SONG: - OMIUSA



Third Year of the Oblate Triennium:Mission, Vow of Obedience and Evangelii Gaudium13. THE OBLATE CHARISM AT THE SERVICE OF AUTHENTICALLY FRATERNAL AND RECONCILED COMMUNITIESSETTING AND MOTIVATION:Well before the meeting, the animator distributes the subject texts to all the participants inviting them to use these for personal prayer and reflection. Read EG n’s 29, 93-101 before the meeting, not during, as motive for reflection and prayer.In this meeting is proposed the opportunity of a community celebration of the sacrament of reconciliation or penance para-liturgy. If you opt for this you must consider to adapt and enrich with necessary material. If it is not deemed appropriate to have this celebration, we can have the meeting with the usual dynamics.SONG:The animator will choose the most appropriate song. If the sacramental or para- liturgical celebration is chosen prepare the introductory rites of greeting up to the reading of the Word.THE WORD OF THE LORD: Col 3: 1-17If then you were raised with Christ, seek what is above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Think of what is above, not of what is on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ your life appears, then you too will appear with him in glory.Put to death, then, the parts of you that are earthly: immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and the greed that is idolatry. Because of these the wrath of God is coming [upon the disobedient]. By these you too once conducted yourselves, when you lived in that way. But now you must put them all away: anger, fury, malice, slander, and obscene language out of your mouths. Stop lying to one another, since you have taken off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed, for knowledge, in the image of its creator. Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all and in all.Put on then, as God?s chosen ones, holy and beloved, heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another, if one has a grievance against another; as the Lord has forgiven you, so must you also do. And over all these put on love, that is, the bond of perfection. And let the peace of Christ control your hearts, the peace into which you were also called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, as in all wisdom you teach and admonish one another, singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.OBLATE TEXT: Privately read the Preface of our Constitutions and Rules written by our Founder before the meeting.GOING DEEPER INTO THE THEME: Reflection on EG n.?s 23, 93-101Oblate Apostolic Communities: Testimony of a true BrotherhoodThere is an unresolved tension in our post-modern societies. On the one hand, the men and women of our time have a great desire to meet, to feel loved and to be recognized, in touch with others. Upon growing insecurity and competitiveness, given the flexibility and change, the desire for community, for relations, the peace and security of the group appears more intensely. There is an attempt to escape feelings of loneliness, fear, anguish in seeking acceptance in a group, more or less familiar, loving relationships, feeling part of something, wanting recognition by others. Our society has a desire for community.However, this desire quickly collides with the values of personal freedom and individual autonomy. Attempts to build strong relationships are soon fighting with the untouchable idol of individual freedom understood as the absence of ties and opening to all future possibilities. Individual assertiveness reaches a maximum power, detached from any bond that ties to others, any non-subjective ethics, including cultural and institutional legacy, remains the paradigm role in the dominant mentality, at least in the West. This is the model of a “cool” person, distant and superior, that doesn?t need others, who does not share his feelings, much less the weaknesses, and takes refuge in a non-possessive relationship casual world. The community is for the weak, not for him. The supreme rule is lack of obligations: “I don?t owe anyone anything and no one owes me; I can leave whenever I want and others are free to do so too.” The skin is shared but not the seed...the external but not from the heart. Care is taken not to engage in relationships, not to fall in, not to commit, this way one can always break away without pain.This “wanting and can?t”, this unresolved tension between the desire for community and individualism does not allow families, communities, groups, to be stable and firmly establish over time. It is not difficult to see the consequences of this drama all around us, especially in families. But, we can refer to this point and ask, how does this affect our Oblate communities? We are also the children of these times and this culture in which we live. Sometimes we think that this dominant culture and mentality is a thing of others, of those who are outside the Church, of non believers. Nevertheless, and I should say - “thank God” - this culture is also deep within us, for better or for worse.Traditional Religious life, pre-Vatican II, put the accent on the common observance, emphasizing external aspects that gave cohesion to the group with a precise way of living the Rule 762004699000and Vow of obedience that almost nullified personal autonomy. In the years following the Council, there arose a boom in the value of personal self-realization. Today we seem to have a better balance between personal and community aspects. However, as Father Louis Logan has recently advised us, the danger of individualism is extensive in