OBLATES/VOCATIONS OBLATURE
For the past couple of years there was a moratorium on accepting any more Oblates. However, with the blessing of the Abbot, we have now resumed accepting those, Clergy and Lay, who wish to become Benedictine Oblates of this Canonical Orthodox Western Rite Benedictine Monastery in America. Remember that, like apostolic succession, one needs to receive one’s oblature from a Benedictine monk who is professed and connected to a monastery.
One cannot simply assume the Rule and declare oneself a Benedictine Oblate.
Part of the oblature is to support the monastery to which one is attached. First, by prayer: the Oblate is to pray regularly (from the Latin “regula”), according to the rule. This means that, in consultation with the Oblate Master, a rule of prayer, generally the Daily Office consisting of the Sevenfold Monastic or Fourfold Workman’s Office ( Matins, Noonday, Vespers, Compline) be assumed as part of the Oblation. Second, by the regular participation in Confession, at every scheduled Liturgy in your parish, the Fasts, and Intercessory Prayer. Third, an Oblate is asked to live a life worthy of his calling by doing whatever work he does as not only a way of earning money, but as a spiritual act by doing it as perfectly as possible as an offering to God. Fourth, Oblates that married and parents are enjoined to make their spouse and children visible priorities in their lives. Fifth, Benedictines respect the land and creation, don’t forget the great contributions to agriculture and animal husbandry that were made by monks . . . and the making of beer and brandy? Finally, Oblates love their monastery as it is a center of spiritual power and refreshment for them. Part of their “labora” as they cannot “tend the fields” as it were is to assist directly in the labor of the monastery. Christminster Oblates will support the monastery on a regular basis by sending a small donation ($10) on the first of every month.
Fraternally in Christ,
The Oblate Master
Christminster All Oblation checks are to be sent to:
Oblates of Christminster
P O Box 693
Putnam Valley NY 10579-0693
Preface
From time immemorial, men and women have sought to affiliate themselves with the work and prayer of monasteries. In the west, these have generally been known as Oblates, from the Latin word oblatus, meaning “the one offered.” An Oblate wishes to offer himself to God, seeking and serving God in the spirit of the ancient Rule of Saint Benedict, within the context (for an extern Oblate) of his or her secular life and occupation. An intern, or conventual, Oblate lives within the monastic community, following the Rule and observance of the monastery, but without monastic vows. In each case one becomes in a true sense a member of the monastic community, with obligations and privileges that arise from such membership.
Among the privileges of an Oblate are the following: a share in the spiritual life and good works of the Monastery; the guidance and direction of one’s Oblate Master; wearing while within the monastic community the Oblate habit and being buried in it in the monastic cemetery; a remembrance in each conventual Mass offered at the Monastery; and after death, a remembrance among those commemorated as deceased members of the monastic community.
Among the obligations assumed by an Oblate is the duty to offer spiritual and material support to the monastic family which one has joined; to observe the rule of life as established between the Oblate and the Oblate Master; to offer daily those parts of the Liturgy of the Hours as determined by one’s rule; and to follow all as set forth in these Oblate Observances. These Observances, along with the Holy Rule of Saint Benedict, comprise the rule of Oblate life.