On the eve of the Solemnity of All Saints, the Oblates from Victoria gathered at the Seminary for our monthly retreat. One could say that, as missionaries, we pray enough every day, so why do we need to make all this fuss about having a special day for prayer and reflection every months. The best explanation is that we gather every month because we love worshipping our Blessed Lord TOGETHER. Our Founder, St Eugene de Mazenod, wanted us, the Oblates, to be small church communities, where the spirit of the first Apostles and the disciples of Jesus is lived. That spirit leads us to evangelize but the same spirit leads us to value and protect the unity among us Oblates of Mary Immaculate. That’s why we don’t look at our monthly retreat as something we have to do but as a vital moment we want to have every month. Apart from that, there is no evangelization without allowing oneself being evangelized as an individual and as a community. An evangelizer is not the person who just calls others to conversion but an evangelizer is the person who is sensitive to the promptings of the Holy Spirit and is able to say: “I need conversion myself.”
Yesterday was a blessed day indeed: we prayed Divine Office together, we spend a prolonged time before Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, we listened to a spiritual exhortation given by Fr Michael. I am always encouraged by this example of our Oblates who, doesn’t matter how old and experienced me be, are open to listen and be challenged by another preacher.
Yesterday was a blessed day indeed: we prayed Divine Office together, we spend a prolonged time before Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, we listened to a spiritual exhortation given by Fr Michael. I am always encouraged by this example of our Oblates who, doesn’t matter how old and experienced me be, are open to listen and be challenged by another preacher.
Fr Michael OMI exhorting us at our monthly retreat
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