Oblate Vocations Blog

Be Not Afraid

FrKenThorson — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 03:50:01 +0000

A friend of mine went into surgery yesterday. She has to wait six weeks for the biopsy results which will indicate whether or not she has cancer. She is afraid.
My niece is graduating from university next month. She has several job offers, one which involves her moving to another province. She is afraid she’ll make the wrong choice.
A friend confides that she and her boyfriend have started to talk about getting married. They both are fearful of the commitment it involves.
Fear: there are so many things we are afraid of: illness, accidents, commitments. The unknown future can be quite frightening. Instinctively almost, facing uncertainty, that’s when lots of people turn to religion.
Our hope is that ‘the gods’, if we appease them, might protect us. Prayer becomes a solicitation for safety; religion a matter of currying favor from the gods.
It is in fact the promise of false religion. False religion says to us, “Fear not, trust in God and God will see that none of the things you fear will happen to you.”
That’s a powerful psychic pull. We want guarantees of safety. We hope that if we do all the right things, stay connected to God through prayer and good works, then nothing bad will ever happen. We even think, “If I’m sincere and committed enough, if I try hard enough, maybe I can guarantee divine protection for those I love too!”
There is so much wrong with this type of thinking. The main thing is that it is a totally mistaken understanding of religion. Just look at Jesus’ life – and the lives of the prophets, disciples and holy men and women of God throughout history!
Authentic religion is not about earning a guarantee of safe passage through this life. Loving God is not about buying God’s favor
Authentic religion in the face of fear and uncertainty says this: “Fear not, the things that you are afraid likely will happen, but they are nothing to be afraid of, because I will be with you.”
It is what Jesus, the prophets and all the saints discovered when they entrusted their fears to God: it’s not that the bad things goes away. It is that God accompanies one in and through it.
One of my favorite hymns is an old time one entitled “Be Not Afraid.” It points out that you might stand before raging waters or fire and flame, walk across burning deserts, but you needn’t be afraid. “I go before you,” God promises, “and I will give you rest.”
With such reassurance we can face the future with confidence. “I do not know the future,” the person of faith says, “but I know who holds it.” That’s the only thing that’s really going to help us truly be not afraid.
Sandy Prather

The Choice is (sometimes not so) Clear

FrKenThorson — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 19:27:57 +0000

Growing up thirty-five years ago in Saskatoon, the task of choosing a bag of potato chips was a relatively simple exercise. There were two brands: Old Dutch and Hostess; and if memory serves, there were six flavours; Regular (the worst), Ripple, Barbecue, Sour Cream and Onion, Ketchup, and of course Salt and Vinegar. With each year the variety has expanded to the point today where today Old Dutch alone offers somewhere in the neighbourhood of forty flavours of potato and tortilla chips including the unlikely Honey Dijon Vinaigrette Thick Cut!

Wheel your shopping cart down any supermarket aisle today and the choices laid out before you are immense. Tropicana, which is owned by PepsiCo, produces pulped juice in more than 20 different varieties, up from just six in 2004; it says there could be as many as 30 in the next decade.

We face this variety in choice not only in the supermarket… its everywhere we turn. Consider the internet. TV shows, movies, and music can be viewed, recorded, downloaded or streamed on all manner of screens or devices. The internet also gives us the capacity to research in great depth just about any product or service we’re considering.

In his 2003 book, Consuming Religion: Christian Faith and Practice in a Consumer Culture, Vincent Miller argues that for Christians living in a culture where there is so much choice, the real problem is not the variety of choice, but that we are constantly encouraged to choose. Consider any shopping visit you’ve ever made to Canadian Tire. After the purchase what is the last thing that happens before you leave the store? You are given a little bit of Canadian Tire money. Marketers encourage in us a never-ending desire for the next find or purchase. Miller argues further that in a culture like ours the danger lies less in the having, and more in the process of getting. He writes that, “Advertising encourages us to choose and purchase, but not to keep and use” He then makes the logical connection to our spiritual lives : ”…spiritually we are trained to seek, search, and choose, but not to follow through and commit.”

Vocational discernment as part of the Christian journey is clearly about seeking, searching and choosing; but these are not the end or the goal of the journey. The goal for the Christian is found in relationship and commitment and service (charity). We are meant to consider different ways of being in the world, and then sooner or later to commit: as a married or single person, or as a religious or priest. It’s then that the real work begins of sticking to the commitments we’ve made, of deepening our relationships, and of building up communities.

