Yazha Thoni - oblate province of jaffna: omi jaffna

The Message from the Provincial
Dear brother Oblates,
Blessings and Cordial Greetings in the Risen Lord.
We are still in the Easter season walking with the
Risen Lord and being inspired by His Spirit. The
gift of this new life-experience is our Hope for
future endeavours. The disciples were invigorated
to the extent of boldly announcing the Good News,
“Jesus is Risen and We are all witnesses to it”, is
because they were convincingly and deeply rooted
in their master’s love and Spirit. This extraordinary
attachment to their master gave them power, impetus
and conviction to face any sort of antagonism created
by the Jewish leaders when they began their ministry
of Evangelization. The disciples were even happy to
be killed and accept martyrdom for the sake of their
master. Their faith should become the foundation
of our ministry of Evangelization in a fast changing
world that chooses short cuts for fascination and self
satisfaction. It is only, “in growing in faith, hope
and love, we commit ourselves to be leaven of the
Beatitudes at the heart of the World”.
We have a tendency to emphasize on the fact of the
resurrection of Christ and to downplay or minimize
the aspect of his death on the CROSS. Jesus Our
Lord and Savior yielded himself first to be nailed
to the Cross and be killed. He humbly accepted this
most ignominious death in order to save us from evil,
to purify us of our sins and to make us children of
His Father. He conquered death and the evil of the
world in His Resurrection and leaves us with the
gift of everlasting peace that the world cannot give.
He is risen from the dead and lives forever inviting
us to experience the pain of the Cross, “whoever
wishes to come after me must deny himself, take
up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wishes to
save his life will lose it, but
whoever loses his life for my
sake and that of the Gospel
will save it” (Mt:8/ 34-35).
I wish you all A Very Happy
Easter with the gift of Peace
and Happiness. May the
Risen Lord guide you and
accompany you on your missionary journey.
I am very much delighted to say that “St. Eugene
de Mazenod Day Gathering”, held on the 19th of
April at St. Patrick’s College, Jaffna, was a grand
success. The Oblates of the Province worked hard
putting their heart and soul for many days to make
this event a remarkable one. The children and
youth from our mission centers more than 1400 in
number gathered at St. Patrick’s College premises
witnessing to solidarity and brotherhood. The spirit
of our Founder whose 150th anniversary of the
heavenly birth was being concluded on this day, was
hovering everywhere making those present witness
to the day’s theme,” Ever Shining Brightly”. The
Oblates won great admiration from all those who
graced the occasion and felt proud of being closer
to the youngsters. While appreciating the efforts
and the spirit of collaboration of our Oblates, I urge
you to continuously accompany these children and
continuously commit yourselves to their integral
formation. I also thank all the Oblates who were
present on this occasion.
Priestly Ordinations
Our Oblate Deacons, Santhiogu Anthony Sebastian
Ravel OMI and Sebastian Reginald OMI will
be ordained priests at St. Sebastian’s Cathedral,
2 Yazha Thoni