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FREE Please Take One Obla e Connec ions Oblate Connections – No.14, 17th February 2012 On December 17th the Church beatified the 22 Oblate shared together is religious life as St. Eugene Martyrs together with their lay companion in Madrid. understood it. For Eugene, he and his men were The celebration was an occasion of great joy and an called to be co-workers with Jesus in the very same opportunity to give thanks for the heroic witness that work that Jesus undertook when he came on earth.” these men gave to our faith. In his homily, Cardinal St.Eugene understood that his vocation was to be a Amato invited us to “imitate the strength of the martyrs, preacher whose mission was “to preach Jesus Christ the strength of their faith, the immensity of their love, and Jesus Christ crucified.” This understanding was the greatness of their hope.” rooted in his own personal experience before the cross This month we celebrate on Feb 17th the anniversary on Good Friday in 1807. This was an overwhelming of the day in 1826 when the Church formally approved discovery of a God who was simply saying to him, “If I the rule of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate. Fr. Michael am here, it is because of you, it is because I love you.” Hughes reflecting on the inspiration for the foundation May these words be in our own hearts as we prepare of the Congregation wrote “What drew Eugene to the to mark the beginning of Lent on February 22nd. I pray religious life was the sense that the life of the missionary that this year’s Lenten journey will a time for us to demanded it. The model of the missionary, said Eugene, grow in appreciation of the deep love God has for must be Jesus the missionary and his Twelve Apostles each one of us personally and how we all are invited too. They lived and journeyed with Jesus on the roads to witness to that love in the present moment. of Galilee, Samaria, Judea, preaching the coming of the Kingdom of God. The life Jesus and the Twelve – Fr. Lorcán O’Reilly OMI INSIDE THIS ISSUE Thoughts on the Spirituality of St. Eugene de Mazenod ................................................ 2 The Beatification of the Martyrs in Madrid..... 4 A New Step on the Journey ....................................... 6 Planting Seeds in the Desert .................................... 8 Reflecting on the Christmas Story ....................10 Oblate Youth Service ......................................................12 Weekend Retreat and Summer Camp .........14 What’s Happening in Crewe ...................................15 Upcoming Events ..............................................................16 Thoughts on the Spirituality of St. Eugene de Mazenod What can we say about the spirituality of St. Eugene reached out to the poor of the countryside. He was de Mazenod? I share with you some of my own driven to share with them the Good News that he had reflections which come from seeing the spirituality experienced in the Cross of Jesus and desired that all of St. Eugene lived by Oblates I have known, the those neglected, abandoned and overlooked might missionaries with whom I have lived and worked. know that love. As a bishop we see the joy St. Eugene My thoughts here also come from speaking with encountered at being among the poor, receiving them Oblate Associates and listening to their experience into his palace and visiting their homes to take the of living the spirituality of St. Eugene. sacraments to the elderly and infirm. The founder of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Saint Eugene’s spirituality was lived out in his daily Immaculate had a spirituality imbued with the love of life, and his experience of God’s overwhelming love God. Eugene experienced God’s love for himself in a transformed, bit by bit, who he was and how he lived. very powerful way as he prayed before the cross on He sought to speak the local language of the people Good Friday in 1807. It was that experience of the cross because he knew they were loved by God, and ardently and the love of Jesus as Saviour that shaped the rest he strove to have them hear and know the Good News. of Eugene’s life. This moment held for the young man In confession he was very merciful and forgiving. His a fundamental insight into who God is and also a deep love for the poor soon reached beyond the Aix diocese insight about himself, into who he was. He encountered to other dioceses and then embraced the poor of other a merciful God and he experienced himself as a sinful lands as he sent missionaries to Asia, Africa and man, yet saved and loved by Jesus. North America. Throughout these