Perpetual Oblation: “Live the Joy of the Gospel with Radicality”

Today, May 1st, 2025, in the Chapel of the General House in Rome, Scholastic Brothers YEGA Martial Moudoue (Cameroon) and IKYOHOA Bonaventure Segun (Nigeria), both members of the Province of Cameroon, made their Perpetual Oblation as Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate.

The Superior General, presided over the Eucharist and received their vows in the name of the Church and the Congregation. Here’s Fr. General’s homily:

Homily of the Superior General, Fr. Luis Ignacio ROIS ALONSO, OMI
Perpetual Vows of Martial and Bonaventure

May 1st, 2025

Dear brothers,

Today we celebrate the perpetual oblation of Martial and Bonaventure. Thank you for saying “yes” in this moment of history, a time marked by profound change. Yet even now, God turns this time into a kairos, a moment of grace—especially in this Jubilee Year, full of surprise and blessing. Just last Saturday, we celebrated the funeral of Pope Francis. That moment revealed all the tensions of our age. On one side were the political leaders—many of whom the Pope had called time and again to work for peace, to build human fraternity, and to care for creation. On the other side, following the Pope’s coffin was the suffering body of humanity: the forgotten, those on the margins—those to whom we, by a special vocation, are called to bring the Good News.

And here you are, Martial and Bonaventure, making your perpetual oblation—here and now—with hearts that surely wonder what the Lord is saying to us through all of this.

The Acts of the Apostles tells us about the risks faced by the first generation of Christians as they proclaimed the Good News of Jesus’ resurrection. Peter tells the leaders who tried to silence them that to be witnesses of the Risen One, we must obey God rather than human beings. Our Constitutions and Rules do not hide the difficulties we will encounter if we truly live out our consecration in the spirit of the Gospel—swimming against the current in a society that, in so many ways, has turned its back on the Good News. The vow of chastity confronts the selfish, individualistic, and pleasure-seeking tendencies that seem to dominate everything. The vow of poverty challenges the abuse of power and wealth that crushes the lives of the poor. The vow of obedience stands in direct opposition to the spirit of domination and violence that reigns in today’s world.

Swimming against the current for a whole lifetime—until death—will not be easy. It wasn’t easy for Jesus. It wasn’t easy for the Apostles, for Saint Eugene, or for our beatified and martyred brothers. But if we truly want to proclaim the Gospel with our lives—even before we speak a single word—if we want to make visible the new world born from the resurrection of Jesus, then we must be ready to face resistance, opposition, and maybe even persecution. And we must do it without losing our flavor or hiding our light—living as salt of the earth, light for the world, and offering our entire life in missionary oblation.

Pope Francis reminded us to live the joy of the Gospel, so we could bring it to everyone—especially to those on the margins. And so today I say to you: your perpetual profession must be Good News—for the world, for the Church, and especially the poor. It will be, if you live your total self-giving to God and to the mission with joy. How do we do this?

To live the vow of chastity as Good News means committing yourselves, by God’s grace, to perfect charity. It means giving your hearts fully to God and to others, with all your emotional depth and all the energy of your being. No compensations. No ambiguities. No double life. Your celibacy becomes a sign of hope, a sign of that fruitful covenant between Christ and the Church, a bond sealed in the cross and resurrection. It is not about loving less. It is about loving more. Loving fully, loving universally, as Jesus does. Being chaste like Jesus, so that we can announce His Kingdom with a love that excludes no one and walk together to live the Gospel.

The vow of poverty leads us into deeper communion with Christ and with the poor. And let us be clear. It is not about doing things for the poor. It is about being one with Christ and one with the poor in all that we do. There is no greater joy than being a friend of Jesus. And I say this as a missionary: there is no joy quite like when a poor person tells you that you are their friend. The vow of poverty is lived with joy when these two loves—Christ and the poor—shape a simple and poor lifestyle. This is how we announce the Kingdom with joy, a Kingdom where the poor are blessed and placed at the center. That’s why we often have to abandon comforts and get dirty in the mud that clings to the poor. We get muddy by struggling with the poor against poverty and injustice.

The vow of obedience makes our life a constant act of listening so that we may discover the will of the Father. We uncover the Father’s will by listening to each other, as our connection unites us. We depend on one another to live the mission that God entrusts to us. The Gospel teaches us that the more we serve, the freer we become. Even in our contradictions and limitations—even on the cross—we are capable of offering our lives in love. To obey in missionary oblation means serving God, the Church, our brothers, and the poor with humble and selfless love. Humble service gives rise to Gospel joy.

Dear brothers, to be like Jesus and to live like Him is both a vocation and a grace. In today’s Gospel, Jesus promises the gift of the Spirit, poured out without measure, so that we may live His life fully and become His witnesses. Our faithfulness does not depend on our own strength, which is always limited. It depends on our humble cooperation with the Spirit. And the Father, in His mercy, gives us a family and a Congregation to help us live in constant movement toward a more radical Gospel life, a fuller life, a holy life.

Our Constitutions and Rules, speaking of the vow of perseverance, tell us that the key to perseverance is helping one another to find joy in our community life and in our apostolate. Gospel joy reveals itself in fraternal charity. This means helping one another not to settle for mediocrity but to strive for the fullness of life to which Christ calls us. It also means helping one another to find joy in our mission. Joy does not mean success. Our missionary consecration is not measured by fame, results, or numbers, but by our ability to generate the holiness of life around us and to plant the joy of the Gospel in the world that has been entrusted to us.

Yes, dear Martial and Bonaventure. Profess your perpetual oblation with joy. The joy of knowing you are loved and chosen by God, like Samuel. The joy of being surrounded by a community that walks with you. Be joyful continuators of the dream of Saint Eugene de Mazenod. Add your own gift, your unique personality, to the heritage of holiness in our family.

And when the road becomes difficult, and it will, turn to our Founder and to our beatified and martyred brothers. They accompany you on the journey with their witness that nothing and no one can separate us from the love of Christ.

Give yourselves to the mission with the poor, joyfully, living the Gospel in deep communion with them. Do not be afraid. Always remember that our Mother and Patroness, the Immaculate Virgin, is the sign of God’s definitive victory over evil. Entrust your missionary journey to her. And as her sons, be holy. That is, live the joy of the Gospel with radical commitment.

If you live this way, you will be, and already are, Good News for the world, the Church, our Charismatic family, and the poor.

Thank you for letting us share this Good News with you. LJC et MI

Luis Ignacio ROIS ALONSO, OMI
Superior General

Published on the OMI World website