As living members of the Mystical Body of Christ, having been buried and raised with Jesus through Baptism, Oblates are more intimately united with Christ and His Church by their Covenant Promises: Poverty of Spirit, Purity of Body & Soul, and Penance (A Life of Ongoing Conversion).
These are the three branches of our spiritual cross, and all have their foundation in the fourth, which is Humility. Charity alone places us in perfection. But the three great means of attaining it are Poverty, Purity, and Penance, which are built upon Humility. He who possesses one and does not offend the others, possesses all. And whoever offends one, does not possess any and offends all.
POVERTY OF SPIRIT“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” – Matthew 5:3
Oblates are to love poverty and the poor, for by this love they will become truly poor themselves, since we become like to that which we love. “Has not God chosen the poor to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He has promised to those who love Him?” In the spirit of the Beatitudes, Oblates should purify their hearts from every tendency and yearning for possessions, prestige, and power, and renounce the spirit of the world. They are to live in the world and dwell in it as strangers and pilgrims on the way to their eternal home in heaven––poor yet enriching many, as having nothing yet possessing all things. “For you know the gracious act of Our Lord Jesus Christ, that for your sake He became poor although He was rich, so that by His poverty you might become rich.”
PURITY OF BODY & SOUL“Everyone who thus hopes in Him purifies himself as He is pure.” – 1 John 3:3
Oblates must consider themselves dead to sin and alive to God, for our old self was crucified with Christ. They should free themselves from all selfish inclinations and self-serving activities in order to better love and serve God and others. As Jesus gave Himself up for us, we are to offer our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is our spiritual worship. “Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart.”
The body is not meant for immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. For our bodies are members of Christ and temples of the Holy Ghost. We should live like the temple of God we are, so that it can be seen that God lives in us. Therefore, no act of ours should be unworthy of the Spirit. Do not be deceived, the unrighteous and the immoral will not inherit the kingdom of God; but blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Therefore, as He who called you is holy, be holy yourselves in all your conduct; since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”
PENANCE (A LIFE OF ONGOING CONVERSION) “Do penance: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”– Matthew 3:2
Oblates are to work to conform their thoughts and deeds to the likeness of Christ (Imitatio Christi) by means of that interior radical change which the Gospel itself calls “conversion” (penance), which is their turning to God and cooperation with grace. Not everyone who says, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he that does the will of God and who endures to the end will be saved. “For unless you do penance, you shall all likewise perish.” Human frailty makes it necessary that this conversion (penance) be carried out daily. On this narrow path to life, the sacrament of Penance (Reconciliation) and daily Acts of Contrition are the privileged signs of the God's divine merciful love and sources of sanctifying grace.
The life of penance is a continuous conversion in the Holy Ghost of charity, and its fulfillment in the love of God and neighbor. The only reality is the God who loves with abandon and mercy; a love so compassionate it transcends reason; a love we can only stand before as penitents and proclaim in absolute humility and self-sacrifice (i.e., oblation and martyrdom). This relationship of love is recognized as an invitation to communion with God, of entering the community of the Most Holy Trinity, existing by Love, through Love, and for Love. The community of the Trinity––the very life of God––is the model of charity between persons that our communitas (community of love) aspires toward––the love by which it is transformed, the love it seeks to transmit to others, and the love it works to infuse into the world.
HUMILITY“This is the one whom I approve: the lowly and afflicted man who trembles at my word.”
– Isaiah 66:2
Oblates are to clothe themselves with humility, for God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. If we wish to attain eternal salvation and to that heavenly exaltation of perfection (deification), we must understand without doubt that we ascend according the measure of our humility and we descend according to the measure of our pride, for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled and he who humbles himself will be exalted. “Truly, I say to you, unless you be converted and become as little children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.”
The spiritual life has humility for its point of departure. A spiritual man is a saint who confesses himself a sinner. Humility in the presence of God is not an act but more of a permanent attitude of awareness of the love of God and of one’s own inadequacy in responding to such love. Humility is openness to God’s love even in the face of our inadequacy to respond, secured not by our confidence in our own spiritual progress but our childlike trust in God’s divine mercy. “In sacrifice you take no delight, burnt offering from me you would refuse. My sacrifice, a contrite spirit; a humbled, contrite heart you will not spurn.”
CHARITY“But the greatest of these is charity.” – 1 Corinthians 13:13
Oblates, as imitators of God, are to walk in love, for God is love; and by this all men will know that we are His disciples, if we have love for one another. We know well that Our Lord does not look so much at the greatness of our actions, nor even at their difficulty, as at the love with which we do them. And God communicates Himself most to the soul that has progressed farthest in love. The perfection of love consists in identification and communion with the one we love. The lover renounces existence for himself in order to exist for the person he loves (theosis).
The love of God is this: that we obey His commandments. “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” On these two commandments depend all the law, the prophets, and the precepts of the Gospel. For in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.
