The call of Jesus Christ… (Constitution 1)
These opening words of the OMI Rule of Life evoke a smiling Jesus looking at people and inviting them to share in the source of his serenity and joy: to be pilgrims of joy in communion with him and with one another.
This is the Good News that Jesus came to proclaim to the poor – that which the angel had announced: “I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people” (Luke 2:10). Jesus repeated this to those whom he had called: “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete” (John 15:11).
The night before his death he repeated to his disciples, “Your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you” (John 16:22). Then, he included all of us whom he called: “I speak this in the world so that they may share my joy completely” (John 17:13).
The call of Jesus Christ to share in God’s joy was the happiness for which Eugene had been searching:
I looked for happiness outside of God and for too long with resulting unhappiness.
It all came together for him as he experienced God’s love for him on the Cross. He heard the call of Jesus Christ and responded:
What more glorious occupation than to act in everything and for everything only for God, to love him above all else, to love him all the more as one who has loved him too late. (Retreat Journal, December 1814 EO XV n 130)
This awareness is the first step of living the charism of the Oblate Charismatic Family. Let’s pause for a while to recall the many moments when we became aware that Jesus was smiling at us – and we responded to this “call of Jesus Christ” in our daily life.
“Come, let us sing to the Lord and shout with joy to the Rock who saves us” (Psalm 95:1)
“The call of Jesus Christ…” is never simply a one-time event in our lives: it is of God and so free of time and place, and all other physical boundaries. It is the life-giving experience of God that once accepted will continue to grow within us, to deepen with each breath we take in and let out.
We respond in such a way that we enter into a deeper flow of life within life.
I myself have responded in such a way as to share my experience of the Living God with those who have not been touched by the structures of the Church. And so I am sent in many small ways to those who still hunger and thirst.
“The call of Jesus Christ…” leads us to become a part of that which continues outward allowing the Beloved to show us the way through others, who are sons and daughters of Eugene. Like the Master Potter, we allow ourselves to be reshaped and formed, and instead of being sent to the kiln where we might dry out and become brittle, we find ourselves becoming a part of the clay of life, becoming one with others who like us have offered themselves to be shaped, reshaped and renewed. It is the Beloved, the Master Potter who is constantly shaping and reshaping us, and then picking up new clay and adding a little water to slake our thirst all in order to mold those we will accompany in the same manner that we ourselves receive(d) from other members of our Oblate Charismatic Family.
“The call of Jesus Christ…” How greatly we are loved and blessed…