Friday dawned with sunshine on the little place in the Rioja called San Millán de la Cogolla. The snow covering mount San Lorenzo reflected the sunlight on a cold day that would have a full festive programme. While Cardinal Re met with the 14 bishops in their first ever Episcopal get together in the house of Spirituality at Yuso, two kilometers away, in the Church of Berceo, members of the Augustinian Recollect family were gathering from all across the world.
Giovanni Battista Re, Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, was finishing his talk to his brother bishops with the resounding phrase: “ I am very happy to be an Augustinian Recollect”. He spoke for an hour on the responsibility of being successors of the apostles. There was then a dialogue on other themes like the advance of the sects, the lack of vocations, the care of priests and other concrete issues related to socio-political realities of the countries where the bishops had pastoral care.
Academic Act
While the Cardinal and the bishops were engaged in conversation about matters of governing in their respective diocese, José Javier Lizarraga gave a conference to some two hundred members of the OAR family. The speaker, a doctor in History of the Church, spoke for an hour on the First Centenary of the Chapter of San Millán celebrated between the 16 and 27 of July 1908. In his homily the Cardinal made reference to the chapter describing it as a moment of impetus and strength for the Order: “the Chapter consolidated the identity of the Augustinian Recollects and gave them new vigor in their mission”.
Sixty eight priests and 15 bishops vested for the ceremony in the Town Hall.Solemnity and closeness
A little before twelve o’clock the bells of the parish church of Berceo began to ring out. Mass was to be celebrated here since the Monastery Church is undergoing major reform. Sixty eight priests and 15 bishops vested for the ceremony in the Town Hall while Javier Guerra, General of the Order, and the Cardinal received the faithful at the door of the Church with a warm and cordial welcome. The faithful ended up completely filling the Church on a working day morning.
The ceremony was very well prepared. A Gregorian chant choir came ex profeso for the celebration and was accompanied by the voices of all those taking part in the Eucharist. In his homily the Cardinal alluded to the simplicity and solid formation of the members of the Augustinian Recollect family and especially to the importance of community life, of which they are authentic masters. The liturgy finished with the blessing given to all present by the 15 bishops together with the Cardinal.
In the family
The main dining room in Yuso monastery played host to the guests for three hours. Fr. Jesús Lerena, General Counselor, introduced people and groups who make up the Augustinian recollect family. The 180 guests heard José Luis Azcona, a Bishop in Brazil under a death threat, asking for prayers that he may never turn back nor feel proud for doing that. Héctor Javier Pizarro, bishop in Colombia, shared his anxiety for his people threatened by the paramilitary groups and expressed his dream and hope for peace and tranquility. He remembered that at that precise time a march for peace was taking place in Colombia.
There was time to listen to Bishops, Provincials, the General Council in Rome inviting folk to visit them, the Augustinian Recollect bishop Missionary Sisters, whose Mother Provincial changed her diary to be there, those in charge of the Secular Fraternity in Spain who read the witness of a tertiary in Mexico, the young people of JAR who were in a hurry not to miss one of their gathering, one of the spiritual guides of the Monicas and the enclosed Sisters who had asked for a dispensation to be present and speak to the rest of the family about their new convents that continue opening around the World.