COMMUNITY: WE WILL KEEP ALIVE THE MEMORY OF OUR DECEASED

After the death of Father Marcou, Eugene contacted all the Oblates to remind them of their community obligation to pray for the peaceful repose of their deceased brother.

I will give you some day more circumstantial details. You know that besides the Mass of requiem which ought to be sung in all our houses, you have five masses each to say for our holy one who is gone, the office of the dead and all the indulgences, good works, etc., during eight days. Be sure to fulfil all these duties…

Eugene’s strong sense of community shows in his conviction that our deceased Oblates continue to be part of our communities through their intercession and example

We will find it difficult to replace such a member; for the rest, I invoke him in our needs and already I like to be persuaded that he has obtained a grace for me which I asked for through his intercession.

Letter to Jean Baptiste Honorat, 21 August 1826, EO VII n 251

Today this spirit and this obligation continues to apply in our Rule of Life:

“We will keep alive the memory of our deceased and not fail to pray for them, faithfully offering the suffrages prescribed on their behalf (cf. Appendix)” Constitution 43, CC&RR

The Appendix includes the following prescriptions:

Suffrages for the Deceased

1. When an Oblate dies, the Superior General shall be notified at once; he in turn will inform the entire Congregation so that the deceased can be remembered in our community and personal prayer and in the celebration of the Eucharist.
2. Each Oblate priest shall celebrate one Mass and each Brother attend Mass upon the death of the Superior General or of a former Superior General, or of any member, novices included, of the Province to which he belongs. It is recommended that this Mass be a community celebration.
5. Once each month every Oblate priest shall celebrate Mass, and each Brother attend Mass, for all deceased Oblates.

 

“There is no death, daughter. People die only when we forget them,’ my mother explained shortly before she left me. ‘If you can remember me, I will be with you always.”   Isabel Allende, Eva Luna

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1 Response to COMMUNITY: WE WILL KEEP ALIVE THE MEMORY OF OUR DECEASED

  1. Eleanor Rabnett, Oblate Associate says:

    Over the years I have come to believe that we are all members of the communion of saints, the living and those who have died and who live in a different fuller way. I believe that we are connected with them and with each other, in and through Christ at our deepest level. Because this connection is not always tangible to us we sometimes need small rituals and practices to remind of our roots, of the deepest part of ourselves. Be it with those still alive and in our midst, or those who have come and gone before us; these relationships, these connections do not simply happen and remain on their own – we need to nourish them in some ways. Is this not what we are doing when we tell someone that we will be praying for them? We are maintaining a presence with them, a connection, as hopefully they do with us.

    There is a great movement these days to discover and know more about our ancestry, who we have come from. And it is not only for our familial ancestors. there is within me a growing desire to know more about not just St. Eugene and those early Oblates, but also and in particular those who came to Canada. Although the times have changed it would seem that humans beings have not. There is great comfort, solace, in knowing that we are not alone, that others have gone before us to show us the way, to inspire us and to pray for us. It’s in keeping the memory of them alive that we discover ourselves.

    My appreciation of and for this ‘Rule of Life’ grows. God has thought of everything!

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