We will spare no effort to awaken or to reawaken the faith in the people to whom we are sent, and we will help them to discover “who Christ is”
CC&RR, Constitution 7
We were initially founded to “re-awaken the faith in the people” whose faith and religious expression had been stifled as a result of the French Revolution – primarily by conducting extensive parish missions in the rural villages.
In the course of this ministry, the Oblates came across people who had never been evangelized, thus necessitating a ministry to “awaken” their sense of God and religious knowledge. It was in the foreign missions, however, that the ministry to awaken the faith of people in Jesus Christ took root. Writing to a missionary sent to North America, Eugene said:
Foreign missions compared to our missions in Europe have a special character of a higher kind, because this is the true apostolate of announcing the Good News to nations which have not yet been called to knowledge of the true God and of his son Jesus Christ…. This is the mission of the apostles: “Go, teach all people” this teaching of the truth must penetrate to the most distant nations so that they may be regenerated in the waters of baptism.
To whom am I sent? Years ago my job was to help people who were having technical problems with the technology that they used as part of their jobs. One day we were told to leave our pagers on our desks and to join a Team Retreat. The retreat was opened by our Director General who said a few words, paused for a moment and then asked: “Who do you serve?” Without stopping to think it through I answered quietly: “The World” And then we all began laughing.
Like St. Paul and St. Eugene we are all sent out – to serve and accompany as is suitable to the role we have been given. Whether we be members of the Oblate Congregation (religious priests, brothers and sisters) or whether we be members of the Oblate Charismatic Family, as Lay Oblates… We are formed and sent to awaken or reawaken those around us in everyday life. There is within this particular Family the gift of reciprocity as we accompany each other and the Oblates in every day life.
Last night I saw Darcie Lich and Sandy Prather on Facebook – there was a very short ‘story’/video of Darcie speaking to us from Aix. Her joy was contagious and I can hardly wait for her to return to Canada and speak with her perhaps on a special zoom meeting. We all need to be awakened or reawakened and then share with our very lives “who Christ is” to each other, and all those we meet.
This becomes a part of our breathing in and breathing out, and so “we will spare no effort to share “who Christ is”” with our lives. Like that retreat that I spoke of, we are called and sent to serve God, the Church and the world.