our congregation. It seems that we have not yet found the key to resolve the tension. Pope Francis warns us against “spiritual worldliness” present in our Church and defines it as “seeking not the Lord?s glory but human glory and personal well-being” (EG 93). He says, “It always pains me greatly to discover how some Christian communities, and even consecrated persons, can tolerate different forms of enmity, division, calumny, defamation, vendetta, jealousy, and the desire to impose certain ideas at all costs, even to persecutions which appear as veritable witch hunts. Whom are we going to evangelize if this is the way we act?” (EG 100).Perhaps our communities are not far from the dramas of the men and women of our time? Do we presently have a sign of those times the Council spoke of but sometimes difficult to identify? Is this not an opportunity to evangelize our culture, by evangelizing ourselves?The vision of the situation of the Church and society of his time, drove St. Eugene to make an analysis in the light of faith and to seek solutions. In the face of the uninstructed and abandoned laity: popular missions and the testimony of “apostolic men”. In the presence of the mediocrity of the clergy: the formation of a chosen virtuous group that would be the yeast in the dough. Under the circumstances of disappearance of religious orders: the creation of regular and a fervent community that imitates the examples of past saints. This is the model of mission that Eugene learned at St. Surplice and successfully applied the same throughout his life: form a core group of persons who are the yeast, and so missionaries in their own environment. Faced with a dramatic tension in society and the Church today, between brotherhood nostalgia and individualistic autonomy, the Oblates can be the light and leaven of a new world, of a civilization of love.What to sociologists seems an insoluble problem, for us it is not. We have two fundamental keys in hand to overcome the tension to which we have referred: the Gospel and the charism. If we truly love God made manifest in Christ the fundamental criterion which fulfills our life, not merely a psychological desire for security, or the assertion of personal autonomy can be the last criteria in our lives. However, theoretical statements are not enough, rather it is necessary to go into the depths of our hearts to discover motivation, purify and integrate in a balanced manner all human aspects of a lifestyle that is not afraid to get stained in community relations, and surrender oneself and be conformed to Christ crucified, relying on the grace of God and action of the Holy Spirit.In speaking of pastoral agents, Pope Francis acknowledges that “...we need to create spaces where pastoral workers can be helped and healed, “places where faith itself in the crucified and risen Jesus is renewed, where the most profound questions and daily concerns are shared, where deeper discernment about our experiences and life itself is undertaken in the light of the Gospel,...” (EG 77). This is the intuition of St. Eugene: communities that help the missionaries fulfill a life of holiness and be leaven in the Church and in the world. If the family spirit is the hallmark of our institute, why not use this resource for our mission? The living testimony of an authentic fraternity is surely more eloquent than the many apostolic activities on which we spend much time and energy. It is worth, therefore, to invest in it. (David López, omi. Mediterranean Province)TIME FOR SILENT REFLECTION: SHARING OUR FAITH:If the sacramental or para-liturgical celebration takes place, we propose that at the timeof the homily each one?s experience can be shared. If this is not possible, the celebrant may use the following questions either in the homily or to encourage an examination of conscience.Spiritual worldliness. Is it always easy to identify in “others”: the papal court of the Church or diocese, this or that priest, other religious congregations, movements...without being cynical, arrive at ruthless decisions or gossip, what can we say of ourselves in our current situation? Reply with charity and realism.Following the proposed texts of “Joy of the Gospel” we can do an examination of conscience to discover what attitude I can change and what are my personal gifts with which I can contribute. If you want you can share some of this in the meeting.What can we do to live and propose in our environment the fraternal ideal of the Gospel?What do you see in the Oblate charism that can help the Church overcome spiritual worldliness, internal wars, etc.? Do you think the Oblate family you know (including those associated with the charism in different ways) is being the ideal yeast of unity? How can we improve?COMMITMENT:The community or the animator can propose a Community commitment that is a gesture of conversion. Choose a symbol that will be a reminder of that commitment. Have individual dialogue with the priest and receive sacramental absolution (if sacramental celebration takes place).PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING AND INTENTIONS:This thanksgiving prayer may be previously prepared by the animator or respond according to the circumstances of each community, or may be a spontaneous community prayer.Sign of peace. After this act of thanksgiving the animator invites all to share in a gesture of peace and reconciliation with all participants.FINAL PRAYER AND BLESSING: Let us pray the Prayer for the General Chapter.SONG: A song to Mary ................
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