THE RULES HAVE BEEN JUDGED HOLY AND HIGHLY SUITED TO LEAD THOSE WHO HAVE EMBRACED THEM TO THEIR GOAL

 The grace of the approbation – of the fact that the Church recognized the divine origins of our charism – demands an appropriate response from us which Eugene spelt out

The conclusion to be drawn from this, my dear friends and good brothers, is: we must work, with renewed ardour and still more total devotedness, to bring to God all the glory that stems from our efforts and, to the needy souls of our neighbours, salvation in all possible ways; we must attach ourselves heart and soul to our Rules and practice more exactly what they prescribe to us.

 Today, as 200 years ago, the fact of the approbation calls us to be aware that, in following the Constitutions and Rules and the spirit they express, all members of the Oblate Charismatic Family have a map of how to reach our goals as Christians and missionaries: “In the name of God, let us be saints!”

 To do this well, would mean remaking our novitiate so as to meditate at leisure on all they contain. They are not a triviality, they are no longer simple regulations, merely pious directions; they are Rules approved by the Church after most minute examination. They have been judged holy and highly suited to lead those who have embraced them to their goal.

 The Oblate Family was founded because Eugene heard the call of Jesus Christ within the Church through people’s need for salvation. The Constitutions and Rules now belong to the Church because they are our means of being Church, the Body of Christ.

They have become the property of the Church that has adopted them. The Pope, by approving them, has become their guarantor.