Taken!

The most beautiful place on earth is

in the arms of the Beloved.

Let Us Cultivate Hope and the Desert Will Bloom

 Let us sow goodness and holiness, and we will see barren fields bloom. 

-Bishop William Giaquinta

Living Stones

Come out Apostolic Oblate, my beautiful friend, come to the light, where the cup is overflowing with the joy of self-giving. Come out Bethany of my dream, come to the fire stronger than death, open your Eucharistic heart to everyone, draw everyone to holiness and send many to sow hope along the city roads. This is the Lord’s invitation: we must come out from our sepulchers (our tombs), remove the stones that block our communion and resurrection. Let us come out from behind the harsh and deadly stone, that we might manifest God’s glory and others may believe. They will believe if they see our effort, our commitment, our love and good will in removing all obstacles to communion. Let us come out from our close-mindedness, so that every Bethany may continue to be for all time the “privileged place” and the life-giving place for all who yearn for life.

The passage from darkness to light demands that we remove the stones. What stones? And how? The unfastening of our hands and feet, in order to go, freed and renewed, to announce holiness to all. “We must stretch ourselves; if I said that we must burst out it might sound too strong an expression; but I say, we must expand ourselves, get larger. In this way we will find more space in our heart for joy, for meaning, and for life” (G. Giaquinta 1990).
-Giuliana Spigone, 2002)

His Promise in Full Color!

The exhortation to not fear takes us by the hand, as it were, and leads us with confidence through the familiar love of the One in whom we trust.

Indeed, when we free our spirits from fear and open our hearts to confidence, hope appears to us as a great rainbow in the sky. Not as a mere symbolic sign, but as the sure sign of a true reality – a reality truer than all the concerns that keep us anxious. It is the rainbow of hope, painted in many colors, symbol of our eagerness to walk toward the ultimate and final goal, while still pressed by the demands of our daily living. It is the luminous sign of our oblation that grows and enriches our lives with many gifts, blending into harmony the various parts of the same body – despite all our poverty and limitations.

This sign appears to us not only as a sign of hope, but also as a messenger of peace, inviting us to overcome divisions and to become witnesses of something new, something greater.
(Giuliana, Aug. 2004)

Wellspring of Joy!

It is also through joy that we will be able to fulfill our apostolic oblation and be self-offering - a permanent, as well as a daily offering, as the essence of our consecration. An offering that permeates our intelligence, as well as our heart, that inspires all our steps and gestures. An offering that lasts through time, and that expands itself so that others, too, may receive the gifts of grace, and arrive at the wellsprings of water where they can draw water in abundance....

This will give us greater hope and joy, and will enable us to give hope and courage to everyone. We will become the sowers of hope that the Lord wants us to be not only for the Institute, but also for the entire world. “Let us open wide our hearts…That is to say, let us expand our love, so that many more people, and the whole world, may enter in and be welcomed by our embrace of love. To see and to love, to love and to see! To have a practical, broad, and sincere vision of love toward all brothers and sisters, and to receive them with understanding, tolerance and collaboration” (W. Giaquinta, Homily May 1, 1989).

(Giuliana, June 25, 2003)

The Core of Our Oblation

At the core of each Oblate’s form of oblation is the Cross, for it is the greatest possible demonstration of the gratuitous, infinite live of the Father and Jesus for us. As St. Paul did, Oblates draw from the Cross the strength to live and be bearers of the love and hope of Christ through their apostolic donation, their will to participate in the immolative life of the Master, and, for the consecrated Oblates, their vows lived in their true spirit.
(Bishop Giaquinta, Sowers of Hope)

The Beautiful Face of the Institute

Realize that you do not represent only yourselves. From the moment a person has made a commitment in an Institute, she is a part of an “all.” Your actions are not only yours but your Institute’s. The person passes by and the face disappears; a veil and a gown remain. They are the veil and the gown of the Apostolic Oblate.
(Bishop Giaquinta, Suscipe Hanc Oblationem)