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- THE CITY OF ROME AS THE COMPENDIUM OF CHRISTIANITY
- THANKS TO THE DAWDLING OF THE MONSEIGNEUR, I HAVE NOT YET SEEN ANYONE
- WHAT MEMORIES, WHAT RESPECT, WHAT DEVOTION THESE OBJECTS INSPIRE!
- THE SIGHT OF THESE PENITENTS BOTH EDIFIED AND TOUCHED ME
- A BLESSED FEAST DAY TO ALL WHO CLAIM MARY IMMACULATE AS THEIR PATRONESS
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- Eleanor Rabnett, Lay Oblate on FAITH-FOCUSED INVESTMENT GROUPS: A PRESENCE WHERE DECISIONS AFFECTING THE FUTURE OF THE POOR ARE BEING MADE (Rule 9a)
- Eleanor Rabnett, Lay Oblate on VIVAT: A PRESENCE WHERE DECISIONS AFFECTING THE FUTURE OF THE POOR ARE BEING MADE (Rule 9a)
- Eleanor Rabnett, Lay Oblate on WE SHOW A VERY HUMAN FACE OF JESUS TO THE WORLD, ONE FULL OF COMPASSION AND SOLIDARITY (Rule 9a)
- Eleanor Rabnett, Lay Oblate on JUSTICE, PEACE AND THE INTEGRITY OF CREATION AS AN INTEGRAL PART OF EVANGELIZATION (Rule 9a)
- Eleanor Rabnett, Lay Oblate on WALKING THE LINE BETWEEN PROPHETIC VISION AND SPIRITUAL SUSTENANCE (CONSTITUTION 9)
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“A father’s communication with his many children… that is one of the most agreeable occupations of my life” 1857
From almost the outset of Eugene’s missionary work, he was able to recognize different ways that many of the abandoned were not just his own countrymen in France, in the region of Provence, but there were others who suffered from a sense of being disconnected from those around them, as was the case of the Italian immigrants living in Marseilles. As Beaudoin wrote about Eugene becoming aware how these immigrants were deprived of spiritual help in the form of priests to minister to them in their own language. And so in 1828 he made sure that the Calvaire had at least one Oblate who spoke Italian to minister to those Italian immigrants; a ministry which lasted until after the 2nd World War.
I think of Albert Lacombe and his work to get priests sent to Canada to serve the Ruthenians (the Ukrainians) in their own language and rites and how he found a way to celebrate the sacraments with the many First Nations and Metis people that he came to know and live with during his lifetime.
I look at St. Paul University here in Ottawa which was begun by the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate and which today serves many religions from around the world. Ecumenism that is not limited to unity of only the Christian denominations, but to many different religions such as Judaism, Islam and the spirituality of many of our non-Christian Indigenous brothers and sisters.
I think of the sense of Unity of Life which when it is applied and lived-out pushes past the artificial boundaries that arise in our lives. “We achieve unity of our life only in and through Jesus Christ… We seek his presence in the hearts of the people and the events of daily life as well as in the Word of God…” (C31)
This morning I celebrate with joy the sense “unity of life” that is found when someone suffering from the mental disconnectedness that is often a part of PTSD and other mental illnesses, but which with healing brings everything together.
It is with joy that today we begin by thanking God for our differences and yet how with “unity of life” we are able to live and celebrate those differences as one.