years in which his heart grew to welcome into it the world, St. Eugene I believe that in St. Eugene’s experience of a merciful encountered the unconditional love of the Saviour Saviour his love for the poor – another essential both in the Eucharist and in the Word of God. dimension of our spirituality - was born. Jesus shed His blood to save us and so the human person is of Saint Eugene’s spirituality, based on the experience inestimable worth. His own missionary focus was on of God’s unconditional love for the human person, the poor and the abandoned. He reached out to impelled his missionary thrust. Oblate spirituality, always prisoners and to abandoned children. His heart grounded in the experience of being loved and saved Return to Contents Page Oblate Connections 2 “Saint Eugene’s spirituality was lived out in his daily life, and his experience of God’s overwhelming love transformed, bit by bit, who he was and how he lived.” by Jesus, is missionary spirituality and goes out to serve, people wherever we labour. We often learn better from to commit and to work. The fruits are the sign of the poor how to love Mary than they learn from us. authentic spirituality: the preaching of the Gospel and They are masters in devotion to the Mother of Mercy! the works of justice done with humility and simplicity. Pope Paul VI called St. Eugene a man passionately A strong relationship with the Church is also at the in love with Jesus Christ. Today, Oblates and Oblate heart of Oblate spirituality. Saint Eugene loved the Associates continue to live his spirituality as we seek Church because he considered the Church to be the to deepen within us the experience of God’s loving Body of Christ and because Jesus gave up His own salvation as witnessed in the Cross of Jesus. Like St. life for the Church. Eugene De Mazenod knew from Eugene, we spend time each day encountering Jesus personal experience that the Church was not perfect, in the Word and in the Eucharist. Our passion for Jesus and even when he suffered from decisions of the and for the Church impels us as missionaries to the hierarchy he continued to love the Church in its poorest and most abandoned people. We are missioned entirety without withdrawing his love from any particular under the special protection of Mary Immaculate, our portion of it. Blessed Mother. We ask St. Eugene to bless us with a life in the Spirit springing from his own passionate and Oblate spirituality, from St. Eugene’s own life, also generous heart, one that will sustain and enliven our includes a very special relationship with the Mother missionary oblation in the face of our challenges today. of Mercy, Mary Immaculate. We find in Mary a sure help in living our missionary lives in holiness, and we Saint Eugene De Mazenod, pray for us! are called by De Mazenod to bring that devotion to the - Fr Louis Lougen OMI (Oblate Superior General) Next Provincial Named Fr. Ray Warren OMI has been named as the next Provincial of the Anglo-Irish Province. Fr. Ray will take up his appointment at the Annual Assembly in Crewe in June. Fr. Ray brings a wide range of pastoral experience to his new role. For the last 4 years Fr. Ray has been based in Dublin where he has served as Vicar Provincial. Prior to this, he worked in the Kilburn Centre of Mission and was parish priest of St. Anne’s Rock Ferry on Merseyside. We take this opportunity on behalf of all the Oblate Family of wishing Fr. Ray every blessing and happiness in his new role and assure him of our support and prayers. Return to Contents Page Oblate Connections 3 The Beatification of the Martyrs in Madrid The ceremony of beatification of the Servants of God, Fr. Francisco Esteban Lacal and 21 Oblate companions, plus one layman, Cándido Castán San José, began at noon on December 17th. It took place in the Cathredral of Santa Maria la Real de la Almudena in Madrid… One had to be there at least an hour and a half or two There were more than 150 priests, and half of them hours ahead of time to get a seat. Even that was not were Oblates. Many of them had arrived on the 16th, enough. By 10:30, most the pews were filled. Needless coming from various parts of the world. to say, later on, others would be arriving until all of the seats in the Cathedral were filled. Notable among those There were many moving moments. Of course, one attending were the families of the newly beatified: of them was when Cardinal Amato read the decree of brothers, nieces, nephews, great-nephews and nieces, Beatification from Benedict XVI. At that moment, they and even a brother and several grandchildren of the uncovered the image of the newly beatified, and their layman, Cándido Castán.