{"id":2960,"date":"2016-01-04T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-01-04T03:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.eugenedemazenod.net\/?p=2960"},"modified":"2016-11-29T17:55:44","modified_gmt":"2016-11-29T15:55:44","slug":"our-bicentenary-how-can-i-prepare-to-celebrate-200-years-of-oblate-foundation-and-missionary-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eugenedemazenod.net\/?p=2960","title":{"rendered":"OUR BICENTENARY: HOW CAN I PREPARE TO CELEBRATE 200 YEARS OF OBLATE FOUNDATION AND MISSIONARY LIFE?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
GOD PREPARES THE INSTRUMENT<\/strong><\/p>\n

As we journey towards the celebration of our 200 years of existence, each day I will invite you to reflect on one step towards that event. It is not just a narrative of historical events that we want to recall, but rather the story of how God prepared Eugene de Mazenod and used him as instrument to bring about the creation of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate.<\/p>\n

It is thus God\u2019s history that we will be reflecting on \u2013 but not as uninvolved spectators. The adventure that God began through Eugene\u2019s life continues to touch and involve us today as members of the Mazenodian Family: Missionary Oblates, Lay Associates, MAMI, Partners in Mission, Oblate employees, friends of the Oblates\u2026<\/p>\n

What God did in and through Eugene, God continues to want to do today in and through us. Here I find the answer to the question: \u201cHow can I prepare to celebrate 200 years of Oblate foundation and missionary life?\u201d Simply, it is to allow God to mold us and use us as instruments to continue the saving work started through Eugene.<\/p>\n

Representatives of the Missionary Oblates will be meeting in Rome in September for an important meeting, called a General Chapter. We have a prayer in preparation for this event. I have adapted it slightly, for those who are not Oblate religious, to use during this time of celebration of our 200 years of existence. It gives us the spirit with which to approach our bicentenary:<\/p>\n

God our Father, we thank you for the gift of the charism which
\nyou have given us through St. Eugene de Mazenod.<\/p>\n

You have called us to a missionary life
\nin order to preach the Gospel to the most abandoned:
\n\u201cHe has sent me to evangelize the poor\u201d.
\n\u201cThe poor are being evangelized.\u201d<\/p>\n

At this time of celebration of the 200th anniversary of our foundation,
\nwe ask you for the grace of finding in your Son,
\nJesus Christ, the center of our life and of our mission.<\/p>\n

We hear the call to a profound
\npersonal and communal conversion.
\nHelp us to become the salt of the earth
\nand the light of the world,
\nso as to proclaim in today\u2019s world
\nthe values of your Kingdom in word and deed.<\/p>\n

We beg you, Lord, to send upon us your Spirit.
\nHelp us to be yours, inflamed with your love,
\nsparing no effort to extend your Kingdom
\nand totally committed to the good of today\u2019s poor.<\/p>\n

We ask this through the intercession
\nof Mary Immaculate, our Mother,
\nand of Saint Eugene de Mazenod.
\nAmen.<\/p>\n

 <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

GOD PREPARES THE INSTRUMENT As we journey towards the celebration of our 200 years of existence, each day I will invite you to reflect on one step towards that event. It is not just a narrative of historical events that … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2960","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-writings"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eugenedemazenod.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2960","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eugenedemazenod.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eugenedemazenod.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eugenedemazenod.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eugenedemazenod.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2960"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.eugenedemazenod.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2960\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eugenedemazenod.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2960"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eugenedemazenod.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2960"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eugenedemazenod.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2960"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}