Oblate Formation 
Posts concerning Oblate and Novice formation. These include articles which are also applicable to most Christians, whether Oblate or not. Additional articles on instruction of various parts of the Rule can be found under that category.
Spiritual Combat and Your Weapons of Choice
The word of God teaches us that our life on earth is warfare and the Lord reminds us that if we have decided to follow the Lord we must be prepared for combat. The Sacrament of Confirmation strengthens the Gifts of the Holy Spirit within our souls and transforms us into “Soldiers of Christ” the… Read More ›
We must allow ourselves to be led
None of us who commit to prayer and the spiritual life enjoy those periods during which prayer, liturgy, or spiritual reading seem dry or dull. But such moments are necessary—or so it would seem—for God permits them. If something were always pleasant, we would not be sure if we loved God or merely the pleasantries. An old saying asks… Read More ›
The Return of the (Pagan) Gods
A modern historian would have to labor to get a grip on the soup of religious ideas and practices that existed in the first century at the very dawn of Christianity. Yet the modern world is reviving precisely that as it progressively detaches itself from Christianity. Those ideas and practices are inspired by evil spirits now,… Read More ›
You must have harmony inside before discerning a decison
Everyone talks about peace — “Do what gives you peace,” “Wait until you feel peace” — but what brings peace? We always hear about it: peace in the soul, in the seat of the heart. We all yearn for it. Jesus said, “My peace I give you.” It’s ours for the taking. But how do… Read More ›
Is It Time To Hunker Down?
As Ireland votes overwhelmingly for same sex marriage and the rest of the Western world, it seems, can’t wait to follow their example, is it time to throw in the towel in the cultural slugfest? As radical Islam advances giving us nightmares and as the economic “recovery” looks increasingly shaky is it time to hunker… Read More ›
The Eucharist unites us
… Saint Augustine helps us to understand the dynamics of Holy Communion when referring to a kind of vision he had, in which Jesus said to him: “I am the food of the mature: grow, then, and you shall eat me. You will not change me into yourself like bodily food; but you will be… Read More ›
Not a burden, but a grace: The indissolubility of marriage
Rome, Italy, May 27, 2015 / 06:03 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The sacrament of marriage, characterized as it is by indissolubility, is good news for the people of today, according to a Spanish priest who specializes in family and marriage issues. “The family is in crisis: divorce, models of the family contrary to the Gospel, abandoned… Read More ›
In this America. . .
[In America today], the ancient Christian teaching that the Scriptures are simultaneously divinely inspired and open to multiple interpretations has become an either/or choice instead. You’re either a rigid fundamentalist who believes that dinosaurs just missed hitching a ride on Noah’s Ark, or a self-consciously progressive believer for whom the Bible is a kind of… Read More ›
Pope Francis reminds Christians to have a festive faith
Vatican City, May 16, 2015 / 02:17 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Speaking to vowed religious, Pope Francis said Christianity must be festive. He praised the special nourishing power of a nun’s smile. “The feast is a theological category of life. And you cannot live the consecrated life without this festive dimension. It’s a party. But partying… Read More ›
Heaven will be worth it all
. . .when it seemed that wickedness had triumphed and virtue had gone down in defeat, came the sudden and ever-glorious victory in the resurrection to immortality and fadeless life and glory, to be followed shortly by the triumphal return to the heavenly kingdom and the prepared and awaiting regal seat at the right hand… Read More ›