Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, faithful friends, the choice is given on this day of your solemn profession to address in a special way to my young brothers who today make their definitive commitment through vows, in the great family of the Oblate missionaries of Mary Immaculate. Through this Holy Mass, and with Mary our Mother, we raise our song of thanksgiving to the Almighty God, full of love and tenderness, who has done wonders in their lives through the gift of baptismal and religious consecration.
Besides this moment of joy and thanksgiving that unites us with them, another act of grace, that of all the children of God, goes up to Him on this day dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary. And for better living these different acts of grace, the Church our mother gave us two excerpts from the Word of God to accompany us in this moment of joy that animates us.
Before coming to you, allow me to make a detour through the word of God, which is the lamp that must enlighten the way of a good religious whom you are called to be by the wisdom you draw from her, to feed and water the children of God who will come to you, to find answers to their evils.
Indeed, the texts chosen for the occasion plunge us into the heart of the ministry of religious consecration. We heard earlier, in the first reading, the Prophet Isaiah assigns for the first time the title of « Messiah » to try to restore confidence to the people of Jerusalem who are going through a period of great discouragement. He comes to tell them the good news: « The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has conferred the anointing to proclaim the Good News to the poor, He sent me to proclaim to the captives the liberation, and to the blind the return to sight, to send the oppressed to freedom, to proclaim the year in which the Lord will manifest his favor. »
This mission of the prophet is now yours since by perpetual oblation everything is now in common between us. You are called, like all your elders, to look after the flock of God by releasing it from its various prisons: Prison of poverty with multiple faces, prison of addiction to narcotics, prison of illiteracy, prison of the lack of knowledge of the unfathomable riches of God, and I pass by... And to excel in that, you have to look « always Mary as your Mother », it is the first on the way and of which we will celebrate the Nativity tomorrow September 8.
Beloved in Christ, the excerpt from the gospel we listened to earlier is the brief reading of Matthew's text which the Church will propose to us tomorrow at the feast of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary. « Behold, the virgin shall conceive and give birth to a son, to whom shall be called Emmanuel, which is translated: ‘God with us.' » The Nativity of Mary that we will celebrate tomorrow inaugurates the economy of salvation and the inscription of the Word of God in the history of men. In the Nativity of Mary, we remember the day when the regeneration of our human nature began. Indeed, with the birth of the Virgin, the plan of salvation of the Most High came out of its preparatory phase and entered into its concrete realization. The Mother preceded the Son without whom she could not exist; The Queen was preparing the coming of the King Jesus Christ.
All the mysteries that we celebrate in the liturgy of the Nativity of the Virgin proceed and converge towards the mystery of the Redemptive Incarnation. It is therefore in the light of Jesus ' resurrected victory over sin and death that we must contemplate the nativity of her who was her mother according to the flesh.
For Duns Scott (1265-1308) – the « Subtle Doctor » later « Doctor of the Immaculate » - Mary was desired in the same and only decree by which God decided to send his Son as the Savior of the world. It is also in view of her divine motherhood that the Virgin benefited from the most perfect form of redemption, since she was not delivered from the sin contracted, but preserved from any personal sin and exempted from the consequences of original sin, « by a special grace and privilege of Almighty God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, Savior of mankind » (Pius IX, Encyclical Letter Ineffabilis Deus8 December 1854).
Then may Mary, who was born to offer the Lord a sacred home for the redemption of the world, teach you to dispose of your hearts so that Christ may be born in you and so that you may become in turn co-operators to his work of redemption.
Dear young brothers who are about to become full members, not whole members, of the great and beautiful family of the Oblate missionaries of Mary Immaculate, know one thing: the world in which we live and where we are sent as stewards of God's spiritual goods constantly solicits us. You will be constantly on the move, the danger would be great to think of yourself as social workers, you will no longer bring to the world the light of God, but your own light that is not the light that men expect. Be able to turn to God, in an interior prayer gathered, full of respect for silence and imprinted with sacrality. Do not invent anything from consecration, receive everything from God and the Church, do not seek your own glory or success, but draw wisdom from it for good discernment. Consecrated life teaches us: to be consecrated is not to do much first; But it is above all and above all to be with the Lord on the cross. Consecrated life is the place where you will meet God face to face in the Masses you will later celebrate; consecrated life is the most sublime moment when God will teach you to reproduce in you the image of his son Jesus Christ, chaste, poor and obedient, so that he may be the eldest of a multitude. It must not be neglected. Do not think that perpetual vows only give you rights to this or that, they also give you duties vis-à-vis God, the congregation and your legitimate superiors.
My brothers, be joyful Oblates, as St Paul invites us in the first letter to the Thessalonians:
« Brothers, always be joyful, pray tirelessly, give thanks at all times: this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus. Do not turn away the Spirit, do not despise prophecies, but discern the value of everything: what is good, keep it; Get away from any kind of evil. »
An unhappy and sad Oblate is not good for the Church, the congregation, its province and even its community. If you have nothing to bring us good or beautiful, then please spare us too much trouble.
May the Lord be with you!
P. Paul-Marie Mandika
Kinshasa, 07 September 2024
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