Fr. Grzegorz GLABAS is a young priest working in an Oblate parish in Aosta, Italy. During the summer, he accompanied some youth from his parish to a small Oblate mission in Romania.
From July 24 until August 1, a group of youth from the Maria Immacolata parish in Aosta served as volunteers in the Mission of Romania.
They already had known of the Oblate charism for a while. There are two places where the youth of Aosta have been able to witness it up close. The first is the Oblate community in the Aosta Valley; the second is the gathering of Oblate Youth that took place last year in Wroclaw, Poland. Every participant has had a personal experience with the Oblates. These experiences brought them to Maracineni in Romania where they were welcomed by the local community.
During the summer but also at other times, two Romanian priests, Damian CIMPOESU and Lucian BOSOI, organize various youth events. In the last days of July, Maracineni was the site of a gathering of French and Italian youth – two groups coming not only from different countries but also from different experiences. But all of them had a common goal, a single mission – that is, to collaborate with the priests and to live the charism of St. Eugene together.
This desire of theirs found its expression in various activities, especially in working with some children of the area, all the while living together in times of closeness, prayer and work. There were also occasions when they could learn about the culture and history of Romania.
What did they get out of this experience? What did they see and learn? They themselves point out many things, among which they mention the most frequently their joy at forming a group made up of such a great variety of person; the value of sharing with others the challenges and the pleasures of the mission; and the joy of broadening their horizons by learning new realities.
