Every feast of Our Lady is a special day for us Oblates. Today as we commemorate the memorial of Our Lady of Fatima our Oblate hearts start racing again. The person, whom the three Portuguese children saw in 1917, was the Mother of Jesus and our Dear Mother too. However for me May 13, has got a personal importance too.
A distinctive feature of our Oblate habit is our missionary crucifix. The crucifix is given to us on the day of our perpetual vows, after making vows of chastity, poverty, obedience and perseverance for life. For every Oblate his crucifix becomes a friend and companion in the ministry of evangelization. We grow deeply attached to our missionary crucifix or maybe better to say that the crucifix grows into us, Oblates. An Oblate cannot imagine himself without his crucifix. Las year when I was travelling overseas my bag went missing after a flight. I still remember the state of horror I was going at the airport when I realized that my Oblate crucifix was in the bag. I was frozen out of distress that this companion of mine could be lost forever. Thank God the bag was found a few days later and delivered to my accommodation but I learnt an important lesson: Now I always have my Oblate crucifix in my carry-on luggage.
As I mentioned before, among vows we take is the vow of poverty, for me personally the most challenging aspect of the vow is that after my death my crucifix, like in the case of all the other Oblates, will be taken from me and sent to the archives of the Provincial Office. It means that this dear companion of mine isn’t my “property”. I don’t own it. It is, as I said, my companion, my friend. The main reason of sending the crucifix to the Provincial Office is that after my death another Oblate who would be taking perpetual vows can be given the crucifix.
A distinctive feature of our Oblate habit is our missionary crucifix. The crucifix is given to us on the day of our perpetual vows, after making vows of chastity, poverty, obedience and perseverance for life. For every Oblate his crucifix becomes a friend and companion in the ministry of evangelization. We grow deeply attached to our missionary crucifix or maybe better to say that the crucifix grows into us, Oblates. An Oblate cannot imagine himself without his crucifix. Las year when I was travelling overseas my bag went missing after a flight. I still remember the state of horror I was going at the airport when I realized that my Oblate crucifix was in the bag. I was frozen out of distress that this companion of mine could be lost forever. Thank God the bag was found a few days later and delivered to my accommodation but I learnt an important lesson: Now I always have my Oblate crucifix in my carry-on luggage.
As I mentioned before, among vows we take is the vow of poverty, for me personally the most challenging aspect of the vow is that after my death my crucifix, like in the case of all the other Oblates, will be taken from me and sent to the archives of the Provincial Office. It means that this dear companion of mine isn’t my “property”. I don’t own it. It is, as I said, my companion, my friend. The main reason of sending the crucifix to the Provincial Office is that after my death another Oblate who would be taking perpetual vows can be given the crucifix.
My Dear Friend and my faithful companion
The reason for me to consider May 13, as a special day is that on this day in 1998 Fr Jozef Kubiaczyk OMI died. The crucifix I carry was his companion for 22 years. Fr Jozef took his perpetual vows on September 8, 1974 and died on May 13, 1998. Two years later on September 8, 2000, I took my perpetual vows and was given the crucifix of Fr Jozef. Fr Jozef died of a brain tumor at the age of 49. I didn’t know him before I accepted his crucifix but what touched me was the time of my pastoral experience I did in the place where he worked may years ago. His main ministry was being a chaplain to a psychiatric hospital. I had had his crucifix for one year then. When I went to visit the residents in the hospital and they learnt whose crucifix I had they treated it as a relic of a saint. Then I learnt how kind, compassionate, pious and prayerful Fr Jozef was. His faith and love for Jesus was flowing into his ministry to the people who suffered from various mental disorders.
When I look at my crucifix now I just think how many graces it witnessed in the ministry of a saintly Oblate who didn’t have a long life but lived his life to the full as a friend of Jesus and as a friend of people he met.
May he rest in peace.
Maybe I shouldn’t write it publicly but I can reveal to you some secret. Although Fr Jozef hasn’t been declared a saint I find myself saying this: “Fr Jozef pray for me.”
When I look at my crucifix now I just think how many graces it witnessed in the ministry of a saintly Oblate who didn’t have a long life but lived his life to the full as a friend of Jesus and as a friend of people he met.
May he rest in peace.
Maybe I shouldn’t write it publicly but I can reveal to you some secret. Although Fr Jozef hasn’t been declared a saint I find myself saying this: “Fr Jozef pray for me.”
The grave of Fr Jozef at the Oblate cemetery in Obra, Poland.
The crucifix of Fr Jozef waited only two years before it was given to me. Please pray so that it doesn't need to wait any longer after my death. My dream is that there will be a young man taking his perpetual vows just after my death so that the crucifix could become his friend and companion.
My companion on the grave of St Eugene de Mazenod, the Founder of the Missionary Oblate of Mary immaculate and the first Oblate. The Oblate crucifix of St Eugene is always worn by our Superior General, in this way the continuation of the leadership ministry to the Oblate Congregation is highlighted.
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