The Freedom of Commitment in Community
Lately I have been reflecting on the wondrous riches of belonging to the Oblate family for some thirty years and on the paradox of how inner freedom has grown inside of commitment. Shared life with the Oblates passes before my inner vision with stunning clarity. Both the joys and the sorrows are a gift I wouldn’t trade for anything. There have been countless experiences of joyous meals, evening prayers, and Eucharists from Gareth Place in St. Albert in my earliest days of getting to know Oblates as a young woman, a single parent of twenty-six years, to dozens of Community days and lively celebrations of Oblate anniversaries through my years at Queen’s House (thank you Glen Zimmer and local community leadership for insisting on these celebrations! I can still hear Bishop Adam Exner playing the accordion with the earthy smell of his pipe tobacco emanating around him, and I recall so many more experiences of celebration, life and joy in community!).
I see too before me many grief-stricken days of so many deaths and funerals and journeyed with Oblates through the heartbreaks of seeming death all around, or of confusion and conflicts, only to realize with ever more depth and conviction, hope does spring eternal. Whatever our ‘numbers’’, whatever our ‘crises’, Christ heals, raises from the dead, and is risen in us, and we in turn do likewise for each other and others out in the far reaches of the world where we serve.
I have travelled to meetings across the country and joined with Oblates and Associates in discernment and care for the future of the community. Now, at fifty-six, I enjoy lively gatherings of Oblate Associates with Br. Anthony District. Recently, in late January eighteen or so Oblate Associates from our District gathered for our discernment retreat evening to review our commitment with the Oblates and prepare ourselves for promises we will renew on the feast of February 17th. That night we also
celebrated the 60th wedding anniversary of Joe and Helen Staszko. What a witness to have them join us on their special day; to brighten us with the light of their marriage commitment inside of Oblate commitment! I see seeds of hope for transformation and growth as we touch the hem of Christ’s garment together to heal the hemorrhage of ongoing losses we so keenly experience in community and envision new life. It is at these gatherings I witness the grace of these words by the late Thomas Keating, O.C.S.O., “The spiritual radiation of a community depends on the commitment of its members to the inward journey and to each other. To offer one another the space in which to grow as persons is an integral part of this commitment.”
Each of us needs that ebb and flow of coming together and of solitude; of community and personal time with Christ. I confess, there have been plenty of times when I wondered what I was doing living so closely to this community. My false pride and inner fears would have tempted me to run from the truth. And that truth is, you, the Oblate community of faith, like in the story of the paralytic, have lowered me down in my paralysis of fears, to Christ for liberation. You encourage, critique, affirm, hold me accountable, lift me up, and give me the space I have needed throughout the years to stand clear-eyed and free before others to witness to God’s glory, grace and mercy. I have gone on the inner journey with you, personally and in community, leading me out fresh every day to love the world wherever I am or choose to be, to stand calm in Christ amidst the storms and uncertainties of life, and to trust in resurrection life available every day. Who would’ve guessed all those years ago that commitment is so liberating!
On days of doubt and confusion, (declining in number as years flow) I hear the echo of St. Eugene guiding us on to “charity, charity, charity”. I see the tender, strong presence of Oblates past and present, lay and vowed, men and women, demonstrating “…forgiveness of everything and everyone and the service of others in their needs” as they strive to follow the Way, “love one another as I have loved you.”
Happy Feast of the Approbation of the Congregation. May we all be graced to re-live with gratitude our life of freedom in community.
By Lucie Leduc – Provincial Associate
