HOLY THURSDAY: THE UNRESERVED GIFT OF OBLATION (Constitution 2)

Posted on April 17, 2025 by franksantucci

On this day when we recall the last supper and the self-giving of Jesus Christ in the institution of the Eucharist and the beginning of the passion, as members of the Oblate Family we are reminded of the response of Eugene to the oblation of Jesus Christ in April 1816:

Briefly put. Father Tempier and I felt that we should not delay any longer, and on Holy Thursday (April 11, 1816), when both of us had taken our place under the structure of the beautiful repository we had erected over the main altar of the Mission church, in the night of that holy day, we pronounced our vows with an indescribable joy. We enjoyed our happiness throughout this beautiful night, in the presence of Our Lord, at the foot of the magnificent throne where we had placed Him for the Mass of the Pre-sanctified the following day.

 Eugene de Mazenod’s Mémoires in Rambert I, p. 187

Our present Rule of Life reflects the “we pronounced our vows with an indescribable joy” of our Founder and invites each of us the members of his Oblate Family, according to our state in life, to renewing our desire to

… give ourselves to the Father in obedience even unto death and dedicate ourselves to God’s people in unselfish love. Our apostolic zeal is sustained by the unreserved gift we make of ourselves in our oblation, an offering constantly renewed by the challenges of our mission. (Constitution 2)

May the “indescribable joy” of the oblation of Jesus Christ, and our response in oblation, be ours this Holy Thursday.

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1 Response to HOLY THURSDAY: THE UNRESERVED GIFT OF OBLATION (Constitution 2)

  1. Eleanor Rabnett, Lay Oblate Associate says:
    April 17, 2025 at 13:09

    How clearly I remember the day that I made my first Commitment aloud with and before our community and I received my small Oblate cross. “…we pronounced our vows with an indescribably joy.” I was one of five and I wanted to run up to the tabernacle to show Jesus my beautiful cross.

    My zeal was palpable and I wanted to offer every molecule of my being in response to Jesus’s offering of himself on the cross. And while at times the map looked like it might have be penned with invisible ink, there was always a small light before me breaking the darkness of confusion and chaos that seems always to be around the cross, but not a part of it.

    We allow ourselves to be sent by God, in obedience and filled with love for the other(s) only because of God’s oblation through Jesus gave new birth to our own oblations and gifts of ourselves. Everything and all!

    This is our offering of who we are to each other and to God. “We remember how you loved us to your death and still we celebrate for you are with us here. And we believe that we will see you when you come in your glory Lord. We remember, we celebrate, we believe.” (Marty Haugen)

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