TE DEUM That the Constitution and Rules are Alive and Well in the Congregation!

We are grateful that the Constitution and Rules are alive and well in the Congregation! Thanks to the many animation activities, publications, and shared reflections of this year, many in the Oblate Charismatic Family have been helped to rediscover the riches of this treasure, which is the living of the Gospel according to our spirit.

We are grateful that we are coming to appreciate more and more that we have a Rule of Life that helps each of us to live the Gospel in the light of the charism and spirituality given to us by God through the instrumentality of Saint Eugene and the first generation of Oblates who first committed their lived experience of our charism and spirituality to writing. For 200 years, our General Chapters have ensured that our CCRR have continued to be a response to the cry of the most abandoned, while remaining faithful to the original inspiration.

We are grateful, as we look back on this year, to see a renewed interest in our Constitutions and Rules as we journey towards the bicentenary in February. It is indeed a God-given opportunity to rediscover the power of our Book of Life.

Eugene’s words continue to ring out to us today:

“Let us hold this precious Rule in high esteem, have it always before our eyes, and even more in the heart, let us continually nourish our souls with the principles it contains, let us do nothing, say nothing, think nothing that is not in conformity with its spirit. It is only in this way that we shall be what God wants us to be and make ourselves worthy of our sublime vocation (1831).”

By Frank Santucci, OMI