OBLATION BRINGS JOY

Posted on July 2, 2024 by franksantucci

Writing to Fr Augustin Gaudet in Canada, who was 26 and had been ordained a couple of days before setting out for his mission, Eugene exclaimed:

I am so glad to see that you are happy. I conclude from this that you will be blessed by God. “God loves a cheerful giver” [ed. 2 Corinthians 9:6]

Letter to Fr Augustin Gaudet in Montreal, 29 April 1848, EO I n 94

In September of the previous year, on the day before Augustin’s departure, Eugene had written in his diary:

Nothing could be more admirable or more lovable than these generous missionaries. How kind they were in expressing their affection for me! They are worthy of all my love. I can say that I am overwhelmed with joy to be able to see what God’s grace has made of them. […] Truly, it’s enough to weep with joy to have men of this calibre in our congregation.

Eugene de Mazenod’s Diary, 24 September 1847, EO XXI

REFLECTION

“Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work” (2 Corinthians 9:6-8)

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1 Response to OBLATION BRINGS JOY

  1. Eleanor Rabnett, Lay Oblate Associate says:
    July 2, 2024 at 12:02

    “Oblation” as written about in the Dictionary of Oblate Values quotes Saint Ignatius of Loyola: “…as being a total unlimited oblation”. “According to the French School of spirituality, “the offering becomes […] a total gift of my being, my life, my existential condition and my affections”. And while it is spoken from the point of the Founder of the Society of Jesus, and I believe with married couples and their families and certain members of the laity who dare to live this out in our daily lives as a call and invitation to each of us… We feel called to this way of being and who dare to live it. We are surrounded by and members of certain communities and in many cases are members of the Oblate/Mazenodian Family.

    All of receive the joy of life as described by St. Paul in his letter to the Corinthians.
    I open my small copy of the Oblate Rule of Life – written in the language of today. I turn to page 25 which begins with Part One – The Oblate Charism, Chapter One, Mission. Rather than allowing myself to enter fully into each one I make a small prayer of the theme of each constitution:

    Our call
    to live Christ Jesus
    in apostolic community.
    To live Christ Jesus crucified
    among the most abandoned
    in the Church;
    Proclaiming the Word
    with daring, humility and trust
    as prophets of the new world
    with Mary Immaculate.

    Reply

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