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.
What is the Point of Suffering?
Lent is about the holiness that suffering can bring. It is about bringing good where hate has been. It is about the transformation of the base to the beautiful. But don’t be fooled: Lent is not about masochism. It is about being willing to suffer for something worth suffering for, as Jesus did, without allowing… Read More ›
Catching or Getting Caught?
As a boy I was never good at catching things, except a cold now and then. I tried to catch a pony to ride and failed. The butterfly trip was a disaster. I tried catching frogs but didn’t try too hard because I didn’t know what I would do with them once I caught them…. Read More ›
True Love
Love is the revelation of our deepest personal meaning, value, and identity. But this revelation remains impossible as long as we are the prisoner of our own egoism. I cannot find myself in myself, but only in another. My true meaning and worth are shown to me not in my estimate of myself, but in… Read More ›
And the Greatest Is Love
Saint Benedict had a sister, Scholastica, — many say his twin — who had been consecrated to God since her youth and was herself a spiritual leader. During one of their annual visits, Scholastica, inspired by the depth of their conversation, asked Benedict — by now an abbot of some renown — to remain overnight… Read More ›
Obey the Spirit not the Letter of the Law
According to Jewish Law every first-born male child of Jewish family belonged to the service of God. . . . To be sure, Our Lord and His Blessed Mother really were not obliged by those laws. Our Lord was God Himself as well as man, and, as such, needed no redemption from service to God…. Read More ›
Prayer Makes Jesus Present in the Family
… I wish to speak not to families “in the abstract” but to every particular family in every part of the world, wherever it is located and whatever the diversity and complexity of its culture and history. The love with which God “loved the world” (Jn 3:16), the love with which Christ loved each and… Read More ›
The Family – Way of the Church
… With these words I wanted first of all to evoke the many paths along which man walks, and at the same time to emphasize how deeply the Church desires to stand at his side as he follows the paths of his earthly life. The Church shares in the joys and hopes, the sorrows and… Read More ›
To See As God Sees
A brother went to see Abba Moses in his hermitage at Scetis and begged him for a word. And the old man said: “Go and sit in your cell, and your cell will teach you everything.” What is right in front of us we see least. We take the plants in the room for granted…. Read More ›
Human Life is a Trial-and-Error Reality
Most of us would be a lot happier if we were to embrace the notion that himan life is necessarily a trial-and-error reality. The goal is eternal life. That is fixed. But the ways by which we attain that goal and the objectives we pursue en route are relatively flexible. We do not operate in… Read More ›
The Source of the Human Love Between Spouses
. . . How far removed are some modern ideas from the profound understanding of masculinity and femininity found in Divine Revelation! Revelation leads us to discover in human sexuality a treasure proper to the person, who finds true fulfilment in the family but who can likewise express his profound calling in virginity and in… Read More ›