The Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate serve poor and abandoned people in the United States and 70 countries around the world.

A Triennium Reflection on Oblate Associates

OBLATE ASSOCIATES IN THE TRIENNIUM: A NEW HEART, A NEW SPIRIT, A NEW MISSION

Sandra Pratherby Sandra Prather, Provincial Animator, OMI Lacombe (Canada) Associates

I have a friend who is a potter. What always amazes me is how she is able to take ordinary lumps of clay and work them into something wonderful. Under her guiding hand, beautiful mugs, vases, bowls and dishes are bought into being. Her patience is remarkable. She works the clay, warming and softening it, shaping and reshaping it until it takes the shape she wants. Slight imperfections – an unexpected crack, a wonky side, or a misshapen handle – are patiently worked over, massaged and manipulated under they are worked in and disappear. Thus are masterpieces created! Thus also, disciples!

You will note a new logo accompanying our communiques. With the year’s theme being life-long formation, the Scriptural references are apropos: “Yet you, Lord, are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand” [Isa 64:8]. Isaiah is echoed by Jeremiah: “He said, “Can I not do with you, Israel, as this potter does?” declares the Lord. “Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, Israel” [Jer 18:6].

And so are we. The texts, combined with Articles 45-47 of the Constitutions, invite us to see on-going formation as God being the potter and we the clay. Patiently and lovingly, God shapes and forms us for God’s on-going work of creation and redemption. It happens as we allow; just as hardened clay cannot be molded, neither can hardened hearts. Our prayer this Triennium year may be to have that softened heart, open to the work of God’s hand.

Editor’s Note: If you would like more information about the activities of the Oblate Associates in the U.S., CLICK HERE to visit the Associates page on this website

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