2021 Novena for Oblate Vocations
General Administration - Rome
Photo by Rajesh Rajput
May 21-29, 2021
Every year we unite in prayer asking God for the grace to grant our family holy vocations. This year, our Oblate community at the Novitiate of Marino (Rome), thought of offering a passage from the Gospel or a text from Pope Francis to accompany us every day. We offer some of the words from the Apostolic Letter Patris Corde, in this special year dedicated to St. Joseph, looking at the carpenter of Nazareth, as well as the Protector of the Congregation, as a model of Oblate consecration.
During this time of the pandemic that continues to challenge us, this Novena seeks to be a sign of hope in a God who makes all things new, knowing that, at the foundation of every vocation, is God’s call. He never ceases to call generous young people to be a sign of hope for a world that seems to have lost it. The Superior General, Fr. Louis Lougen, OMI, reminded us that we, “were made for times like this.” Pope Pius XI called us “specialists of the most difficult missions.” It is up to us today to live our Oblate vocation to the fullest and to witness to its beauty, to pray that there will never be a shortage of missionaries in the world.
As the novitiate of the Mediterranean Province, we are very happy to contribute to this Novena because it is a way to reach all the communities related to the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate. With these sentiments of communion and gratitude, we hope that these days of prayer can be moments in which we can all live together the testament of Eugene and be “the most united family on earth”, wherever we are. United in prayer, let us always find ourselves before Jesus in the Eucharist; it is there that we can meet each day and be One.