200 YEARS AGO: OBLATION DAY: VOWING TO MAKING GOD’S LOVE VISIBLE

All Saints’ Day has arrived: from three in the morning, those who made up the Chapter are awake; before four o’clock they are all in the chapel praying in front of the altar, preparing themselves for the most beautiful, the most consoling of all the sacrifices.

Mémoires of Suzanne and Moreau cited by Rambert, I, 290-291.

Leflon narrates:

It must indeed have been a time of great satisfaction for Father de Mazenod. On November 1, 1818, after receiving the necessary authorization from Guigou, he pronounced his vows of chastity, obedience and perseverance in the presence of Fortuné [ed. the vow of poverty was added a few years later]; during the Mass which followed, he accepted the vows of Fathers Maunier, Mie, Tempier and Moreau and of the scholastic brothers Dupuy, Courtès and Suzanne.

Leflon 2, p. 169

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1 Response to 200 YEARS AGO: OBLATION DAY: VOWING TO MAKING GOD’S LOVE VISIBLE

  1. Eleanor Rabnett, Oblate Associates says:

    Oblation Day. I wonder what it was like to be in the chapel that morning and to witness this founding event. I think of Deblieu who did not join in with them that morning and wonder what it was like for him as he watched his brothers.

    Oblation – an offering to God, a sacrifice, a giving thanks. I remember as I first began on my journey with this family – the word oblation was spoken of, but it did not at first touch me. It would slide right past me. But this morning as I sit and reflect with Eugene and those first founding members and the many who have joined since, I am aware of the immense depth that is within its lived expression.

    I suddenly look forward to November 1st in an entirely new way. All Saint’s Day – the name has never held such an invitation to me before. I think for a moment of those words from The Preface that from the time I first heard them were like seeds being planted in my heart: “We must lead men to act like human beings, first of all, and then like Christians, and, finally, we must help them to become saints.”

    There is within me a desire to make each day an ‘Oblation Day’ – vowing to making God’s love visible and even as I write this I think of how we do just that as we awaken and offer ourselves to God – our lived response to His call – our silent vows to make God’s love visible on that day.

    Oh how I am looking forward to November 1, when we will each remember our own first Oblation Day with Eugene and his very first companions.

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