“…take my soul into your most sacred wound, so that in this school of love, I may learn to make a return of love to God, who has given me such wondrous proofs of his love.”
As noted previously, we are redeveloping the “Prayer” section of the website so that it is more directly based in the Dehonian charism and SCJ spirituality. Each week David Schimmel, our province director of Dehonian Associates, will post reflections and prayers on this page. Be sure to check back regularly to see what has been posted, and review previous reflections and prayers under the headings on the left of the “Prayer” section (Fr. Leo John Dehon, Heart of Jesus, Oblation, Lived and Shared, Prayer, Reflection Questions).
POSTED March 21, 2014:
Anyone can be an oblate. It’s simple, really, yet at the same time very challenging. But first, what is an oblate? To the scientific mind, oblate describes the shape of a particular kind of sphere, like planet Earth. Better to ask, who is an oblate? In religious terms, this is a person who offers him- or herself to God by following a spiritual rule of life, usually that of a specific religious community. Indeed, the word oblate comes from the Latin word meaning, “to offer.”
It would be unnecessarily limiting, however, to define an oblate as an associate of a religious community. The foundation of Christian living, in its various forms, is baptism, the sacrament that calls individuals to claim their identity as members of God’s family.
The rituals of baptism—anointing with chrism, dressing in a white garment, and accepting the light of Christ—speak both of dignity and responsibility. United with Christ, a faithful Christian offers her life as a model of graced humanity. United with Christ, a committed Christian offers his life to restore a wounded humanity to its original grace.
Religious living, involving vows or promises, is one specific way, among others, to live out the baptismal commitment. Fr. Leo John Dehon, founder of the Priests of the Sacred Heart, originally named his community of men, “Oblates of the Heart of Jesus,” clearly intending that the members offer their lives as servants of God’s will.
“Our whole vocation,” Fr. Dehon wrote in the Spiritual Directory, “our purpose, our duties, our promises are found in these words: ‘Behold, I come, O God, to do your will’ (translating the Latin text of Hebrews 10:7: Ecce venio, Deus, ut faciam voluntatem tuam) and ‘Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it done to me according to your word’ (translating the Latin text of Luke 1:38: Ecce ancilla Domini, fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum).”
Throughout his writings, Fr. Dehon often used the Latin phrases Ecce venio, Ecce ancilla, or simply fiat as shorthand for expressing the essential attitude “to serve God humbly, to follow all his inspirations and his will.” Instructing the members of his religious community, he wrote, “In all circumstances, in all happenings for the future and for the present, the Ecce venio suffices, provided it is in the mind and heart at the same time that it is on the lips.”
Anyone who offers him- or herself to God by listening for and living out God’s will, as revealed in the Heart of Jesus, is an oblate in the spirit of Fr. Dehon, who prays,
“May the disposition of my heart be a perpetual fiat and an unshakable peace!” Simple, yet challenging.
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“I was baptized on March 24 (1843), on which were prayed the First Vespers of the feast of the Annunciation. Later I was happy to connect the memory of my baptism with that of our Lord’s Ecce Venio. I drew forth a great confidence from this coincidence. The Ecce Venio of the Heart of Jesus has protected and blessed my entrance into the Christian life. Our Lord doubtlessly will not begrudge my seeing here a mark of Providence, considering my actual vocation of Priest-Victim of the Heart of Jesus.
“I have always had a ceremony on the anniversary of my baptism. In college, I liked to renew the promises. At Rome, the wonderful book of Exercises of St. Gertrude came into my possession and did me much good. I loved to use it, to renew in myself the graces of my baptism. On every one of my vacations, I used to make a pious pilgrimage to the sacred font of my baptism and felt an anguish of heart when the old urn was concealed by an altar and then disappeared completely.
“I was given the name of Leo Gustave. I loved my saintly patrons and for thirty years I have invoked them daily. For patrons I took St. Leo the Great, whom I consider the most powerful among the saints bearing this name, and St. Augustine, because the name of Gustave is not the name of a saint but only a derivative of Augustine. How happy I am to have such noble and great patrons, two of the greatest doctors of the Church! I hope they will later receive me as a friend; I have so often shown them marks of friendship and confidence.
“It seems to me that I received many graces from them. I read their lives with great enjoyment and edification, especially that of St. Augustine. In St. Leo I love above all, his great theological doctrine, his beautiful style, charm and dignity; in St. Augustine his penitence and his tears, which I would like to make my own, his great heart, and his ardent love for our Lord.”
Notes on the History of My Life, First Notebook, Fr. Leo John Dehon
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What is the date of your baptism? How might you celebrate the anniversary of your baptism? Whom do you consider to be your patron saint? How can she or he serve as your mentor? As a Christian, how do you try to listen to and live out God’s will?
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“Twice in the last year I have been involved in a volunteer project in Tunica, MS. The task involved renovating a home. To call this structure a “shack” was probably being generous. It was four rooms covering barely 400 square feet with holes in the roof and floors, and rotting wood throughout. I remember thinking, “no one should have to live like this.” As volunteers we murmured to each other that the project would probably be better served if we simply tore it down and started from scratch. Yet, for the family, they had lived here for decades. Their children were raised here. This was home.
“So we reinforced the roof so it would hold a new set of shingles and we put up sheet rock and siding on uneven walls that were never square. Slowly, a comfortable and safe living space emerged.
“But I knew this was only half of the miracle. The staff that led us, the tools we used and most of the materials had been made possible because of gifts from our donors. Kind hearted people throughout the country had made gifts, large and small, to help people they would never meet, to renovate a house they would never see, and to help a family they would never talk to.
“It is Sacred Heart Southern Missions, inspired by Fr. Dehon, which brings these generous people and these humble recipients together. On the drive home I remember thinking, ‘This is what it means to be Catholic. This is what it means to be Dehonian. This is the Sacred Heart alive and working in our world today’.”
Steve Koepke, Director of Development at Sacred Heart Southern Missions
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In your kindness throughout the coming week, please remember in your prayer those who are able to afford low-income housing in Walls, Tunica, and Hernando, MS, through the Housing Ministry of Sacred Heart Southern Missions, and the donors that support this ministry.
Take a moment to contemplate Mary’s wholehearted response to God’s will and then use this prayer of oblation, adapted from the prayer book of the Priests of the Sacred Heart:
