The letter, addressed to the 1,135 religious residing in the 195 communities of the Order spread in 19 countries, invites the Augustinian Recollects to read the “Message of the 54th General Chapter” with a spirit renewed to face the difficulties. Through 3 pages, it presents the document approved by the General Chapter of Monachil (Granada, Spain) and enumerates the salient points of the action plan for the next six years. On the reform of the Constitutions which regulate the institute, the Prior General reminds: “Many were the points reviewed and adapted by the Chapter, some of them of great import. We are putting in writing in a clearer manner and as constitutional text our preferential option for the poor, for the family and for life. These are three options which set the direction in which each one of us must discover his commitment of witnessing and prophecy”.
Prayer, sacrifice and availability
The Prior General insists in the idea of starting afresh with vigor: “The Chapter, obeying the movements of the Spirit, calls all of the brothers to start again, to enjoy the charism received from Saint Augustine and from the first Recollect religious”. And he asks the brothers to be open to respond to the needs of the Church and of humanity in the present times. “We have to be open to the action of the Holy Spirit to discern and respond to what the Lord asks of us as Augustinian Recollects, and this requires prayer, the spirit of sacrifice and availability”.
Ordinances
The letter also enumerates some of the action lines entrusted by the General Chapter to the new Prior General and council for implementation in the next six years:
Intensify and organize with the sense of Order the ministry of the youth and vocations. Unite efforts among the provinces to unify and strengthen initial and ongoing formation.
The shared mission with the laity, the push for the missionary spirit and the New Evangelization in the missions as well as in the parish ministry and educational apostolate.
Enhance solidarity through the NGO for development Haren Alde and be present in forums that promote justice, peace, integrity of creation and dignity of life.
The process of restructuring of the Order and of the provinces by promoting dialogue, spirit of communion, communitarian discernment and personal detachment.
To prepare an integral plan of communication in the Order by which it can send its message with clarity and unity to the Augustinian Recollect family and to the public.
The letter also enumerates some of the action lines entrusted by the General Chapter to the new Prior General and council. Augustinian Recollect Family
The Prior General has also sent cover letters of the General Chapter’s greeting to the contemplative Augustinian Recollect nuns, to the secular fraternities and to the religious congregations of Augustinian Recollect Sisters of the Philippines, the Augustinian Recollects of the Heart of Jesus, the Augustinian Recollect Missionaries, and the Augustinian Recollect Sisters of the Sick.
He thanked the Augustinian Recollect Nuns in the name of all the brothers for their prayers for the chapter and for the new general council. “Surely, your prayers, had and have – says the prior general – great importance in the providential plan of God. They manifest the spiritual communion and fraternity that binds us, and as regard the council, they are a strong support in the face of the great responsibility entrusted to us”.
He asked the secular fraternities to share, from their vocation as lay people and according to their possibilties, the mission entrusted to Augustinian Recollects in the service of the Church.
He invited the congregations that compose the Augustinian Recollect family to mutual support and prayer for each other, living in fidelity and fraternal communion their proper charism in the service of the Church. The prior general asked everyone to pray for the Church in China, which is undergoing a particularly difficult moment, and especially for our Chinese brothers and sisters.