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Recent Posts
- A PAUSE FOR A FEW WEEKS
- EASTER: “WE ANNOUNCE THE LIBERATING PRESENCE OF JESUS CHRIST AND THE NEW WORLD BORN IN HIS RESURRECTION” Constitution 9
- AFTER HAVING EXPERIENCED HIS LOVE ON GOOD FRIDAY (Constitution 59)
- HOLY THURSDAY: THE UNRESERVED GIFT OF OBLATION (Constitution 2)
- SOCIAL MEDIA AND THE FACES OF THE POOR (Constitution 5)
Recent Comments
- Eleanor Rabnett, Lay Oblate Associate on EASTER: “WE ANNOUNCE THE LIBERATING PRESENCE OF JESUS CHRIST AND THE NEW WORLD BORN IN HIS RESURRECTION” Constitution 9
- Eleanor Rabnett, Lay Oblate Associate on AFTER HAVING EXPERIENCED HIS LOVE ON GOOD FRIDAY (Constitution 59)
- Eleanor Rabnett, Lay Oblate Associate on HOLY THURSDAY: THE UNRESERVED GIFT OF OBLATION (Constitution 2)
- Eleanor Rabnett, Lay Oblate Associate on SOCIAL MEDIA AND THE FACES OF THE POOR (Constitution 5)
- Eleanor Rabnett, Lay Oblate Associate on I AM A WITNESS OF MANY POOR PEOPLE IN VULNERABLE SITUATIONS WHO HAVE EXPRESSED THEIR GRATITUDE FOR OUR PRESENCE (Constitution 5)
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“A father’s communication with his many children… that is one of the most agreeable occupations of my life” 1857
We cannot forget how Eugene and his founding community set themselves up in what was basically a hallway and one room. Nor can I help but be reminded of Fr. Albert Lacombe, OMI here in Canada: ministering to the Indigenous peoples as he travelled from their hunting and winter homes, with animal skins and long poles so as to be able to erect a teepee largen enough to hold the elders and the many who were eager to come and “learn who they were in the eyes of God”, their Creator. My own parish church started out as one of those small “wooden structures” which was a simple chapel that dotted the new world and which is now thought of as the Canada-USA Region, in the OMI World.
Today it seems that only bigger and richer is the way to be.
During Covid I found it necessary to move from the ground floor of a large 4-bedroom ground floor unit of a hundred-year-old house. My new small apartment in a neighbouring part of the city as I look out from my front room windows faces west; overlooking the downtown area, the south area where the airport resides and to the north the Gatineau Hills. Eventually I began to experience what I call contentment. Getting to know my new neighbours, I also spend time throughout the day, to sit and be with the Beloved – each in the presence of the other.
I continue learning how to live with what is enough. I offer myself as a model of missionary discipleship for Oblate Associates; a model of what it might look like to stand in the light of Eugene de Mazenod with so many others. No extra adornment is necessary.
My chapel is within me, in my small apartment and my parish church. I spend some of my time with my beloved 2SLGBTQ+ brothers and sisters, along side of my Oblate/Mazenodian Family. Always there is a place to sit and be in the presence of God. This is where our wealth lies, within each other.