Our Rule of Life instructs us: “Our houses will welcome those who wish to ‘come and see’ and thus experience at first hand what Oblate life is like. In a brotherly way we will help them discern what the Lord expects of them and what special grace he offers them in his Church.” CC&RR, Constitution 53
The origin of this practice goes back to the earliest days of our Oblate house in Aix, which provided lodging for students, welcomed the members of the youth congregation, and also served as a kind of time of preparation for those considering the possibility of an Oblate vocation .
Fr. Martin has spoken to me of two young men who faithfully attend our mission and whom he depicts to me as models of virtue, but do they have any talent? We cannot any longer accept anyone who is deprived of such for this is what our ministry demands. Let them forge ahead and finish the classes they have begun…
Letter to Jean Baptiste Honorat, 9 May 1828, EO VII n 300
“Nothing ever becomes real till it is experienced.” John Keats
I keep thinking of the words of an old hymn that goes “…and they’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love. And they’ll know we are Christians by our love.” What do people see when they look at us?
I remember my own initial interest in the Oblates, wanting to learn about them. I was told to ask any question and they would answer them. But I didn’t know what question to ask. It was actually another lay person who spoke to me about a group (that we now call the Oblate Associates) whose spirituality might be ‘right up my alley’. And even then it took quite awhile – I kept digging and looking and reading and the ‘tie-clencher’ was actually the words of Eugene himself being read to me – my experience of them.
Just as with the sun itself, we are drawn into it’s light and warmth, to bask in it, to experience it. “Our houses will welcome those who wish to ‘come and see’ and thus experience at first hand what Oblate life is like.” There is a responsibility here as well as an invitation.