed at such a great distance from myself with the members chosen from our Society. So there, my dear Father, is where you are called by Divine Providence.
Letter to Fr. Pascal Ricard, 8 January 1847. EO I n 74
REFLECTION
“Everyone has his own specific vocation or mission in life; everyone must carry out a concrete assignment that demands fulfillment. Therein he cannot be replaced, nor can his life be repeated, thus, everyone’s task is unique as his specific opportunity to implement it.” (Viktor E. Frankl)
How conscious am I about my specific mission in whatever I do today?
Fr. Frank Santucci OMI currently holds the Kusenberger Chair of Oblate Studies and is assisted by Fr. David Muñoz OMI. They are teachers at OST, and have Oblate and lay students following their online courses in many parts of the world. They are involved in promoting St. Eugene de Mazenod’s charism, spirituality and mission at many levels in the United States and throughout the countries where the Oblates and lay members f the Mazenodian Family are present. Father Frank has been producing these daily guided readings to the writings of Saint Eugene de Mazenod since 2010. They are published in English, French, Spanish and Polish, visit: http://www.eugenedemazenod.net/