MILESTONES ARE STARTING POINTS FOR THE NEXT LEAP FORWARD

Exactly a year had passed since the approbation of our religious family and Rule by the Church in 1826. Eugene writes to the community in Aix to remind them of the day and of the need to give thanks. Celebrating milestones is not only about being grateful for the past – but through reliving the grace of the event in prayer, to be prepared to respond to God’s ongoing invitation to leap forward.

Do not forget that tomorrow is the anniversary of the approbation and ratification of our Institute. We will sing high Mass in our interior chapel before the Blessed Sacrament exposed and we will sing the Te Deum before Benediction. You can be sure that in giving thanks for the gifts granted we will not neglect to petition for the present and the future.

Letter to Hippolyte Courtès, 16 February 1827, EO VII n 262

 

“A great accomplishment shouldn’t be the end of the road, just the starting point for the next leap forward.”   Harvey Mackay

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1 Response to MILESTONES ARE STARTING POINTS FOR THE NEXT LEAP FORWARD

  1. Eleanor Rabnett, Oblate Associate says:

    Last night at our [Oblate] Associate gathering we all came together for the first time since making our commitments and becoming Associates of our Province. We opened and began our prayer with the song “Holy is His Name” [Magnificat] and closed with Salve Regina. A huge slice of our time was spent in ‘checking-in’ and celebrating again our ever deepening joy and gratitude of being able to intentionally make our commitment in a public way to the Oblates and receiving our Oblate Crosses [small but seemingly so big]. We shared with those who were not with us a little of what we experienced and what many of them will themselves experience in just a few months. The bonds we share are strengthening. I feel almost that not only has my journey come to an end, but that it continues on feeling as if it has just started in a new way. Nothing within us has changed and at the same time everything has changed.

    It has been just over 2 weeks – certainly not a year, but the opportunity to share and relive and to be able to state what has and has not changed within us brought/brings us closer together. The coming together has served to fan the flames of the fires within us, consuming while giving life at the same time. We give thanks for all that has been given to us. We join with Mary in singing

    My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord
    And my spirit exalts in God my Savior
    For He has looked with mercy on my lowliness
    And my name will be forever exalted
    For the mighty God has done great things for me
    An His mercy will reach from age to age.
    And holy, holy, holy is His name.

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