I am an Oblate candidate. It’s nice.
I visit the abbey as often as I can, once or twice a month, once a month we have a regular meeting. Sometimes we are enlisted for little tasks and errands, over time some of the monks have come to recognize me but there isn’t much interaction between us. When we get together though, they are surpisingly talkative!
Before I encountered the Oblate program I was pretty intimidated by the whole monastic environment, now I am comfortable around it. It would be a good introduction for a young person discerning a vocation. We are not wearing any special clothes or anything like that. One is accepted on a promise, and that after an introductory period.
We read the rule every day, work the Liturgy of the Hours into our daily schedule, and try to regard everyone we meet as if they were Christ. We are supposed to extend the community into the world around us.
No different than any other fallible Christian, it’s a universal call really.
I will say the rule has a way of making one rethink about how to live the values of a Christian. The Rule turns those Christian ideals into practical everyday decisions, eventually (hopefully) we become less wasteful, more considerate, more serene etc. and more concious of our little shortcomings.
It has been over a year, I will be accepted before the end of this year, hopefully. God’s will is best!
