OMIWORLD

The International Roman Scholasticate Community joyfully opened the 2025–2026 academic year in a spirit of unity and gratitude.

On the evening of Saturday, October 4, the community gathered for a solemn Eucharistic celebration presided over by Fr. Luis Ignacio ROIS ALONSO, OMI, Superior General. He was joined by councilors and priests from the General House, marking the occasion with prayer and reflection.

We now share with you the homily delivered by the Superior General during this celebration.

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Homily of the Superior General:

 Becoming Another Christ in the Year of Hope

Rome, October 4th, 2025

Brothers, we are living in a time of grace, the Year of Hope. When Pope Francis announced the Jubilee, he reminded us that hope is not the last thing we cling to when everything else is gone, but the first movement of a heart that trusts. And what is this hope that never fails? It is Christ. He is our hope.

This year and next are a time of grace for the whole Church. By God’s providence, we find ourselves in Rome to live it together: the Jubilee of Hope, the two hundredth anniversary of the approval of our Constitutions and Rules, and the Jubilee of our Congregation. Out of some 3,300 Oblates around the world, only we are here for all of this in the same place and time. It is not a privilege to boast about. It is a grace to receive with humility.

Grace always carries a mission with it. The Lord gives freely and invites a response. If he has entrusted so much to us, then he is also asking for something from us. So it is right to ask, quietly and honestly, what the Lord is asking now.

Beginning this new year in Rome draws us back to the heart of our charism. Tomorrow we begin the Jubilee for Missionaries. On Sunday we begin the Jubilee for Religious. This is not a coincidence. It goes to the center of our calling. The Lord is inviting us to live our vocation with a renewed heart: to live as religious, to live as missionaries, to be rooted in Christ, and to become witnesses of hope and peace.

Two simple commitments for this year:

1) Be Christ-like for the people

To be religious is to make Christ visible, especially among the poor. We were not chosen at random. When the Risen Lord stood among the apostles, he said, “As the Father has sent me, so I send you” (Jn 20:21). We were chosen in order to be sent. Sent for what? To be Christ-like and to bring the Good News to those on the margins.

The Gospel shows how Jesus entrusted the Twelve with their first mission. It is concrete and practical. It sounds like our Constitutions because it names a way of life. He cast out demons. He healed the sick. He raised the dead. He proclaimed the Good News. That is the pattern. Rooted in him, we take up poverty, chastity, and obedience not as bare disciplines but as our way of learning to live as he lived. Poverty frees the heart to serve. Chastity opens the heart to love as Jesus loves. Obedience keeps us listening together for the will of the Father.

This is our desire: to be a living sign of Christ among the poor. It is simple to say and demanding to live. Grace makes it possible, and the Lord sustains us.

2) Proclaim the Gospel in everything

We want to become the sacrament of Christ for the poor. That is why we are in formation this year: to grow in likeness to Christ, to break bread, and to offer our lives. Religious life is not preparation for mission in some future sense. It is mission already. Constitution 5 says it clearly: everything in our life is mission. If something does not proclaim the Gospel, it does not belong in our life.

So we look at our ordinary days. Studying proclaims the Gospel when it serves the poor. Community life proclaims the Gospel when it becomes a sign of communion. Being in Rome can proclaim the Gospel when this house becomes a place of welcome, prayer, and service. Even the General House should speak Christ by the way we live, work, and receive others.

This is a beautiful opportunity. We can let our whole life pronounce the name of Jesus.

Our Founder spoke strongly to the young men he sent on mission: we must be better, not for pride or comparison, but because we are missionaries to the poor. That means studying with depth, working with diligence, and attending to the poor with love. The honor of our Congregation is not prestige. It is the gift of ourselves in service. It is preaching Christ with our lives.

Formation is already mission

Do not wait for the perfect moment to make vows or to begin. The perfect moment is the grace of today. Formation is not a pause between stages. It is part of the mission the Lord has entrusted to us. I made my vows many years ago, and I still wrestle each day to become a true proclamation of the Gospel for the poor. This is our path: steady, patient, faithful.

Conversion is daily. Oblation is daily. Mission is daily. We need prayer without hurry, discernment in community, and a listening heart that welcomes the Spirit who speaks through the Church. If we keep Christ at the center, if we let apostolic charity shape our relationships, if we allow the poor to teach us how to love, then this year will bear fruit for many.

Brothers, this is a year of grace and a double Jubilee. Let us welcome the gift and let the Lord shape us. Let each day become an act of hope. Let study, community, and service become evangelization in deed and truth.

One day someone will ask, “What did you do during your time at the International Scholasticate, in that time of grace?” May we answer simply and truthfully, “By God’s grace, I became more like Jesus Christ, a missionary for the poor.”

May Mary Immaculate keep us faithful to this call and teach us to guard the grace we have received.