Special Oblate Anniversary at QHP
It is Day Six of this very new era at the house of prayer marked by self-isolation and so much more. Perhaps not unexpectedly, yet with surprising intensity, these days are – and promise to become even more so – a paradoxical blend both of deepening solitude, and widening of community. That also includes being more one with the landscape where we have been for nearly 25 years, and yet, now find ourselves in a new way of being and belonging. There is more time for daily, longer walks. I find myself reclaiming, and being reclaimed by, the surrounding sacred space in which we live. Much more like it was during those early years of QHP.
This day in 1807 was Good Friday. It was on that day that the 25-year-old Eugene de Mazenod underwent a deep personal conversion while the Cross was being unveiled. Four years later he was ordained a priest, and not long after would become the founder of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate. On this day he felt as never before God’s unconditional love for him and at the same time, the deepest compassion for those most in need. This experience remained with him until his death in 1861. These “Good Friday Eyes” have been the vision of the Oblates for over 200 years.
Each year supporters, associates and the Oblates of Canada and throughout the world prepare for this special anniversary with nine days of prayer, beginning on March 19, the feast of St Joseph, in response to requests for healing for body, mind, spirit, faith, emotions and various losses. Today there are literally hundreds of prayer requests in our Chapel. The Novena concludes today; although there are but two of us at this mass, there are countless thousands who are part of this Eucharist.
Recently our Superior General, Father Louis Lougen, OMI, spoke to the Oblates throughout the world. He emphasized the grace of this time of COVID-19 is three-fold: solidarity, prayer and hope. Those words daily inform and best describe our experience at the house of prayer. Glenn
Your words touched something very deep in me. I wish I had known about the novena so as to have added my prayers and needs to those of the others. But not being familiar with Oblate history and practice, I was unaware. Thank you for sharing this.
ReplyDeleteGlenn, I join with the Oblates in celebration of this special day. I do some facilitation at the Oblate retreat house in St. Albert, AB (Star of the North), and my late husband and mother are buried in the small cemetery there close to the retreat house. I am also finishing a two-year program of Forest Dwelling at the Oblate School of Theology in San Antonio, Texas----so the Oblates are very much part of my community---though I did not know of this celebration....
ReplyDeleteI join in prayer.
ReplyDeleteI've been thinking of everyone at the house of prayer these days ..... I imagine this time of social distancing might be adding another layer to the practice of prayer and silence in your lives. I have been carrying the words from the poem written by Lynn Ungar with me ever since they were circulated, I believe in an email from you. The lines "Reach out your heart. Reach out your words. Reach out all the tendrils of compassion that move, invisibly, where we cannot touch" come back to me over and over again. Every day, I sit and think of people to reach my heart out too, and today all of you at the House of Prayer are held with love, prayers and intention. My dear friends, may you all keep well physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually these days.
Posted by QHP on behalf of Marg
Thank you for this initiative. What an inspired way to enable "solidarity, prayer, and hope"... Blessings!!!
ReplyDeleteA beautiful prayerful altar. Your words, Glenn and Chantelle strike deep and true.
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