Good evening and welcome to all of you. Thanks for being with us. This our 7th Reunion. Hard to believe that we have been at this for some 14 years. Our first was in 2011 at this very place.
To our Reunion Committee Frank DeMilde, Ron Kotz, Ray McCracken, Pat Wright, Joe Gallen, and Tom Vadden a special thank you.

At prior reunions, I always arrived early to search the grounds for an envelope addressed to the Reunion Attendees. This year was no exception. I arrived earlier today to search the grounds .Up , Down, and around I searched. No envelope was found. So I had to draft my own remarks to you and here it goes. I titled it “Remember”.
Why do we remember the past days of our lives as Oblates? Each of you will have your own answer to this question. Let me attempt to grasp what I think your answer will include:

. Your early formation days at Childs or Battle Creek Novitiate.
. Your meeting classmates from all parts of the US. Your  Novice Master and his staff.
. Your first Christmas . You’re donning the habit for the first time.
  Your profession day and move out of the novitiate. Perhaps your first teaching assignment . College years, etc.
. Your perhaps difficult decision to leave the Oblates and begin a new life. A job, perhaps marriage , children, grandchildren, and retirement. And the list goes on.

After all these years, you have returned to join your fellow brothers in Christ. That return, I believe, is fostered by the bond of love we share with our confreres. We all learned very well the great teaching of St Francis de Sales: “We have no bond but the bond of love.”
We cannot live in the past , but we can recall those days as we relive them these next few days. Therefore, as SFS says: “Live in the present moment” as you recall the sacred past. All the days we lived as Oblates , and all the days of our post Oblate life were pure gifts -  not earned, not deserved , but pure gifts from Our Good Lord.
Enjoy your time together here at Camp. Leave refreshed and do commit to return in 2027, hopefully at DeSales University.

.With love to all,  Mitt