The Oblate
Missionaries of Mary Immaculate

It is strange to note that one must take care to free oneself, before being able to render service to others. Who doesn't have complexes, who can boast of being solid as rock, who isn't blocked by a few fears that are difficult to reason with? We live in a troubled world where reason contests everything and where the heart can hardly breathe.

Friendships are fragile, changes in the direction of one’s life are commonplace. Patience and tolerance are tested...

Is it not possible to find ways to calm down, to build an oasis in today's world where rest and relaxation would make it possible to aspire to a relative happiness for human beings to enjoy?

To unburden yourself of your fears, to minimize complexes, to find balance, to live to the fullest and reach fulfilment, try the following: create a true image of yourself, do not to magnify obstacles, believe in your qualities, entrust yourself to God.

Personal reflection
1. Do you have friends who believe in who you are and what you do?
2. Do you believe in your qualities? What kind of compliments do you receive from others?
3. Are there people who ask you for advice, who listen to you with interest, who say that you have changed something in them?
4. Do you tend to imitate others? What do you think of your personal independence?

Excerpt from the Collection Volunteers of God, “How to free yourself from your fears?” by Father Louis-Marie Parent, O.M.I.

Read: How to free yourself from your fears? (1)
Read: How to free yourself from your fears? (2)
Read: How to free yourself from your fears? (3)

In 1952, Father Louis-Marie Parent, O.M.I., our founder, was inspired by the Holy Spirit to found our Secular Institute, the Oblate Missionaries of Mary Immaculate. During these 70 years of existence, our Institute has done wonders through the members who devote themselves without counting all over the world for the greater glory of God and the salvation of souls. Oh yes! The Lord is good for having preserved our Institute in his love in the midst of the world for 70 years.

We give thanks and pray hoping for new vocations. We need young people to take over. For this, pray to the Lord to send us workers because they are few and the harvest is abundant. Also, we ask the Lord for more unity among us. From where he is, Father Parent sees us, he continues to love us.

At home in Haiti, it is the presence of God that made it possible to see and experience the 70th anniversary of our dear Institute.

Considering the political situation in our country, we live in faith the events that could cause us to give up to the mission that God has entrusted to us. No matter how small, our faith is not shaken, because God is always with us.

Our spiritual activities, like the annual retreat and our quarterly meetings are physically interrupted because our movements are limited. This is especially the case for our companions who are in missions in the South.

Sometimes we feel overwhelmed by the events we face. Let us give thanks to God who allows us to remain united through social networks and through the living of our spirituality. We help each other, organize and try to adapt to the situation in the country. We live in the moment.

For this, despite everything, let us make this 70th anniversary a moment of thanksgiving, of gratitude to the Lord who loves us with an unfathomable love. Thank you also to the Most Blessed Virgin Mary who never ceases to wrap us in her mantle. We hope that this 70th anniversary is for us a momentum towards a new beginning that pushes us forward despite the wind and the tide. I wish you all a happy 70th anniversary.

Marie-Bruna M. Haïti

On May 17, we invite you to keep in mind Father Louis-Marie Parent, O.M.I., who, on that memorable day in 2009, was called to the Father's house.

He was a man of faith, fervor, passion, lover of the Word of God and missionary at heart. He was as well a renowned author who left us numerous writings on spirituality and human relationships.

He gifted us with the legacy of a Gospel-based spirituality inspired by the teachings of Jesus, a spirituality referred to as the 5 attitudes of Christian life.

I cannot keep silent about the love he had for our Mother Mary, Mother of God, Mother of all. In this month of May, to pray the rosary with a recording by Father, go to the Voluntas Dei website as indicated below. Let us join him in offering the world to Mary and entreat her intercession for peace in the world.

Rosary in french. Click on the image to access the Voluntas Dei website. Together: "Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord…"

3. Believe in your qualities.

When someone pays me a compliment, when they points out one of my qualities, I feel uneasy, I don't believe them; I tend to rationalize what was said.

To believe in your qualities, you have to be natural, relaxed and calm. A walk in nature, deep relaxation can help to pacify oneself to bring one down to their most intimate and richest depths.

Let's try to look within ourselves, let's try to remember the good things that have been said about us since our adolescence. Let's make a list of all that we perceive as qualities. Analyzing my dynamism, generosity, tenderness, devotion, fidelity, self-control, is a wonderful way to give us the stimulus for living happily.

Do not be afraid, even if you think you no longer believe in God, to address a Supreme Being who alone can find an answer to all problems.

Excerpt from the Collection Volunteers of God, “How to free yourself from your fears?” by Louis-Marie Parent, O.M.I.

Read also: How to free yourself from your fears? (1)
Read also: How to free yourself from your fears? (2)

Photo: IvaCastro de Pixabay

2. Not magnifying the obstacles

Many excel at damaging themselves by fabricating obstacles in their imaginations that they easily magnify and which disrupt more positive human mechanisms.

We can give two meanings to the imagination. It produces images that are more or less clear, more or less abundant, more or less positive. It also allows inventiveness, fantasy, originality.

When an obstacle stands in our way, we must first avoid panic. Obstacles are everywhere and in all human lives. You have to live through them and make the most of them.

Let's dissect the obstacle, look at the role of the people, their involvement in the problem, study the circumstances, occupy our mind instead of letting it drift, carried away by our overexcited or rebellious imagination.

Let's use our imagination to minimize the obstacles, to bring them to size with the confidence we have in ourselves.

Thus stripped of our fears, we will continue to live optimistically and we will rediscover those marvelous impulses that enthusiasm activates.

