“Today holiness needs to overflow, it needs to reach everyone, permeate all walks and states of Life. This is a necessity… We have to be saints. Mediocrity is no longer an option.” These words coming from the mouth of a Discalced Carmelite Father, Blessed Marie Eugene, are highly significant.
Here in Malta the figure of this momentous Discalced Carmelite French Father is hardly known but Father Marie Eugene is well known worldwide…
A big devotee of Saint Therese of the Child Jesus, Father Marie Eugene was drafted into the First World War, after which he entered Carmel. There, he discovered more deeply the treasures of Carmel and was convinced of sharing them with others, both lay and consecrated persons. As well as editing a journal on prayer and Carmelite spirituality, he travelled all over the world speaking tirelessly about God, prayer, and the Carmelite saints, notably St. Teresa of Avila, St. John of the Cross, and St. Therese of the Child Jesus. His most famous books are I am a Daughter of the Church and I want to see God.
Recently at the Teresianum in Rome, a congress on Bld. Marie – Eugene of the Child Jesus, was held, entitled: ‘Fr. Marie – Eugene, Mystic and Teacher’ There were six conferences:
• ‘I want to see God and contemporary debates about mysticism’ (Fr. Bernard Minvielle);
• “Bld. Marie – Eugene of the Child Jesus, Discalced Carmelite’ (Fr. Emilio José Martínez, OCD);
• ‘A concept of mystical life rooted in experience’ (Fr. Louis Menviel le, Vice – Postulator of the Cause of Canonisation);
• ‘The sanctification of Ordinary life according to Bld. Marie – Eugene’ (Fr. Laurent Touze);
• ‘Theology and contemplation in the thought of Fr. Marie – Eugene of the Child Jesus: implications, problems and perspectives” (Fr. Jesus Manuel García Gutiérrrez); and
• ‘I want to see God as a theological synthesis’ (Fr. François – Marie Léthel, OCD).
The congress succeeded in demonstrating Fr. Marie – Eugene’s contribution to theology, particularly to understanding mystical life, placing it in its context, as well as within the Carmelite tradition and showing the validity of his work today.
A MUST SEE : http://www.notredamedeviephilippines.org/index.php/venerable-marie-eugene-of-the-child-jesus/life/his-life-in-video