Perhaps in reading this post you’ve found a description of yourself… wanting to know God’s will, even hungering for it, but struggling for certainty; fearful that committing now will mean missing out on the right choice that may lie just around the next experience. If so, take heart in knowing that you are not alone and that you’re wrestling with a demon whose spirit permeates all our lives. Though demanding, the way forward is simple enough: ask God for a trusting heart and for wisdom as you search; gather the necessary information (this takes a fair bit of leg-work); consult wise people with experience in the Christian journey; pray regularly, and finally; make your decision and live it with confidence and joy.

Rather than close with more advice, let me conclude by offering a little prayer that you can make a part of your own discernment journey:

I have a vocation from God. If I already know what it is, I pray to be faithful. If I am still searching, I pray to hear God’s voice and to respond generously. Amen

Fr Ken Thorson OMI

Alleluia He is Risen!

FrKenThorson — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 07:02:51 +0000

Alleluia He is Risen! This is the chorus of the people on Easter Day. And for a moment we can capture the spirit of this moment. Here in Kionyo I was surprised that after almost 4 hours of the Easter Vigil the people were still singing and dancing with joy. Yet so much of their lives are in despair. There was joy in their hearts despite their living conditions and poverty. The people of Kionyo taught me something important. They taught me that the resurrection was lived fully in their worship and praise of God.
I heard an interview of a Pentecostal Preacher who converted to Catholicism. In the interview he said that if you want to see the church in its wealth go to America, if you want to see people worship God go to Africa. I think he’s right in many ways.
In Matthew’s Gospel at the opening of the Sermon on the Mount Jesus boldly declares blessed are the poor in spirit. What are we missing in North America? What are we missing that it is obvious to many people that we have forgotten how to worship? I think it is clear, we can’t recognize our own poverty. Or if we do recognize it we forget about the One to whom we should turn to.
I don’t think it is too much of a leap in logic to say that this lack of poverty, or rather the lack of recognizing God as the One who is with us in our poverty, is one of the reasons why vocations to religious life are so low. Maybe that’s why religious take a vow of poverty, to realize that we can’t do it on our own.
I often reflect that in religious formation we often focus on psychology more than spirituality. Maybe religious could take a lesson from the people of Kionyo. They have very little, but they are convinced they have God.
Another example of this was on the news here. A woman who owned a shop decided on to use her money to build a home for street children. As a religious if I wanted to do the same I would have to go through superiors, provincials, write reports, look for sponsors, and make appeals that what I was doing was in fact a good idea. But the woman from the news saw a need and acted. When she was asked as to where she would find the money to continue with her project she replied, “God will provide.” It may seem Pollyanna to some people, but the fact that for her God always did provide makes me question “why am I so scared to do what I know is right?”
I guess what I’m saying is as a religious have I traded my unreserved- trust in God with psychology and reports on cost efficient ministry?
What I love about the Easter Season is the readings from the Acts of the Apostles. For me I am planning on paying close attention to these readings to understand more fully what trust in God is all about.
Happy Easter Everyone!

Br. David MacPhee OMI

Slavery, Worship and Freedom

FrKenThorson — Sat, 07 Apr 2012 19:05:53 +0000

The book of Exodus is one of the most dramatic narratives of vocation in the whole bible. Slavery, freedom, Pharaoh, wilderness and God are the backdrop. Moses is the intermediary between pharaoh and God, between the slaves and the elders of Israel. Moses stands between wilderness and promised land. All the pressure in the story forces the issue of worship. Again and again Pharaoh refuses to let the people take leave of their work in order to go worship The Lord in the wilderness. Again and again Moses insists that The Lord requires them to go a three days journey into the wilderness to worship. Does this sound like your life?

We are all doing something but we aren’t always doing the right thing. Our world conspires to have us constantly busy: working, studying, socializing, thinking, worrying and computing. What is it that keeps us doing what we are doing to the point that we suffer and feel like slaves? Jealousy, pride or deceit? Fear, gluttony or anxiety? Resentment, lust or laziness?

Well even if we can’t name why we are slaves the path to freedom is clear: Worship. Worship in the complete sense means that we put our trust in God and shape our life so that God radiates in us and through us. This trust is acted out in the way that we devote offerings of self to God through prayer. Trust in God allows us to share more of ourselves to other people because of the growth of love within us. The most powerful freedoms come when our trust allows us to simply be loved by God in our imperfection. When faced with certain death by the soldiers of Pharaoh who pursue the slaves after their escape they are told: “The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to keep still.” Ex 14:14 Perhaps this is the core of worship: being able to be still and truly trust that whatever mess your life is in that God promises to accompany you into something better.

