We fulfil this mission in community; and our communities are a sign that, in Jesus, God is everything for us. (Constitution 11)
The community is missionary in the example it gives to outsiders. Speaking of the ministry of the community of Notre Dame de l’Osier to priests:
“People vie with one another in their admiration for the regularity, good order, piety that reign in the house… They find edification in everything: the silence that reigns in the house. the punctuality at all the exercises, the office, the small refectory penances. So be always what you ought to be and never let the presence of strangers bring you to make changes in anything whether it be in the Rule or in our customs. If one can find in your house no more than a group of priests living under the same roof, as pastors from the surrounding neighbourhood might do, you will be guilty-before me before the Congregation and before God; and the people for whose sake you surrendered your Oblate way of life will go away but little edified and certainly deceived in their expectations.”
“Community” in the Dictionary of Oblate Values, https://www.omiworld.org/lemma/community/#_Ftnt43
“We fulfil our mission in and through the community to which we belong. Our communities, therefore, are apostolic in character… By growing in unity of heart and mind, we bear witness before the world that Jesus lives in our midst and unites us in order to send us out to proclaim God’s reign.”
Constitution 37.
“Everyone knows who you are so be worthy of your vocation and strive to accept its every least demand.”
I think of a TV ad that showed a car turning into a driveway and as a man got out of the car the view changed to three youngsters at the window who looked solemn and scared. A voice in the ad spoke of how the children saw the man and asked him if this was how he wanted his children to see him: as being always angry or a man who when he thought of it loved his children. The next shot showed the man again getting out of his car and waving to the children in the window but they were waving at him as they moved towards the door. As he opened the door witnessed the man picking up the children and he was laughing (and I’d say loving) his children who were clambering to hug his legs and waiting to be picked up and hugged.
I think of the beautiful little Oblate cross that I received when I made my first commitment/vow and which I wear every day. So much more than a piece of jewelry: I find myself touching it during the day, sometimes picking it up and kissing it and never forgetting it is an “Oblate” cross, distinctive and easily recognized. How am I seen and recognized by others?