The Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate (OMI) has been in the Philippines for more than 80 years. They have pioneered the Church missions living among the Christians and Muslims in Mindanao especially in the areas of Cotabato, Maguindanao and Sulu and Tawi-tawi, “proclaiming the gospel to the poor and the most abandoned.”
The work and mission of the oblates are not entirely the usual and ordinary work and ministry of priests and religious. Aside from running a parish, these oblates are in the mountains living with the Indigenous peoples in Timanan, Maguindanao and Senator Ninoy Aquino, Sultan Kudarat. Some of them are in the islands of Tawi-Tawi with the minorities like badjao and sama or with the Tausugs in Jolo, Sulu. They are professors, retreat masters, engineers, doctors, activists, agriculturists, assigned in the Philippines and abroad. They are not the typical priests we know of. They are missionaries. They are oblates.
The Oblates have a regular annual retreat during the month of October. It is the time to gather as one congregation all over the country – a time for reflection, fun and learning. This year, due to the pandemic, instead of having it together in the normal way, the oblates were grouped instead by district: Manila, Kidapawan, Senator Ninoy Aquino and Cotabato. Each district composed of priests and brothers assigned in the area have their separate particular schedules for the retreat for health and security reasons.
For the Cotabato and Senator Ninoy Aquino districts, they had their joint retreat in Tamontaka, Maguindanao last October 13-17, 2020. The 4-day long celebration was packed with inspiration and reflections from Cardinal Quevedo, the former archbishop of Cotabato as the main resource speaker.
Cardinal Quevedo now resides in Tacurong City, Sultan Kudarat. As he retired in 2018 as archbishop of Cotabato, he remain active and busy with several appointments, conferences and talks to different parishes, institutions, and congregations.
During his 40th anniversary as bishop on October 16, 2020, Cardinal Quevedo presided the culmination mass of the OMI annual retreat in Tamontaka, Maguindanao. That was also the formal installation of Fr. Gerry Delos Reyes, OMI as the new OMI provincial superior as well as the jubilarians’ celebration of some OMI priests and brothers.
In his homily, Cardinal Quevedo highlighted few things about the identity of the oblates. He asked, “Who are we? What is our identity?” And then he pointed out some answers. He said that “the oblates are supposed to have a deep love and devotion to Mary Immaculate. That Oblates have to bear the name OMI.” He added that “God the father and the Son has sealed that gift through the Holy Spirit to the congregation and to the oblates, sons of St. Eugene de Mazenod.
Cardinal Quevedo also pointed out the good “leaven.” That leaven which is the gift of God should be shared in the oblate mission in parishes, to the indigenous peoples, with the Muslims and Christians. That leaven, he added, will be the mark of the oblate identity.” “As oblates, ‘the Cardinal added,’ they have to bear the name OMI as their passport to heaven. But only if they are true to the identity that they have. They are supposed to be daring in mission. They are supposed to have zeal for the salvation of souls, zeal for the proclamation of the gospel to the poor, holy and unblemished, to become saints, to think out of the box. And they bring that identity with them. The leaven they should carry is the leaven of the gift of God. To live day by day, developing that identity, not in isolation but in mission,” he continued.
The whole purpose of this annual retreat is to rejuvenate the oblates in their mission and commitment, to make them more aware of God’s grace in their lives through their work, vocation and of the lives of the people with whom they live and encounter.
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