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.
Advent with the Mother of God
If you’re like me, you find yourself, so often, at the beginning of Advent with a glassy stare and a list that’s longer than Santa’s. You’ll have shopping to do, baking to finish, wrapping and cleaning and a host of other things, all demanding your attention. And I haven’t even taken into account the day-to-day… Read More ›
Silence and the Word
Stillness is intimately related to speech and the word. The word is a thing of mystery, so volatile that it vanishes almost on the lip, yet so powerful that it decides fates and determines the meaning of existence. A frail structure shaped by fleeting sound, it yet contains the eternal: truth. Words come from within,… Read More ›
We are called to proclaim that Heaven exists
Mary is the image of the history of salvation that God has prepared for every man, the faithful mirror of what occurs every day: sown already and alive in us is the miracle of eternal life; however, our efforts have not yet been able to bring it to light. We intuit that we are made… Read More ›
Advent is here again
As is so often pointed out we often over look this season approaching because of the seculization of Christmas. Advent has been descibed as many things, a season of hope, preparation, a reminder of the end times. But how many have thought of it as a “sacrament?” But that was what St. Bernard taught as… Read More ›
The Hallelujah of Thanksgiving
Gratitude is not only the posture of praise. It is also the basic element of real belief in God. When we bow our heads in gratitude, we acknowledge that the works of God are good. We recognize that we cannot, of ourselves, save ourselves. We proclaim that our existence and all its goods come not… Read More ›
Mary lived martyrdom of the soul
The Annunciation, recounted at the beginning of St Luke’s Gospel, is a humble, hidden event – no one saw it, no one except Mary knew of it -, but at the same time it was crucial to the history of humanity. When the Virgin said her “yes” to the Angel’s announcement, Jesus was conceived and… Read More ›
How to Discern: a Guide by St. Alphonsus de Liguori
If we are truly going to discern by focusing on the Lord, whether it be what our vocation is in life or whether or not we should go on that weekend trip, there are some practical measures we can take so that His will in our lives remains clear. Our friend the great Italian 18th… Read More ›
Learn to Recognize the Dark forces that Affect Marriage
One of the areas where spiritual warfare is most prevalent is in our homes and our marriages. Here Satan attacks with ferocity. His goal: division. He creates sudden upwellings of often vicious and irrational emotions. When we realize this, it has far less chance of what it seeks: Divide and conquer is his strategy. As… Read More ›
Struggles with darkness often lead to eruption into light
It is a “dark” time of year, which means that those of Light shine all the brighter. It is like a seed. In the earth, before it bursts forth, a seed is in the darkness of surrounding ground and must reach forth and grow and endure against the darkness of soil before erupting into the… Read More ›
Feast of All Saints
3. Today’s liturgy speaks completely of holiness. But to know what is the way to holiness, we must go with the Apostles up the mount of the Beatitudes to draw near to Jesus and listen to the words of life that come from his lips. Today too he says to us again: “Blessed are the poor… Read More ›