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OMI Anniversary Letter of February 17, 2024: Pilgrims Radiating our Common Charism February 16th, 2024
MISSIONARY OBLATES OF MARY IMMACULATE
The Superior General
MISSIONARY OBLATES OF MARY IMMACULATE
The Superior General
Letter of February 17, 2024
Pilgrims radiating our common charism LJCetMI
Dear Oblates and members of our charismatic family:
In two years, God willing, we will be celebrating the 200th anniversary of the pontifical approval of the Constitutions and Rules and the Congregation of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate, just after living the Jubilee of 2025. Both events will help us to continue our pilgrimage in communion as missionaries of hope. In my previous letters, listening to the appeals of the last General Chapter, I recalled our commitment to care for our common home: our Mother Earth and our charismatic family. Today I would like to renew our commitment to go on pilgrimage with the laity who share the charism to continue taking steps in the direction proposed by the Chapter and the Second Congress of Lay Oblate Associations.
“May we understand well what we are!” wrote St. Eugene de Mazenod to his companions from Rome, commenting on the pontifical approbation of the Congregation and its new name: Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate. In these 200 years of history, every Oblate, every layman and laywoman, consecrated men and women of our family, has helped us to better understand the beauty of our charism. Each one of us who live it today brings a new ray of light that radiates in the world, a new face of this marvelous polyhedron that is this charism given by the Holy Spirit to the Church and to the world to announce the Gospel of Jesus and his Kingdom to the most abandoned.
Anniversary of OMI Congregation’s Founding – January 25 January 23rd, 2017
“…The dynamic of conversion continues in our Oblate life and mission as long as we are alive! Our missionary journey is not an easy one. Jesus’ faithfulness will sustain us. The smile of Mary Immaculate, her loving gaze, is upon us and we dedicate our missionary lives to her once again so that we will be true to the Oblate charism.”
Rev. Fr. Louis Lougen, OMI
Letter of the Superior General for closing of the Oblate Triennium
Introduction
The OMI JPIC Office would like to wish blessings to all the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate on the anniversary of the order’s founding. During the Oblate Triennium, the Missionary Oblates approved the new OMI JPIC Companion in Mission. Read excerpts from the Superior General’s introduction in the document.
Superior General Message – OMI JPIC Companion in Mission
We, the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate, are committed to the ministry of Justice, Peace and the Integrity of Creation as an integral part of the mission to bring the good news to the poor. This ministry is an essential dimension of our missionary lives. The concern for justice, the commitment to be peacemakers and the care for the gift of God’s creation are signs that the Kin
gdom announced by Jesus is among us. This is especially valued by Oblates and is expressed in the Biblical motto of our Congregation: “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because He has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim deliverance to the captives and reco
very of sight to the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
It is fundamental that this OMI JPIC Companion In Mission, become a basic text for all Oblates to read, study, share and use for discerning concrete actions on behalf of justice, peace and the integrity of creation. I ask that all our Major Superiors and local Superiors familiarize themselves with this resource and use it in fostering continuing formation for the members of our communities and with the lay people associated with us. This OMI JPIC Companion in Mission, is also a document to be used in first formation so that from the beginning of their missionary journey, young Oblates will have a unified vision of JPIC within our missionary vocation to evangelize the poor and most abandoned.
Conclusion
“….We will reflect the understanding, patience and compassion of the Savior. We will always be close to the people with whom we work, taking into account their values and aspirations.”
OMI Constitution & Rules 7,8
