The OMI ways of responding to the most urgent needs of people are attempts to enflesh the Liberating Presence of Jesus today. Many Oblates are in parishesadministering the sacraments and accompanying our people inBasic Ecclesial Communities. Others have taken to the hills to live with Manobos and Tirurays in Cotabato. Oblates help fulfill young people’s dreams through education in Notre Dame schools all over Mindanao. Some help the Church rekindle the Faith of people through devotion to our Blessed Mother at the Lourdes Shrine in Tamontaka. Others through retreats, especially for young students and professionals. And to respond more fully to the challenge of Eugene de Mazenod “to leave nothing undared” in bringing people into the saving embrace of Christ the Savior, Filipino Oblates have crossed the oceans to enflesh the presence of Jesus in Bolivia, Thailand, Argentina, Japan, Canada, and the United States.
There are nearly 5,000 OMI’s in almost 70 countries. They are present in the vast wastes of Canada, in the howling winds of the North Pole, in the hot regions of Africa, in the war-torn countries of Latin America, the impoverished countries of Asia and in the industrialized countries of Europe and America. Pope Pius XI was so impressed by the daring spirit of the OMI missionaries that he named them, “Specialists in the Most Difficult Missions of the Church.”
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