Vocation is addressed to trust and grows through trust. Worship strengthens trust and is an expression of trust. Moses’ trust allowed God to form a community of trust that grew through worship, wilderness and journey. Why not make a three day journey into the wilderness and give some time to God and let freedom lead you into service.

Peace, Fr. Mark Blom OMI

“At the heart of a vocation is a heart of compassion”

FrKenThorson — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 20:20:29 +0000

“When Jesus saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” [Mt 9]
‘Harassed and helpless’: the crowds in Jesus’ day were not so different than in our own. Looking at those around me, friends and neighbors, and knowing something of their lives, ‘harassed’ and ‘helpless’ are more than apt. We all carry burdens. They might concern ourselves, or those we love. They might be big in the scheme of things, or relatively small. The common element is that we feel stressed, harassed and often, helpless.
Helpless: there are so many situations in our lives where we know we can’t make a difference. Addictions, illnesses, depressions, relationship break-ups: we long to fix things, make them better, or even make them go away. But we can’t and we know it. Instead, we bear our burdens as graciously as possible. Harassed by our troubles and helpless to fix things, we are like sheep without a shepherd.
And it is here that we are invited to look as Jesus did. I am convinced that at the heart of many a vocation, perhaps, all vocations, is a heart of compassion. Like Jesus, we see the burdens others carry and are moved by them. We allow our hearts to be touched and we want to help.
I had the privilege this past week of working with the staff of a religiously run facility that offers a residence for emotionally and psychologically ill women. After 100 years of service, the facility is closing down. The thirty clients living there today will be placed elsewhere. For many of them, it has been their home for twenty or even thirty years. Some will be lucky and find excellent care facilities; others, most likely, will end up in our province’s larger mental hospitals.
The staff I worked with were housekeepers, cooks, day clerks and nurse’s aides. They were all facing the stress of having their place of employment closing. Some had already found other jobs; others faced unemployment. They were all mourning the loss of the community they had formed together as staff. Tears flowed freely as they reflected on their reality.
By far though, the majority of the tears shed were for the residents. Having cared for these women for years, their hearts were inextricably bound to them. They feared deeply about where the women would be placed and how they would be treated. They were afraid the women would not be understood and not treated with kindness. They worried that the women would feel lost and abandoned; they were afraid the women would not be loved.
For these housekeepers and cooks, day supervisors and aides, their jobs had moved beyond tasks into the realm of vocation. The looked at the ‘least of the little ones’ and their hearts were moved with compassion. They saw how the women residents were both harassed and helpless and they cared. They responded with whole hearts to the cry of the poor among them. It was a privilege to spend the afternoon with them.

A good starting place perhaps when you look at the idea of ‘vocation’, is to ask, where is my heart moved to compassion? Who do you see as the harassed and helpless around you? How do they call to you? How are you being moved to care for them. At the heart of a vocation is a heart of compassion. Do you have such a heart?
Sandy Prather HOMI

Some Definite Purpose…

FrKenThorson — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 03:01:07 +0000

St Eugene de Mazenod

There is a question that evokes “dread” in almost every vocation director I know. I don’t exaggerate when I say I’ve heard this question hundreds of times since becoming the Oblate vocation director. The question takes any number of forms, but the basic idea is this; How many candidates will you have this year? While it’s most often asked innocently and out of genuine curiosity, it can mask a disquiet that arises as one realizes that the Oblates are no longer the force we once were in the Canadian Church and wider culture, and it can be a statement of the questioner’s concern that the good ministry of the Oblates in Canada might even come to an end.

In 1841, when we were a community of only 40 priests and eight brothers in southern France, Bishop Ignace Bourget of Montreal approached our Founder, St Eugene. Bishop Bourget was looking for missionaries to preach parish missions, to minister to First Nations peoples, and to visit logging companies based deep in the Canadian bush. Given their small number it would have been understandable if St Eugene had said ‘no’, or ‘not yet’. But that was not his answer. Of the request he wrote; perhaps Montreal is the little door through which our little family will pass to win souls in many nations. He was right!

One hundred and fifty years ago we began the work that would see us established in almost every diocese in Canada. Over time we would found many of the dioceses west of Ottawa. We built schools, we went to the First Nations and Inuit peoples throughout the land, we staffed parishes and we ministered to the waves of immigrants that flooded into the young country. Canadian Oblates by the hundreds were sent overseas to preach the gospel and build up the church. In time the ranks of Canadian Oblates would swell to about 2500 brothers and priests.

