The journey towards the celebration of our 200 years of
existence was indeed successful after a series of committee meetings to plan
the event. The grace of the Lord indeed was upon us. The anniversary is not
just a historical event that needs to be recalled, but rather the story of how
God prepared Eugene De Mazenod and used him as an instrument to bring about the
creation of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate whose number is now at
almost 4,000 worldwide.
The
anniversary Mass took place at Mary Immaculate Parish with Archbishop Julio
Murat, Apostolic Nuncio to Zambia and Malawi, as the Presider. The homilist was
the Oblate Superior General, Fr. Louis LOUGEN. He pointed out in his homily
that the 200th anniversary
celebration was an achievement of God’s grace. He said Oblates need to unite
and support each other in order to continue their mission of serving the poor.
“Together we will study God’s words and help each other to be holy. By being
united, we will reach to the poor, such as the prisoners”.
He said celebrating the 200th anniversary during the
Jubilee Year of Mercy was a great thing, because St. Eugene De Mazenod met
mercy at the cross of Jesus, had passion for Him, the Church, and the poor.
“When he was going to the prisons, he celebrated mass, had compassion for
prisoners, and gave them Holy Communion. Many people did not like it at the
time, because they believed that God was a God of vengeance and that for one to
receive Holy Communion, they needed to confess several times”.
As Oblates, we are thankful to God for the 200
years of existence; we have not come here to blow our own trumpet about how we
have served in difficult missions and many other wonderful things we have done
for the Church. We could say many things about that, but we want to thank God.
Let’s continue today to praise God for his amazing grace and for Eugene de
Mazenod, the Missionary of Mercy. (By Nella Mukalenge)
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