We are members of the prophetic Church. While recognizing our own need for conversion, we bear witness to God’s holiness and justice.
( Constitution 9)
This statement reminds me of the words of Fr. Rossetti on the ministerial priesthood. These words apply equally to all members of the Oblate Charismatic Family:
“If you have been a priest for many years and you look back at decades of service and, after reviewing your ministry, cannot find one time when your preaching, ministry, or personal witness met with disapproval, you have to ask yourself if you really preached the Gospel. If our words and homilies have never been rejected by some people and if we have never been criticized for our public stance, then we have never fully preached the message of Jesus.” (The Joy of Priesthood, p.20)
The two centuries of our Oblate history are filled with the names of a multitude of Oblate missionaries whose ministry has been prophetic. In practically every country where we serve, prophetic voices have been raised against injustice, persecution, discrimination, and any other form of betrayal of the Gospel values of God’s holiness and justice. The disapproval shown against some even led to their being put to death (Jozef Cebula, Mauricio Lefebvre, Michael Rodrigo, Cándido Castán (layman, Pozuelo), Ludwig Wrodarczyk, Paul Thoj Xyooj lLay catechist Laos), Ben de Jesus – just to name a few).
“Bearing witness to God’s holiness and justice…”
Part of my ongoing formation in becoming a member of the Oblate Charismatic Family was to take the Eugene 101 course (online) and get to know Eugene more deeply. In saying yes to God’s call he shared his God-given charism to others like himself.
More recently I and another accompanied a man who will be taking part in a discernment process to request that he be able to make his commitment to God, to the Church in and through becoming a member of the Oblate Charismatic Family. We began this journey with his introduction to St. Eugene as we accompanied him in the 2nd iteration of Eugene 101: in the light of courage and daring.
Forward together… This is one of the ways that we bear witness to God. Becoming members of the Oblate Charismatic Family is not meant to be comfortable.
Those who have witnessed “The Illuminated Crowd” sculpture in Montreal with life-size persons reacting to a great, catalytstic event, a great light… The sculpture uses small ways of recognizing how each of the persons are depicted as a response or reaction: according to their faces, stances, and whether they stand alone or are a living part of a greater community. It is a revelation of both society and our inner selves who bear witness to a great light…
What are they bearing witness to? It is not easy to look at some of the people that make up the sculpture. Some of the persons were not easy to look at and accept, I was uncomfortable at how they appeared to bear witness to what they saw. It took great courage to look inside of myself) at what I have born and continue to bear witness to within me.
While bearing witness to God’s holiness and justice we continue to recognize our own need for (ongoing) conversion. It is a integral way of becoming human, Christians and saints. (ref. The Preface)
¡Anda!