November 21, 2013
(Presentation of the Blessed Very Mary/Feast of Fr. Emmanuel d’Alzon)
Chapel of the Institut d’Alzon where Emmanuel d’Alzon is buried in Nîmes

We have the pleasure of celebrating the feast of the Presentation of Mary this year under the patronage of Fr. Emmanuel d'Alzon. We are happy to join not only the members of the Assumptonist community here in Nîmes but also Fr. Marcelo Marciel, assistant to Fr. General, and Fr. Julio Navarro, postulator of the cause of Fr. d'Alzon).

We all know how the Second Vatican Council underlined the universal call to holiness and the particular call extended to priests: « Every person must walk unhesitatingly according to his own personal gifts and duties in the path of living faith, which arouses hope and works through charity…Priests should grow daily in their love of God and their neighbor by the exercise of their office” (Lumen Gentium, #41).

The ‘problem’, or rather the place where the rubber meets the road, if I may speak so, is the unhesitatingly. Am I moving forward unhesitatingly, with all my strength ? Do I really want to make progress unhesitatingly along the path of a living faith that arouses hope and brings charity to birth ? As times goes by, it’s easy for us to be tempted by settling for a certain moral complacency  half-hearted measures or even for a certain level of sinfulness as if the Lord could possibly tolerate such an accomodation, as if he could accept half-hearted measures or a willingness to serve with self-determined limits, he who is the Way, the Life, and the Truth, the Holy One…The Lord’s patience in our regard is not a matter of lukewarmness on his part but rather his generosity in affording us the time to turn to him and join in his mission, « I have come to bring fire to the earth and how I wish it were already lit (Lk 12:49).

Here it is where I think d’Alzon can serve as a witness and, without a doubt, as a model.

"Be saints, become saints," he would often write at the end of some of his letters. Deeply troubled by a world that had distanced itself from the Christian faith, rejected it or was ignornant of it, he knew that a world without God was heading for its own destruction. He refused to withdraw to some remote mountain or to enclose himself in some sacred shrine, because religion, he was convinced, had something to say to transform this earth. You cannot save yourself without getting involved in the salvation of others. As he said, "I can’t love Jesus Christ without wanting everyone to love him ».

This simple and determined conviction finds an echo in contemporary popes: « Enclosed within history, human progress runs the risk of being reduced to the mere accumulation of wealth », wrote Pope Benedict XVI (Caritas in Veritate #11); and from the hand of Pope Francis we have, « If we remove faith in God from our cities, mutual trust would be weakened, we would remain united only by fear and our stability would be threatened »  (Lumen Fidei #55).

We cannot love Jesus Christ without wanting everyone to love him. Is that really true --- that we want everyone to love him? We cannot limit ourselves to or be satisfied with issues of staffing while neglecting the broader questions of the world, just as Jesus, while speaking to his « small sheepfold », never forgot his plans for all humanity, « when I am lifted from the earth, I will draw everyone to myself » (Jn 12:32).

« Jesus Christ, the more you love him, the more you want to imitate him. » Is that really true of us? Fr. d'Alzon, as did all the saints, wanted this without stinting. Perhaps this is a sensitive point, something that causes us to hesitate just as it was the case for those who put their hand to the plow but who kept looking back (cf Lk 9:62). "Lord Jesus, may I be poor like you, obedient like you, chaste like you, in all things may I be like you": perhaps we find this prayer difficult to recite when we’re afraid that the Lord will take us at our word, even if we do believe that he never ceases to want us to be happy.

It is also true that imitating Christ goes hand in hand with obedience to the Church, with welcoming God’s will as the Virgin Mary did, « "Ah! How I must descend deep within my heart to see what prevails there : the Church or my interests and those of those around me! Woe to me if your Church is not above all other interests ». « Lord, may I imitate the dependence of your Mother in everything that you ask of me. Speak, Lord, your servant is listening ».

In the world in which we live, people are always looking for what is « balanced ». In such a world there is a danger of us convincing ourselves that we should be able to carry out our mission without suffering. But the disciple is not greater than his master. We cannot eliminate the cross from our prayer and our activity. Thinking of Fr. d’Alzon who made of his crucifix a friend, a confidante, let us ask for what Pope Francis called the grace of a « combative hope ». It neither promotes a cult of success nor settles for failure. It’s what makes the difference between good and evil; it fights on, without either anxiety or illusion, but with the conviction of someone who is pursuing a sure goal. Hope is certain; it is the Father of truth who gives it to us (In Him Alone Is Our Hope, a compilation of the retreat talks given by then Cardinal Bergoglio to the Spanish bishops, 2006). One might add : it is the hope of the Virgin Mary.

This November 21, even if, and especially if, we have faithfully followed all the commandments for a long time (Mt 19,20), may the Lord help us hear again and understand better, in the words of Fr. d’Alzon, this word which so few understand and which is, however, so full of love : Follow me » ! And we can also make this prayer our own: "Lord, show me how to pray like apostolic men. And, by this prayer, if I am not yet sufficiently apostolic, may I become so more and more each day (Prayers, Emmanuel d’Alzon, p. 73). Amen !

+ Robert WATTEBLED
Bishop of Nîmes

(what follows is a prayer for the beatification of Venerable Emmanuel d'Alzon which Bishop Wattebled has written for his diocese)

Prayer for the beatification of Fr. Emmanuel d’Alzon

Lord, Jesus Christ,
in order to respond to your call and take part in your mission,
your Church needs, today as yesterday,
men and women on fire with the Gospel,
« bold, generous, selfless », faithful to their baptism.

The message of Fr. Emmanuel d’Alzon,
with which we are becoming more and more familiar,
bids us love you,
to love everything you love, and to want everything you want.
If it be your will, inspire your Church to recognize,
in his life and in his work, a reflection of your holiness.

Renew and strengthen in us the desire to see truth, justice, and peace
reign among men and peoples.

May the love of your Father and breath of your Spirit
impel us to be
men and women of faith and of communion, in solidarity with the poor.

Following the example of Fr. d’Alzon,
we entrust ourselves to Mary: may we truly be in a stance of expectation
of your Kingdom and at the service of its coming.

May your Spirit
renew the face of the earth
and bring us into that communion which unites
us to the Father for ever and ever . Amen 

+ Robert Wattebled, bishop of Nîmes
November 21, 2013