Capacity to Love

Aug 4

Oblate seminarians: Mr. Chris Allen, Mr. Will Garbe, and Mr. Matt Trovato, OSFS at the retreat.

Members of the congregation were on retreat this week. Read Fr. Joe’s explanation for hosting this.

Recently, I was speaking to a group of young men discerning a vocation with the Oblates. As I reflected on my own journey, I found myself saying, “I entered the Oblates with a solid foundation in how to love my neighbor, a gift I received from my parents. The Oblates taught me how to love God.”

Later, I shared that reflection with my brother, Michael, who is also an Oblate. He smiled and replied, "It's just the opposite for me. Our parents taught me to love God, and the Oblates taught me how to love my neighbor."

His response stayed with me. It reminded me that we all enter the Oblates from different experiences, even when we come from the same family! The experience of this religious life supports us in the two great commandments of loving God and neighbor.

Until I became Provincial, I rarely read the Oblates Constitutions from beginning to end. The Foreword to our Constitutions stunned me: "The Constitutions are a law of love for us. They explain the purpose of our Congregation and the means of attaining it... All the rules contained in the Constitutions should help us to tend to a more perfect love of God and of neighbor in imitation of Christ."

One phrase captured my heart: "...to tend to a more perfect love of God and of neighbor in imitation of Christ."

That sentence and my short conversation with Michael became the inspiration for the retreat. During our time together, we reflected on how these two great commandments have taken shape through the different seasons of our lives as Oblates.

During our time together, we did not measure how well we have loved; rather, we tried to listen for how Christ is deepening our capacity to love. Together, through prayer, conversation, the wisdom of Father Brisson, and our Constitutions, we worked and discovered that the Lord is still leading us toward "a more perfect love of God and of neighbor."

How is He leading you?