St Eugene could have waited until the Oblates were more numerous, but he understood something crucial… something we tend to forget in the consumerist culture in which we live. He understood that religious and missionary life is not a numbers game. It was not then, in a time of expansion; nor is it now in this time of retraction.

When we ask the numbers questions in relation to vocations we risk falling into the trap of seeking consumerist answers to Christian questions. We can forget that quantity never has and never will determine quality or effectiveness. We can forget that every Christian journey, both the personal and the communal, involves some kind of dying. The work of building up a church from scratch necessitated that the Oblates in Canada would grow as we did; especially in a time when laity were passive recipients of the church’s ministry, rather than active partners in mission. The early growth of the Oblates in Canada was the work of the Holy Spirit, meeting the needs of the time. And while this present time of diminishment has been and still is painful, the challenge is to trust that God has some definite purpose for a smaller, less powerful Oblate community.

If you’ve come to this website curious about a life as a missionary Oblate be assured that you are not alone. There are a few daring men who are joining us; men on fire with the charism that moved St Eugene to give his yes. And remember, this is all God has ever needed: a few people who understand that life is not about numbers or power, or even success… it is about trusting that the little we have and are, offered freely to God, is enough.

Fr Ken

…whom you love…

FrKenThorson — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 04:15:07 +0000

Read for what it is worth the scripture of the binding of Isaac has got to be one of the scariest in the Bible. Beginning with the call to leave homeland, relatives and his father’s house and ending with the call to sacrifice his dearest son as a burnt offering Abraham endured ten tests of faith in realizing his vocation. The first trials are met with questions and evasions but this the last is met with silent trusting obedience. But why would God ask Abraham to sacrifice the son through whom God’s promise was predestined to be fulfilled? This is a riddle that shakes us to the core.

If God deals that way with Abraham, will God deal that way with me? What if I am asked to sacrifice what is most dear to me? There is no logical way to solve this riddle. What we need to do when we feel that we can’t bear what we called to is to practise the silence and trust of Abraham.

Don’t focus on the sacrifice. Focus on God. This story is meant to teach us that we must focus on God and put into practice the obedience of faith trusting that God is greater than our idea of God and that sometimes our fears, anger and shame are what need binding and burning up.

The following is an invitation to embody this scene in a practical way: Enter into prayer and consider what you most dread that God will call you to. In silence and in as much stillness as you can try to explore the feeling. Not with your mind but to try to feel it physically and emotionally. It will not be a pleasant feeling. Feel it anyway. You will want to get away from the feeling. Stay put and lean into the feeling you dread. As you sit the feeling will burn you, let it. Don’t run away. Let your stillness be your altar. Your discomfort is the Ram of distortion being burnt up. You are becoming the promise. Keep this practice up and you will grow in freedom and peace and you will be a blessing to the Nations.

Fr. Mark Blom OMI

Happy Leap Day

FrKenThorson — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 20:59:16 +0000

It’s ‘Leap Day’ today. I can’t help but feel the whole day is going to be a gift. After all, it’s only once in every four years that we get this ‘extra’ twenty-four hours of time. So I’m on the lookout today, more so than usual, for glimpses of grace, sacred encounters, and marvelous moments.
Yet it’s shaping up to be an ordinary day in my life. I’m at work, doing all the ‘ordinary’ things: meeting with staff, emailing, writing, a few appointments, dinner with my husband, a presentation tonight. There’s nothing spectacular planned, nothing extraordinary in the works.
Nor am I expecting the extraordinary. Glimpses of grace, sacred encounters and marvelous moments don’t require visions, locutions or ‘supernatural’ phenomena. As Sarah McLachlan sings, it’s enough to know the ordinary miracle of each and every day. Snow falling, seeds growing, rain falling, birds flying, sun rising and setting, and here I am alive to enjoy it, gifted with a day. http://youtu.be/m4j_wrmpMnU
A glimpse of grace comes in the chickadee I watch outside my office window as it hops from snow covered branch to snow covered branch, nibbling on the pine cones. A sacred encounter occurs with an unexpected visitor who shares a part of her faith journey with me. Later, there is a marvelous moment of communion when something funny happens and gathered community bursts into shared laughter.
And I have the entire day to enjoy it! What a gift! I am invited into the awareness that G. K. Chesterton knew when he wrote, “Here dies another day during which I had eyes, ears, hands and the great world around me, and tomorrow begins another. Why am I allowed two?” Even one day is a miracle. To expect another and another is simply sheer abundance.
Surrounded as I am by the sacred, aware that every moment is held in God and held by God, I am moved by gratitude. A response arises, unbidden but freely offered. “Lord, you have given me the gift of this day. What would you have me do today?” I want to fill this with God. In the glimpses of grace, the sacred encounters and the marvelous moments, I want to know what God is calling me to do, how God wants me to respond. I want to be a witness to love, a voice of compassion, a peace-maker and reconciler. I want to be a disciple. “Here I am Lord, I have come to do your will.” What better way to spend this gift of a day? Really, what better way to spend any day? It’s not that the ‘leap day’ will be any different in terms of the presence of the sacred. It’s simply that I hope to be more attuned to it.
It’s ‘leap day’ today, a ‘bonus’ day. How will you spend it?
Sandy Prather HOMI

