OMI Superior General's message to OMIs on Oblates Day

Fr.
General's letter for February 17, 2015

Rome

L.J.C.
et M.I.

Dear
Brother Oblates,

I
wish all of you a happy Feast Day! On this date in 1826, Pope Leo XII approved
our Constitutions and Rules. We are filled with joy and thanksgiving for the
grace of our vocation as Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate. This year the
Church has been convoked to celebrate a special Year of Consecrated Life”
throughout the world. This is another opportunity to appreciate the gift of our
vocation as consecrated missionaries and to celebrate our charism as expressed
in the Oblate Constitutions and Rules and lived by us today.

I
asked everyone at the time of the 2013 Interchapter, and again I request that
we all commit ourselves to return regularly to the OMI Constitutions and Rules
for reflection and prayer. I invite each Oblate to discover the wealth of
meaning contained in the simple and beautiful statements that express our way
of life in such a positive way. We will be nourished spiritually and our
missionary zeal will be enkindled over and over. In meditating on the various
constitutions it is my hope that we will interiorize them and live them more
faithfully. This will assist our readiness for the Spirit’s work of ongoing
formation in our lives, opening us to the grace of a profound personal and
community conversion to Jesus Christ as called for by the 35th General Chapter
of 2010.

Saint
Eugene ended the 1825 manuof his Preface to the Constitutions and Rules with
these wordsand

But
it is not enough for them simply to be convinced of the sublime nature of the
ministry to which they have been called. The example of the saints and reason
itself make it amply clear that the success of such a holy undertaking as well
as the maintenance of discipline in any society make certain rules of life
absolutely necessary for unity of thought and action among the members. Such
unity is a body's strength, keeping up its fervour and insuring that it lasts.

Wherefore,
while pledging themselves to all the works of zeal which priestly charity can
inspire – above all, to the work of the missions, which is the main reason for
their union – these priests, joined together in a society, resolve to obey the
following Constitutions and Rules by living them they hope to obtain all the
benefits they need for their own sanctification and for the salvation of
souls.”

Eugene
saw this Code of Oblate Life as bringing us together in unity of thought and
action for the sake of the mission. This unity was also needed to sustain the
fervor of the missionary body so that it would persevere in its availability
for the greatest missionary needs of the Church. Holding a common vision of
life and mission as expressed in the Constitutions and Rules, and being
committed to live this vision, would ensure that the Oblates continue as a
robust group of apostles, co-operators with the Savior at the service of
preaching the Gospel to the poor. A healthy missionary body, bound together by this
Rule of Life, would respond to the signs of the times and would not become
stagnant or imprisoned by inertia in merely routine, personal or comfortable
ministries. The Founder concluded this Preface to our Constitutions and Rules,
resuming that they are a way to holiness for the missionaries themselves and a
means for the salvation of God’s people. Because of our Rule of Life, Oblates
would always be available for the most remote and difficult missions, bringing
the joy of salvation to the most abandoned people in the world.

In
celebrating the Year of Consecrated Life, the Congregation of Religious has
reminded us of the call made by Vatican II to all religious congregations that
the Gospel is our first rule of life. The OMI Constitutions and Rules do not
replace the Gospel, but specify how Oblates of Mary Immaculate are called to
live the Gospel. We could see them as our own family gospel to which we are
committed to live with zeal through our oblation. This Oblate Rule of Life
expresses for us today the experience of Eugene de Mazenod and the charism the
Spirit inspired him to incarnate in a religious missionary family. We believe
that the current Constitutions and Rules are a true and faithful expression of
how Oblates live the Gospel through their missionary vocation in today’s
reality. It is important for our renewal that we seriously study them, reflect
on them, talk about them and pray with them.

In
fact, our present Constitutions and Rules express this in C#163and

The
Constitutions and Rules set out a privileged means for each Oblate to follow in
the footsteps of Jesus Christ. They are inspired by the charism lived by the
Founder and his first companions also, they have received the approval of the
Church. Thus, they allow each Oblate to evaluate the quality of his response to
his vocation and to become a saint.”

We
see here an important element, namely that this family gospel is an aid to help
us evaluate the quality of our Oblate lives. By meditating on the Constitutions
and Rules, we allow them to question us and to call us to change our way of
thinking, so that we follow more faithfully in the footsteps of Jesus.
Confronting our lives with this Code of Life should inspire us to live more
fully and generously our commitment to the poor and most abandoned to give
ourselves more selflessly to our brother Oblates in apostolic community to
dedicate ourselves more deeply to a life of contemplative prayer and all the
various aspects of living our faith and to give ourselves to a more truly
prophetic witness of each one of the vows.

C#
163 tells us that our Constitutions and Rules assist us on the way to becoming
saints, a desire expressed also by the Founder at the end of the 1825 manuof
the Preface. We recognize this holiness and sanctity in brother Oblates who
have quietly witnessed a life of generous service to the poor. We know holiness
in Oblates who live exemplary charity and patience toward their brothers in
apostolic community, even when there might be difficult and challenging people.
We have seen real sanctity in Oblates who have lived a beautiful witness to a
life of prayer and, by their lives, have called us to pray. We have known the
holiness of Oblates who are committed to a life of evangelical poverty with no
self-glory. Holiness and sanctity for us are very much incarnated in the
ordinariness of everyday life when this is lived with joy, goodness,
transparency, self-giving and forgiveness.

My
brothers, this is a day for recognizing what a great gift the Spirit has given
us through the charism we have received through St. Eugene de Mazenod! The
Church has blessed our way of life and we continue as a Congregation to do
important missionary work preaching the Gospel of salvation to the poor and
most abandoned. We rejoice today and give thanks for the grace of our vocation
expressed in our Constitutions and Rules. Let us reflect upon them regularly
and discover anew their richness so that we interiorize them more deeply and
live them with greater coherence. It is never too late! Our unity in living the
Oblate Constitutions and Rules, the faithful expression of the Oblate charism,
will give strength to the Congregation and make us more effective missionaries
to the poor in today’s reality.

I
would like to close this letter with C# 168, a wonderful conclusion to our
family gospeland

Each
Oblate through his oblation assumes responsibility for the common heritage of
the Congregation, expressed in the Constitutions and Rules and our family
tradition. He is exhorted to let himself be guided by these norms in creative
fidelity to the legacy bequeathed by St. Eugene de Mazenod.”

Our
future as a life-filled Congregation depends on the decision of each Oblate to
live the fullness of our oblation. Let us decide in favour of life for our
Congregation by committing ourselves to live united by these Constitutions and
Rules. We are sure that if we seek to live this family gospel in our missionary
lives, always discerning in apostolic community and with our Superiors, we will
live with creative fidelity the charism received from St. Eugene. Please
continue to pray that we will be open to the grace of a profound personal and
community conversion to Jesus Christ and that the General Chapter of 2016 will
be a strong experience of the Holy Spirit.

We
are confident that Mary Immaculate is among us as she was in the Cenacle,
praying for her Son’s disciples, so that we have the inner freedom to be
impelled by the Spirit’s breath of new life among us.

Happy
Feast Day!

Fr.
Louis Lougen, OMI

Superior
General

Rome