From: John Brooks
Columbus
As Benedictine Oblates, when we made our final Obligation in the Archabbey church, we made three promises before the Archabbot, all the Saints, all the assembled and God, stability of heart, fidelity to the spirit of the monastic life and obedience to the will of God. Each of us, while forming in our mother’s womb, receive from God, our creator, an ember from his heart that ignites a fire to light our way on our journey of life.
We begin our journey as our lungs fill with the precious air of life and we take our first breath and cry to the world announcing we have arrived as a child of God to do his work, welcomed into God’s family by our baptism, our hearts filled with God’s unconditional love, understanding, forgiveness and compassion.
We are called to transcend the world’s way and journey to reignite the fire in the hearts of those whose hearts have become cold, dark and distant. The light from the fire of our hearts, fed by acts of kindness, caring, understanding, forgiveness, compassion and love, guide those from the depths of despair not by pulling them up but by taking them by the hand and walking beside them towards the light of salvation, our stable hearts firmly settled on a foundation of sacrifice of self, service to others and putting others needs before our own should serve as a model for others. A beacon of light, hope and faith.
Being a beacon of light, hope and faith for me involves being an Oblate, a father, a grandfather, a friend, a coworker, a member of my local parish, a member of my local community and a volunteer. I volunteer at the local hospital, local food pantry and local homeless shelter. With a stable heart founded firmly on a foundation of love, kindness, caring, forgiveness, understanding and compassion, I engage those often overlooked, forgotten and shunned by society, a subset of human society desperately seeking acceptance, assistance and guidance in our complex dark cold self-centered world.
Becoming a stable force in a very unstable world involves more than just words. It involves being present in action and deed, standing side by side and engaging those in need with a caring kind forgiving servants heart day after day. Sometimes it is the smallest acts of kindness and caring that reap the greatest rewards — a smile of friendship, a warm handshake, a friendly face or a kind word. Showing others by our actions there is at least one person in their lives who cares about them and their journey of life. Planting the seeds of love, understanding, forgiveness and acceptance. Clearing away the weeds and noise of life to uncover the hope and faith that each of holds deep in our hearts. Opening our hearts to the possibility that the hope is real; the faith is genuine, and we are not alone on our journey — a journey out of the darkness and into the light of salvation.
