Our mission requires that, in a radical way, we follow Jesus who was chaste and poor and who redeemed mankind by his obedience. That is why, through a gift of the Father, we choose the way of the evangelical counsels.
(Constitution 12)
From the start we need to clarify that the evangelical counsels are not just the “vows’ that religious make, but that they apply to everyone.
The invitation of Jesus to follow him means to accept his invitation to holiness. We do this, not only by living according to his commandments, but also by the counsels which are a special path to follow Jesus more closely and radically. We do this by imitating three aspects of his life: his chastity, his poverty and his obedience.
All of us are invited to live our baptism in this light according to our state of life in marriage, the single life or religious life. In the case of the Oblate brothers and priests, we bind ourselves to these counsels by making vows.
St. Francis de Sales wrote: “You may practice the counsels according to the measure of your state in life; for while not everyone is called to renounce all things, all are called to prefer God above all things” (Introduction to the Devout Life).
St Eugene de Mazenod is an excellent example of this radical choice of God which he proposed to his Oblate Family:
If we wish to achieve the same results as the Apostles and the first followers of the Gospel we must use the same means as they and, this all the more because we do not have the power to perform miracles and so we must bring back those who have gone astray by the splendor of our virtues.
Letter to M. Arbaud, 1 January 1819, EO XIII n 22.
A scary proposition – to live our life with Jesus in a “radical” way…
I have on my desktop a picture of large crucifix from the Oblate Queen of Apostles Retreat House in Mississauga, Ontario Canada. It is larger than life, this beautiful missionary crucifix, and I get to wear a smaller version around my neck every day.
Radical in how I lived under the influences of drugs and alcohol until I heard Jesus say my name and now in how I continue to give myself totally to God who is most radical.
Almost 5 months ago I awoke from being in an induced coma – I had been very sick with a brain injury and it was serious enough that I wasn’t supposed to live, or get better. God’s miracle!
I thought I’d been “on fire” before the brain injury – but now looking back that was just a murmur. There is within me no question. God loves me – and it is all much deeper and radical than before. It is so much more than emotion or feelings. God Is!
I am still the same person that I was before but now I experience and see things more deeply. I hope that people can see my virtues but if not it is okay because God does.