A Big World… A Big Church

FrKenThorson — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 18:36:17 +0000

Part of what has made me the priest I am today is the variety of ministries and places in which I’ve served. For the last four years I’ve lived in Ottawa serving as vocation director for my OMI Lacombe. In this ministry I lead retreats and preach parish missions, and of course work with men (and women) discerning God’s call. In my twelve years of priesthood I’ve served in parish ministry and high school chaplaincy in Saskatoon, and was part of a four-year mission project in Birmingham, England.

I currently live with four other Oblates. Two work in youth ministry, and two work as part of a mission-preaching band. Br Dan who has worked with the Inuit in the Arctic, can transform 200 riotous teenagers into a church choir in the space of five minutes. Fr Mike is known throughout the country for his energy and innovation in youth ministry. Fr Alfred is considered one of our experts on the life and history of the Founder, and Br Louis is an artist, with both the camera and the guitar. Both the youth and mission-preaching ministries have full time lay members as team members, and these women and men bring their own gifts and experience to bear on our community life. To greater and lesser degrees all of them touch and inform my life making me the priest I am.

As an Oblate I feel a genuine connection to the work of the 4500 brothers and priests ministering in more than seventy countries around the world. Their ministry is mine and my ministry is theirs, and all of it together forms the corporate mission of the Oblates – our contribution to the larger mission of the Church. It is quite a thing when I take the time to consider it: all the people who walk with me in my priesthood and my ministry simply by virtue of the vows we’ve made and the charism we share.

Eczema and the Priesthood

FrKenThorson — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 04:17:08 +0000

I didn’t want to be a priest. But in the mid eighties I was desperate after I realized that I would not be able to work as a meat cutter because of severe eczema on my hands. I had already applied to the RCMP but since my eyesight was too weak I wasn’t eligible. So I had to move back home and think about what to do next. The year before I had experienced a major conversion in my personal faith that led me back to a deeper practice of Catholic faith and parish life. I was on fire for Jesus and the Church and wanted to get married and have a beautiful Catholic Family.

During my last week in the town where I had been working for a few years several friends from my prayer group spent an evening with me in prayer. One person spoke in a spirit of prophecy that they saw me on a hill with my arms extended in blessing. Another said they saw the Lord pouring oil on my hands anointing them for service. Someone else quoted the scripture “for this is what the Lord has said to me, “Go and post the watchman, and let him report what he sees.” Isaiah 21: 6. Remember that my conversion had me hoping on marriage and family life. What my friends were sharing in prayer felt like they were trying to corral me into the priesthood.

After experiencing many similar messages over a few months I had to ask myself this question: “If God really is calling me to priesthood won’t I be fulfilled?” That question wore down my excuses and fears. I went to a monastery for a week’s retreat and was frustrated with my director. The last night I went out for a walk on a gravel road in a windstorm. I stopped, looked up at the stars and shouted: “all right God, I will give it my best shot!!!” That summer I visited the seminary, was accepted and spent four tremendous years in a contemplative house of prayer and study. During those years I also began to see more signs that led me to believe I was called to be Missionary Oblate of Mary Immaculate.

When I look back on the initial struggle and the basic fear that held me back it was fear of loneliness. Now one of the things I treasure most in my Oblate life is solitude. Our struggles with our calling reflect in many ways what we desire most. Trust God and trust that providence will give you what you need to peer into and take hold of your deepest desires.

Peace fellow seeker. Fr. Mark Blom OMI