Third Year of the Oblate Triennium:Mission, Vow of Obedience and Evangelii Gaudium

25. MARY , STAR OF THE NEW EVANGELIZATION

SETTING:The animator of the meeting prepares an ambience where all can be seated in a comfortable circular manner to facilitate prayer and sharing. A Bible, a Missionary Rosary and a statue of Our Lady of the Smile or Immaculate Conception may be placed in the center.

MOTIV A TIO N :This is our last Triennium meeting. We place our eyes of faith on Mary as the star that enlightens us to the mission. She is the model of our obedience, as she was obedient to the will of the Father: “May it be done to me according to your word.”

SONG:

PRAYER:

THE WORD OF GOD : Lk. 1: 26-38

In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town from Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the house of David, and the virginʼs name was Mary. And coming to her, he said, “Hail, favored one! The Lord is with you.” But she was greatly troubled at what was said and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. The the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father, and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” But Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I have no relations with a man?” And the angel said to her in reply, “The holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God.

And behold, Elizabeth, your relative, has also conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month of her who was called barren; for nothing will be impossible for God.” Mary said “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her.

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TIME FOR SILENT REFLECTION : Evangeli Gaudium (287, 288)

We ask the Mother of the living Gospel to intercede that this invitation to a new phase of Evangelization will be excepted by the entire ecclesial community. Mary is the woman of faith, who lives and advances in faith, and “her exceptional pilgrimage of faith represents a constant point of reference for the Church.” Mary let herself be guided by the Holy Spirit on a journey of faith toward a destiny of service and fruitfulness. Today we look to her and ask her to help us proclaim the message of salvation to all, and to enable new disciples to become evangelizers in turn. Along this journey of evangelization we will have our moments of aridity, darkness, and even fatigue. Mary herself experienced these things during the years of Jesus’ childhood in Nazareth: “This is the beginning of the Gospel, the joyful good news. However, it is not difficult to see in that beginning a particular heaviness of heart, linked with a sort of night of faith --- to use the word of St. John of the Cross --- a kind of ʻveilʼ through which one has to draw near to the Invisible One and to live in intimacy with the mystery. And this is the way that Mary, for many years, lived in intimacy with the mystery of her Son, and went forward in her pilgrimage of her faith.”

There is a Marian “style” to the Churches work of evangelization. Whenever we look to Mary, we come to believe once again in the revolutionary nature of love and tenderness. In her we see that humility and tenderness are not virtues of the weak but of the strong, who need not to treat others poorly in order to feel important themselves. Contemplating Mary, we realize that she who praised God for “bringing down the mighty from their thrones” and “sending the rich away empty” (Lk 1: 52-53) is also the one who brings a homely warmth to our pursuit of justice. She is also the one who carefully keeps “all these things, pondering them in her heart” (Lk 2: 19) Mary is able to recognize the traces of Godʼs Spirit in events great and small. She constantly contemplates the mystery of God in our world, in human history, and in our daily lives. She is the woman of prayer and work in Nazareth, and she is also our Lady of Help, who set out from her town “with haste” (Lk 1: 39) to be of service to others. This interplay of justice and tenderness, of contemplation and concern for others, is what makes the ecclesial community look to Mary as a model of evangelization. We implore her maternal intercession that the Church may become a home for many peoples, a mother for all peoples, and that the way may be open to the birth of a new world. It is the Risen Christ who tells us, with a power that fills us with confidence and unshakeable hope: “Behold, I make all things new” (Rev 21: 5). With Mary we advance confidently toward the fulfillment of this promise...

OBL A TE TEX T :The Pope at the end of his encyclical, as is usual in these documents, has introduced us to Mary as a reference and model of faith, as a companion to the Evangelist and presents her as a model of evangelization. This is totally in tune with our missionary charism.

Constitution 10. Mary Immaculate is patroness of our Congregation. Open to the Spirit, she consecrated herself totally as lowly handmaid to the person and work of the Savior. She received

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Christ in order to share him with all the world, whose hope he is. In her, we recognize the model of the Churchʼs faith and of our own.We shall always look on her as our mother. In the joys and sorrows of our missionary life, we feel close to her who is the Mother of Mercy. Wherever our ministry takes us, we will strive to instill genuine devotion to the Immaculate Virgin who prefigures God’s final victory over all evil.

At a difficult and dark time of the emerging “society”, St. Eugene has a prayerful experience in the presence of the image, that since then we call the “Virgin of the Smile”. The Founder overwhelmed and concerned with the problems his little missionary group were confronted with, before the image of Mary he envisioned a fruitful future for the Congregation. The same peaceful day, he wrote to Tempier what he experienced.

n. 98.“The ceremony has just finished, very dear and most good brother, silence reigns in the house. It is broken only by the sound of a distant bell which announces the departure of the great procession. Satiated with the sincere tributes that we have just rendered to our good Mother, at the feet of the beautiful statue that we have installed as a souvenir of her in our church, I am letting the others take care of honoring her with the external pomp of a parade which would add nothing further to my perhaps over-demanding piety. Let this interlude be used to converse with you, dear friend, in sweet out-pouring of the heart. Would that I could share with you all that I experienced in the way of consolation on this beautiful day devoted to Mary our Queen!

I had not felt for a long time as much joy in speaking of her grandeur and in encouraging our Christians to put all their confidence in her, as during my instruction to the Sodality this morning. I can safely hope I was understood and I can well believe that all the faithful who came to our church this evening shared the fervor with which I was inspired at the sight of the statue of the Holy Virgin and greater still by the graces which she obtained from her divine Son, I dare say, while we were invoking her with so much affection, because she is our Mother. I believe I owe to her also a special experience that I felt today, I will not go so far as to say more than ever, but certainly more than usual. I cannot describe it too well because it comprised several things but all related, however, to a single object, our dear Society. It seemed to me that what I saw, what I could put my finger on was that within her lies hidden the germ of very great virtue, and that she can achieve infinite good; I found her worthy, everything pleased me about her, I cherished her rules, her statutes; her ministry seemed sublime to me, as it is indeed. I found in her bosom sure means of salvation, even infallible, such is how they looked at me (3).” Letter to Tempier, August 15, 1822. (Yenveux IV, 113) Oblate Text selection n. 98

TIME FOR SILENT REFLECTION : Sharing Our Faith:

For us itʼs been 200 years since the first group of Missionaries of Provence started.In the time our Congregation has been here, we can see all the good it has done. All the work done

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by many Missionary Oblates in many different parts of the world by taking the good news of the Gospel! We recognize that our vocation has been a way of salvation and sanctification for many brother Oblates; some already saints recognized by the Church... So, we discovered that the vision of St. Eugene has been fulfilled. But, here and now, we the Missionary Oblates of the XXI Century, our bicentennial, must continue to look ahead, kneeling at Mary’s feet, with the same look of joy and hope that our Founder experienced.

We can share the meaning of the texts we have heard and/or respond to these questions.Do you experience pleasure and joy in being an Oblate? How do you express that? Have you discovered signs of salvation that the Lord makes between, and through us, as a missionary community?Do you feel the presence and closeness of Mary in the joys and sufferings of the mission? How do you live this experience?Do you live Evangelization from the revolutionary style of tenderness and affection of Mary?

PRAYER: COMMUNITY ROSARYPray the rosary together - Joyful Mysteries. The missionary rosary is used and each decade is devoted to each one of the five continents. Before each mystery there can be a song or spontaneous prayers for the Christians and the Oblates of the continent for which we pray.

BENEDICTION AND FINAL PRAYER :Someone can give the final blessing then sing Salve ReginaAs a way of ending an invitation can be made for a festive community lunch/dinner.

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