Together we await Christ’s coming in the fullness of his justice so that God may be all in all (cf. 1 Cor 15: 28).
Growing in faith, hope and love, we commit ourselves to be a leaven of the Beatitudes at the heart of the world.
(Constitution 11)
The lives and symbolic actions of the Biblical prophets bore witness. They were men and women who interpreted situations through the eyes of God and spoke on behalf of God. The goal of their words and actions was conversion, to invite people to the liberation and salvation offered by God. Eugene saw the world through the eyes of the Crucified Savior and became the instrument of the charism given to the Church: “that those in whom he continues to suffer will know also the power of his resurrection” (C 4). It is summed up in the Preface’s injunction to lead people: “to act like reasonable persons (rendre les hommes raisonnables), first of all, and then to act like Christians, and, finally, we must help them to become saints.”
In the Preface, Eugene stressed the necessity for prophetic witness:
“Take great care about what you do and what you teach,” was Paul’s charge to Timothy, “Always do this, and thus you will save both yourself and those who listen to you” (1 Tim 4: 16).
Being witnesses of God’s mercy and divine justice is an integral part of who we are as Oblates, and our mission of being “co-operators of the Savior” is part of the prophetic mission of the Church: being witnesses to the new world born in his resurrection.
(A Companion to the OMI Constitutions and Rules – Reflections by the Oblate Charismatic Family, p. 181-182, https://www.omiworld.org/wp-content/uploads/Oblatio-Studia-14.pdf)
This morning I find myself being aware of a double grace that God feeds us with from our rising to our sleeping (and throughout our nights). Grace to live as community: a serving of humility, trust and love (the main course of our daily meal) along with a bountiful helping so that we become leaven to the beatitudes.
The first is grace that we are fed with so as to live as members of community. This is the grace that transforms and transports us as we live together no matter where we are and who we share our space with. We feed and draw our strength from and with each other. Our role in life may change over the years and still the mission is the same. The “how” of it is our being more than our doing; we must be rooted in love.
The second is grace is becoming as leaven to the Beatitudes with ALL those we meet – in our family and then outwards to those we meet on our journey through life. AI describes Leaven in Christianity that is used to describe how the Kingdom of heaven forms and permeates from within. God who never forgets even for a split second to look upon us, to hold us and fill us with God’s self. God the Master Potter forming each of us without beginning or end.
Each of us and we make and renew our oblation receive and then share these graces, with each other and all those we are sent out to.