Excerpt from the Collection Volunteers of God,
“How to free yourself from your fears?” by Louis-Marie Parent, O.M.I.

Read also: How to free yourself from your fears? (1)

Photo: JanetRDominguez de Pixabay

In this dramatic time of disastrous history that we presently hear
and see unfolding through the eyes of war, strong feelings can
overwhelm us.

Let us pray with conviction the prayer of
Father Louis-Marie Parent, O.M.I.
which centers us on the mercy of God.

Lord, you ask me to love my enemies;
without your help, I will never make it...
How do you expect me to be able to love
selfish people who think only of themselves,
the proud who crush those around them
with their self-sufficiency?

How can I be indulgent
for the well-fed in constant search of new comforts,
while crowds of marginalized
can't pull themselves out of poverty?

How do you want me to have mercy for the exploiters
who accuse the heavens for the misdeeds of the world,
as they use their strengths, their talents
to spread discouragement, insecurity and misery around them?

How do you expect me to have sympathy
for the self-centered rich who increase
their wealth on the backs of the poor?

Lord, you ask me not to reason,
to love all these people, to pray for them,
to listen to them, to look for what is best for them,
to embrace them with both arms
so that your grace reaches them.

Lord, fill me with your light,
embrace me with your warmth,
give me your heart, your eyes, your language,
your arms, your love, your forgiveness, your tenderness. Amen.

Taken from the book: “I Welcome You,” Louis-Marie Parent, O.M.I., p. 204

Photo: Bruno Germany de Pixabay

Today and every day are days of giving thanks to God for all the blessings received. This allows me to celebrate 55 years of consecrated life as an Oblate Missionary of Mary Immaculate. These years passed very quickly like a breath of the Holy Spirit. They filled me with strength, wisdom and joy to serve the Lord as if it were the first year of my secular consecration.

Our founder, Father Louis-Marie Parent, O.M.I., tells us in the Constitutions: "To consecrate oneself is to accept being a servant of the divine will, to model oneself on Christ, to act under the influence of the Spirit, to allow the Spirit to grow in oneself and to consent to diminish under the Spirit’s influence.

Consecrated life responds to a call and a voluntary acceptance, like the response of the Virgin Mary, the FIAT. So have so many missionaries who answered YES, like me, 55 years ago.
It has been truly worth my spending a lifetime in this experience of liberating love in works such as: Radio Bolivia in Oruro; the Archdiocese of Cochabamba and many others. It has been a continual blessing of growth and comfort in my personal life and in the mission entrusted to me as an Oblate.

For this reason, my response to Jesus' call is an act of gratitude and a gift of my life as a consecrated person to live the apostolic spirit, to better serve the Lord.

In the Constitutions, Father Parent speaks to us of the two facets of our spiritual physiognomy: the deep interior life of the soul and the heart of the missionary apostle. Our beautiful deep spirituality leads us "to live a very concrete spirituality centered on the charity of Christ.”

Also, my gratitude goes to the Oblate companions for these 55 years spent in their company. Each, according to her reality, has been a reference in my journey.

Thank you to my dear parents who were very loving and allowed me to follow my path to happiness.

Thanks also to my brothers and sisters and friends who crossed my path during these years.

I have no words to express further what I am experiencing interiorly right now, only a deep gratitude from the heart to everyone. May God our Father bless us always.

Martha Bustillo R., Bolivia

What do all these years of my life in the Secular Institute The Oblate Missionaries of Mary Immaculate mean?

My Christian life was lived in my home, strengthened by the formation and life in the J.D.C. My director and pastor, Monsignor Arista, introduced me to the Institute. It was a magnificent response from God to my desires for commitment, for my search for holiness, for service to others. I was able to show the Lord how much I love him by imitating the Most Blessed Virgin Mary.

I also experienced support, permanent solidarity at every moment of my life, whether sad or happy; I have experienced affection and great and true friendships.

I have experienced growth and maturity in faith as well as in my whole personal development. For this, I try to give the best of myself to the Institute in the responsibilities entrusted to me.

The spirit and teaching of our founder was very inspiring to me because Father Parent
allowed himself to be guided by the Holy Spirit.

I offer to the Lord a song of thanks giving, pleasant and joyful, for all these years of
grace and faithfulness of the Lord towards me.

Ana A., Chile

During the 1970s, I obtained a degree in Modern Languages/Translation from the University of Quebec in Trois-Rivières. One day, on returning from vacation, I arrive in class to find my East Indian professor already there. I show him my arm and said, “Look at my nice tan." He put his arm next to mine and said, “I'm more tanned than you are; my tan is 2,000 years old.” I laughed, but I also thought about it: his millennial tan was beautiful and brought to life the history of all the generations that had preceded him.

In 1990, I set up a refugee outreach committee in my parish in Ottawa to support newcomers arriving to Canada. During this experience, I got to known people from Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Mexico, Colombia and more, all tanned and beautiful. Also, Blacks from Africa, even more tanned and as beautiful.

Thanks to the formation in respect for others that I received as an Oblate in the Institute, and the insight gleaned from my Indian professor, it is easy for me to see these people, whether born in Canada or elsewhere, as sisters and brothers, beautiful and lovable, and with respect for all that they have to teach me about life.

The synodal process, which is deeply relevant to us all, invites us to reach out to each other and to walk together as sisters and brothers. A saying of an American New Age guru comes to mind: Together we walk each other home; it expresses well the orientation Pope Francis wants to implant in the whole Church from the grassroots up.

May the Lord bless us and may the Holy Spirit accompany us on our journey towards solidarity and synodality where no one, without exception, is forgotten.

Louise Lalonde

photo: Ralphs_Fotos de Pixabay