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.
As We Enter the Season of Lent
In this Catechesis, I would like to reflect briefly upon the season of Lent which begins today with the Ash Wednesday Liturgy. It is a 40-day journey that will bring us to the Easter Triduum — the memorial of the Lord’s Passion, death and Resurrection, the heart of the mystery of our salvation. In the first centuries… Read More ›
Blessed are the poor in spirit…
3. The first Beatitude, our theme for the next World Youth Day, says that the poor in spirit are blessed for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. At a time when so many people are suffering as a result of the financial crisis, it might seem strange to link poverty and happiness. How can we… Read More ›
A Valentine’s Day Story
CNA: Who doesn’t enjoy a good love story? In honor of St. Valentine I’d like to share a story about love —natural, instinctive, humble love. One Saturday morning as I was huffin’ and puffin’ through a workout at the rec. center, I noticed a man in his 50s helping another man, who appeared to be… Read More ›
God’s Holiness Makes Us Uncomfortable
There is a third human reaction to God’s holiness. It is an evil reaction; it rises from man’s contradictory nature and consists of a feeling of discomfort, irritation, and rebelliousness. A strange manifestation! One is inclined to ask how this can come about if God is the moving Spirit and essence of the universe, and… Read More ›
Satan, Sin, and Sociology
In his first homily, given on March 14th, Pope Francis cautioned the faithful that “he who does not pray to the Lord, prays to the devil.” “When we do not profess Jesus Christ,” he further insisted, “we profess the worldliness of the devil, a demonic worldliness.” Since that day, he has spoken often of the… Read More ›
A meditation on the mystery of time
I began our New Years Eve Late Night Mass (Which begins at 11:15 PM) with the observation that we begin this Mass in one year, and end in another. New Years Eve features the mysterious passage from one year to another. In a way I suppose it is no more mysterious than the passage from… Read More ›
St. Basil: Who is the greedy person?
The harshest form of covetousness is not even to give things perishable to those who need them. “But whom do I treat unjustly,” you say, “by keeping what is my own?” Tell me, what is your own? What did you bring into this life? From where did you receive it? It is as if someone… Read More ›
Silence guards one’s relationship with God
(Vatican Radio) Only silence guards the mystery of the journey that a person walks with God, said Pope Francis in his homily at Mass on Friday morning at the Casa Santa Marta. May the Lord, the Pope added, give us “the grace to love the silence”, which needs to be guarded from all publicity. In… Read More ›
Six Simple Ways to Nudge Conversions
Some practical, foundational practices for putting the Pope’s message of evangelization into action Recently after Mass, I started chatting with two elderly women who were comparing notes on how many children they have collectively who have left the Church. Ninety-two-year-old Mary lamented that she has five daughters without faith. It got me thinking about what… Read More ›
The Spirit of Fear
Do you suffer from the spirit of fear? Most of us would say “no” — until we delved a bit deeper into our own psyches. For fear entails more than we commonly acknowledge. It is nervousness. It is anxiety. It sometimes crosses over into impatience. It involves phobias. None of the above are of God…. Read More ›