The Oblates
Missionaries of Mary Immaculate

The Volunteers of God are a group associated with the secular institute of The Oblate Missionaries of Mary Immaculate. They are committed to living the Love of Christ everywhere in the present moment.

Since the pandemic, the participants of the Volunteers of God team of La Tuque have been prevented from meeting monthly to pursue deepen the spirituality of the 5 attitudes of life and to nourish fraternal bonds between them.

The priest, Marc Lahaie suggested that we hold a virtual meeting in December 2020. Stéphane (deacon in the making) and his wife Nicole, initiated the virtual meeting via the Teams application.

The meeting was scheduled for 7:00 pm Monday, December 14, 2020. There were 13 of us online, some with access to video (10), others who don't have a camera participated using audio.
Lise, one of the group leaders, facilitated the meeting. We were happy for the opportunity to exchange news.

Surprise! The priest, Marc Lahaie and Réjeanne, Oblate (initiator of our team 33 years ago) joined us.

Lise invited us to express our prayer intentions. Suzelle read the form of our commitment (promise) which we renewed together. Line continued with a brief description of the 5 attitudes of life which are: Presence of God, Absence of destructive criticism, Absence of unnecessary complaints, Being of service and Being a peacemaker. We renew our commitment to living this spirituality.

Réjeanne delivered a heart-warming tribute addressed to us. "Ah! If everyone lived that.” Stéphane exclaimed. The meeting lasted approximately 45 minutes. Although we were not gathered physically we felt a lot of mutual love and isn't that the main thing?

Nicole N. Volunteer of God, La Tuque team