We are members of the prophetic Church. While recognizing our own need for conversion, we bear witness to God’s holiness and justice. We announce the liberating presence of Jesus Christ and the new world born in his resurrection. We will hear and make heard the clamour of the voiceless, which is a cry to God who brings down the mighty from their thrones and exalts the lowly (cf. Lk 1: 52).
CC&RR, Constitution 9
Action on behalf of justice, peace and the integrity of creation is an integral part of evangelization.
CC&RR, Rule 9a
As Oblates, we look at the world through the eyes of the Crucified Savior so that those who suffer will be strengthened with the hope of the power of the resurrection (C#4); this was the perspective of our Founder St. Eugene de Mazenod and the Oblate charism. As Father Louis LOUGEN, our Superior General, says about the Oblate Charism:” “We are fired by a charism that is unique and special in the Church, one that makes us very close to the poor, the rejected, the forgotten, the people that society ignores, and the people who don’t feel accepted in church…We show a very human face of Jesus to the world, one full of compassion and solidarity.” Thus, many Oblates all over the world are working with, among and for the poor and are therefore exercising this ministry, even though they may not use this JPIC terminology.
Kennedy Katongo OMI (http://www.omiworld.org/en/content/news/3805/towards-a-spirituality-of-jpic-the-oblate-charism-at-the-service-of-the-poor/ )
“The poor are always prophetic. As true prophets always point out, they reveal God’s design. That is why we should take time to listen to them. And that means staying near them, because they speak quietly and infrequently; they are afraid to speak out, they lack confidence in themselves because they have been broken and oppressed. But if we listen to them, they will bring us back to the essential.” Jean Vanier
“We show a very human face of Jesus to the world, one full of compassion and solidarity.” Words of filled with tenderness but I have to ask myself: I this the face I show? One of compassion and solidarity? Do I show the human face of Jesus or just the very human face of myself? What does this honestly look like in my life?
It is though the words of Jean Vanier that quite undo me. Oddly enough the images passing before my eyes are those of various members of the Mazenodian Family that I have come to know and cherish. It is they who have helped bring me back to the essential. I see in them myself and so it is almost a togetherness that arises. I identify with so many others, but most particularly those who have been broken and oppressed.
I go back to the title and wonder if perhaps I fit in here? If I somehow show the human face of Jesus to the world, a face filled with compassion and solidarity. A very small timid voice filled with a smile responds ‘yes?’.