BROUGHT TOGETHER BY A SENSE OF WONDER AT OUR SAVIOR’S CALL AND PRESENCE (C3)

Our Lord grouped the Twelve around him to be his companions and to be sent out as his messengers (cf. Mk 3:14).
The call and the presence of the Lord among us today bind us together (Constitution 3)

Having gathered the first members of his missionary family Eugene wrote their first Rule of Life in 1818.

After reflecting on the damage caused to the Church by bad priests, he launched into an impassioned reflection of the vocation of the missionary. NOTA BENE, he wrote: take note!

Eugene aimed to counteract the ravage caused by bad priests by holding up the ideal of what the Oblate Missionary is:

What more sublime purpose than that of their Institute!
Their founder is Jesus Christ, the very Son of God;
their first fathers are the Apostles.
They are called to be the Saviour’s co-workers, the co-redeemers of mankind

 1818 Rule, Part One, Chapter One. The ends of the Institute, §3. Nota Bene. Missions, 78 (1951) p. 15

Here in a succinct manner is the kernel of the Missionary vocation for all who are inspired to live by Eugene’s dream.

What more sublime purpose than that of their Institute!

NOTA BENE – TAKE NOTE! He restates, in different words, the three foundation pillars of our vocation that he had written in our defining Article one.

NOTA BENE – TAKE NOTE! Their founder is Jesus Christ, the very Son of God

 The Congregation has its origin in the call of Jesus – he is the Founder. Each Missionary forms part of this body because of an awareness of a personal invitation from Jesus Christ.

NOTA BENE – TAKE NOTE! Their first fathers are the Apostles.

We are called into community. But not just as any community, but as a community that follows the example of the apostles. More than following, it is an insertion into the Gospel community of Jesus and the apostles and first disciples. It is a continuation of that community.

NOTA BENE – TAKE NOTE! They are called to be the Savior’s co-workers, the co-redeemers of mankind

The third pillar is the mission: that of leading people to the same experience of salvation that the Missionaries were living. Thus the short definition of the Missionary is: “co-operator of the Savior” – nothing less than a co-redeemer!

NOTA BENE. What more sublime purpose than that of their Institute!

If our Charismatic Family lives this reality in a convincing way, what a missionary light our vocation calls us to! If we really live these words in their fullness, what a difference we would make to the world…  NOTA BENE – TAKE NOTE!