About the Order of Marian Apostles

 Western society has become increasingly secularized over the past number of decades. God has been swept to one side and is considered irrelevant and contrary to the “New Commandment of the 21st Century” - Love oneself above all else.

The Church to-day is faced with an enormous task – preaching the faith to an ever sceptical and egotistical society; a society which detests anything that might contradict it’s ‘politically correct’ values; a society in which morality and good conscience are considered relics of the past; a society in which life itself has become a commodity, to be bought and sold as whim dictates.

Despite this dark portrayal, there is an ever growing ‘spiritual thirst’ for something greater, more meaningful - answers are still being sought to the great philosophical conundrums - ‘why are we here’? ‘what is the purpose of life’? etc.

These same questions are being asked to-day as they have been asked since the dawn of time. Man is, whether or not he realizes it, a ‘spiritual being’ whose very reason for existing is to journey towards his Maker.

When He was lifted up on the Cross, Christ drew all things to Himself (Cf. John 12:32) and in making the supreme Sacrifice of Love, has enabled “a renewal in the inner life of our minds” (Eph 4:23).   Having gained victory over the powers of death and despair on the Cross, He continues to call us: “Come to me all ye who labour and are overburdened, and I will give you rest. Shoulder my yoke and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble of heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Yes, my yoke is easy and my burden light” (Matt 11:28-30).

Indeed, it is in the very moment of His redemptive love that Christ is to be found in the midst of saved and sinners, – Jesus died for all – even at the moment of His death he was betwixt good thief and bad thief (Cf. John 19:18), just as throughout His life His company was that of sinners and scoffers. “I have come, not to call the virtuous, but sinners to repentance” (Mark 2:17 & Luke 5:32).

To-day, Our Lord speaks to us yet, through His Church. That same Church, instituted by Christ and built with the blood of the Apostles, Saints and Martyrs.  And all are welcome to be a part of Christ’s Church – saint or sinner; rich or poor; black or white; young or old – in God’s eyes, all are equal, for all are equally loved and cherished.

Not only is God our Father, but He the “Father from whom all fatherhood, in heaven and on earth, takes it’s name” (Eph 3:14-15).

God’s message to us is quite clear – He loves us! Not only has he adopted us as His own children (Cf. Gal 4:5), but has made us His ‘heirs’ and ‘joint-heirs with Christ’ (Rom 8:17).

So great is that bond, that “neither death nor life…nor any power….will be able to come between us and the love of God” – that same love, made “known to us in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Cf. Rom 8:38-39).

This, then, is the message which Christs' Church preaches to the ends of the earth. It is not a message of sorrow and doom, but rather, of hope and joy – a message imbued with life and vigour. It is a sad reflection of human weakness that this message is being swallowed up in administration and stifled by organisation. The very structures put in place to protect the Faith – the “depositum Fidei” – have made the tasks of evangelizing and shepherding difficult and burdensome. Church Administration, alas, has become primary rather than incidental – The Holy Spirit was not given that we should sit at counting tables:

“It is too much that we should have to forego preaching God’s word, and bestow our care upon tables” (Acts 6:2)

Likewise, our Lord insisted that we “must go out to the street-corners, and invite all whom we find there”.

Perhaps OMA has an advantage here, with the Order’s clergy very much involved in secular society, for it is civilian work which finances this endeavour. As such, they have built up a wealth of experience in understanding the ‘needs’ and ‘desires’ associated with contemporary life. Some of those in O.M.A. were ordained prior to joining, having served in another religious Order or within a diocesan structure.

Materially, OMA strives to:

• Give alms
• Feed the hungry
• Console the dying
• Bury the dead
• Comfort the bereaved
• Care for the widow and orphan
• Clothe the naked
• Welcome the stranger

Spiritually, OMA strives to:

• Preach, teach and practise the Christian Faith
• Reach out to those cut-off from the Church
• Tend to the Spiritual needs of the Faithful
• Provide the Sacraments to those desirous of them & who are properly disposed to receive them
• Assist people in their search for Faith

THE PRIESTHOOD OF OMA

A priest is always a priest, for there is no power on earth can strip a priest of his priesthood.

“Tu es Sacerdos in aeternum, secundum ordinem Melchisedech”

“Thou art a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedech”

Psalm 109/110.

On the day of ordination, Christ, through the actions of His bishop, passes on the power to become like Him, “a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God” - Cf. Miserentissimus Deus.  For it is the duty of the priest to offer ‘gift and sacrifice’; that is, to offer to Almighty God the sacrifice of His only-begotten Son’s Body & Blood, along with himself for his own salvation and the salvation of all the faithful. Cf. St Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theol. III, 83-4

The Milieu Divin in which the Church finds herself to-day is totally different from those halcyon times of certainty. The one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church faces new demands that can no longer remain unanswered by those who bury their heads in the sand in the hope that problems will go away.

The Priest is a human being who is called to give his life in the Service of Almighty God. This call does not mean that he has to deprive himself of a life-long companion and fatherhood.  History has shown that the Fathers of the Early Church reached the state of supreme holiness as Deacons, Priests and Bishops in their Service of God within the married state. The vocation to Priesthood and Married Life are not mutually exclusive. The Church needs married priests who know what it means to be husband and father.  The Church also needs men who are genuinely called to the celibate life as Religious – indeed, how much more fruitful will the celibate state be if chosen rather than imposed.

Thus the Ordo Maria Apostolorum bears witness to and embodies the universal call to holiness.

The idea of a priesthood open to celibate and married men is not a new concept but a rebirth of a reality that bore witness to the Gospel and caused many to turn to God. The holiness of the married state and that of the family can do nothing but add good to the life of the priest.  Holiness for all has a solid basis in Sacred Scripture. In the Old Testament, for example, God said to Moses, "`Speak to the whole Israelite community and tell them: Be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy’" (Lev. 19:2). In the New Testament Our Lord Himself tells us in the Sermon on the Mount, "In a word, you must be made perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect" (Mt. 5:48).   Furthermore, St. Paul insists, "It is God’s will that you grow in holiness . . . " (1 Thes. 4:3) and "[God] wants all men to be saved and come to know the truth" (1 Tim. 2:4).

Holiness descends in the Church from God, through Christ, to the entire community of believers.  Priests have a particular duty to be holy and dedicated to the work of Christ, that is, to be as Christ is, both priest and victim.  Night and day, the priest should utter unceasingly those very words of Christ:

“I dedicate myself for their sakes, that they too may be dedicated through the truth”

(John 17:19)

Logo of the Ordo Maria Apostolorum    The logo of the Ordo Maria Apostolorum is the 'Agnus Dei' or Lamb of God, sitting on the Book of the Gospels, with the banner of the Cross arising from behind and the seven (7) seals spoken of in the Revealation of St John coming from both the Book of Revealations 5:1 and 6:1-2.    Our Motto is 'Christus Urget Nos' which translates as 'Christ Urges us {forward}' (Cf. 2 Corinthians 5:14).    The reasoning behind the symbolism is our constant belief that Christ, the Lamb of God, who conquered death on the cross empowers us to preach His Gospel, moving us ever onward towards our final goal.    The very name of the Order shows the esteem in which we hold Mary, Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ, under whose patronage we place ourselves, in the sure and certain hope that She will not fail to intercede for us and, as the wonderful hymn puts it, 'guide us on our way'.