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.
True freedom is interior
Freedom is what makes man to be man. Freedom is what distinguishes man from the rest of visible reality—sun, moon, stars, elements, plants and animals. On the natural level, freedom is man’s greatest gift or quality. What is freedom? Freedom is the ability to choose between various goods; it means that man is not determined… Read More ›
Angels? Angels! Do they exist?
Of course. But like all phenomena, we must be cautious. Also, open. Back in 2007 one man named Scott from Rockford, Michigan told a site devoted to the miraculous, “I was reading your web site, and wanted to share this photo of a angel with my son [left]. “This picture was taken the afternoon before my son… Read More ›
Where Calumny is, There is the Devil
For the third time in as many weeks, Pope Francis has warned not to speak ill of others, and again mentioned the devil in another striking homily this morning in the chapel of the Vatican’s Santa Martha residence. Calumny, he said, is worse than sin and is the direct expression of Satan. “We are all… Read More ›
Complaining too often can distance us from Jesus
Complaining frequently can become an obsession that obscures the presence of Jesus in difficult situations, Pope Francis has said. Celebrating morning Mass earlier this week with staff members from the Domus Romana Sacerdotalis, a nearby residence and guesthouse for clergy, Pope Francis preached about the Gospel story from St Luke about the two disappointed disciples… Read More ›
When is a demon an demon?
When is something a demon and when is it something else — for example, a psychiatric effect? Or a superstition? Or the imagination (fiction)? There is “night terror” — a supposedly psychological circumstance in which people (especially youngsters) suffer such real fear during dreams that they sweat and shake uncontrollably or feel paralyzed. Just a… Read More ›
The Cross had asked the questions; the Resurrection had answered them.
The supreme instance of all history that the voice of the people is not necessarily the voice of God, was the moment when a mob passed beneath a cross,flinging at the helpless figure there upon it the blistering sneer of the ages: “He trusted in God; let him now deliver him” (Matthew 27:43). Two… Read More ›
Take up your cross and follow Me
It is not only remarkable but astonishing that all during the tortures of the scourging, crowning with thorns, and the carrying of His cross, no word of complaint or resentment fell from Our Lord’s lips, no frown was seen on His sad but holy face. Surely He was “as a sheep being led to the… Read More ›
Real love is stronger than death
The Apostles could not watch one hour with their suffering Lord. Their spirit was good, but their flesh was weak. For this reason He seemed to condone their failure to keep Him company. How like to them we often are! We find it so hard to keep our minds on our few brief prayers, to… Read More ›
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord
1. “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord…. Hosanna in the highest!” (Mk 11:9-10). These acclamations of the crowd gathered in Jerusalem for the feast of Passover accompany the entry of Christ and the Apostles into the holy city. Jesus enters Jerusalem mounted on a colt, according to the words of… Read More ›
Vision of Hell – Venerable Bede
“A certain man,” says Venerable Bede, “fell sick and died in the beginning of the night. Next morning, early, he suddenly came to life again, and sat up. He told the people what he had seen. ‘I was led,’ he said, ‘into a dark place. When I came into it, the darkness grew so thick… Read More ›