The friars of the Order of Augustinian Recollects, while in their last year of initial formation, need to prepare themselves to make their Solemn Profession. According to our Constitutions, we, the ones under formation, participate in a special month of preparation for our solemn vows: the evangelical counsels of chastity, poverty and obedience. That is to say, our total consecration to God alone through the Order of Augustinian Recollects.
This year, those friars ready to make solemn profession were convoked for this month of preparation (June 26th to July 23) at Our Lady of Good Counsel Convent in Monachil, Granada, Spain. However, one of the friars from St. Ezekiel Province in the Philippines was not able to come. The participants who came from the other seven provinces are:
St. Nicholas of Tolentine Province: Fr. Óscar Castellanos Jiménez (México), Fr. Noé Servín Franco (México), Fr. José Artenildo Alves Da Costa (Brasil), Fr. José Rodolfo Yela Díaz (México), Fr. Gustavo Camarena Lara (México) and Fr. Jesús Cortés González (México).
Our Lady of la Candelaria: Fr. Ángel Urpiano Moreno Rivera (Colombia) and Fr. John Eder Delgado Lasso (Colombia).
St. Thomas of Villanova Province: Fr. Bruno Nicolás D’Andrea Giavedoni (Argentina) and Fr. Ricardo Catete da Silva (Brasil).
St. Joseph Province: Fr. Soimer Torres Fernández (Perú).
St Rita of Casia Province: Fr. Evandro Antônio Ferrerira (Brasil), Fr. Agostinho Morosini (Brasil), Fr. Jacir Silvio Sansón Junior (Brasil), Fr. Ricardo Alberto Dias (Brasil), Fr. André Pereira de Arruda (Brasil) and Fr. Gustavo Barbiero Mello (Brasil).
St. Augustine Province: Fr. Jorge Mateos (México).
Our Lady of Consolation: Fr. Jesus Sánchez (República Dominicana).
On June 26th, 2011, we arrived to the Mother of Good Counsel Convent from different parts of the world. From the warm welcome (besides the temperature here is very hot) we were taken to our rooms to rest from the long journeys, especially those coming from the Americas.
The next morning Friar Jose Ramon, who is in master in charge of this month, assigned the various tasks and commissions for the month: refectory, sacristy, chronicles, sports, community excursion, etc. The talk during the first week is about the Anthropology of the religious life done by Friar Fabian Martin.
In the morning we have talks and sharing, where we receive the content and respond with personal feedback, our doubts and reflections for our common edification. At Midday we pray the Angelus, a Marian act, and have midday Prayer. In the evening, we gather together to share on some of the articles given to us for study and reflection by having a brief exposition on them of about five minutes. Also, we are divided in groups to develop and present a series of themes to different groups of people: a) the evangelical counsels to school children, b) the religious life to a groups of diocesan priests, c) sexuality and affectivity to a group of novices, d) fidelity to a group of nuns, and e) the community life to a JAR youth group. We were free to present the themes in diverse ways, and we have decided to bring them to life in plays, on which there has been pouring of talents and creativity. Such pieces are performed after the article has been exposed to the audience for them to have a better grasp on the theme.
At 6:30 p.m., we have sports time or pool time to exercise the body and enjoy of the spirit of community. At 8 p.m. celebrate the Sacrament of the Mass combined with Vespers, where we have displayed our musical and vocal gifts with diverse songs. There has been a new experience and nourishing for many of us by having the celebration of the Mass completely in Portuguese every Friday. At 9, we have dinner and community recreation, and we lose our day with a prayer summarizing everything we have received during the day by giving thanks to God.
‘Paseos’ (outings) cannot be missing when many brothers coming from different parts of the world and from almost all our provinces. Saturday, July 2, we went to Motril to visit the place where Vicente Soler and companions were martyred. Also, we have visited the shrine of the Virgin of the Head (‘la Virgen de la Cabeza’), patroness of Motril, where the manager gave us a talk about the history of the sanctuary. There we sang the Salve Regina and asked her for successful development of our month of preparation. Then we went to the beach of Motril where we swam for about two hour. After enjoying lunch, we walked toward the Recollect’s school in Motril to meet the community and visit the school, and listen to the story of the martyrs. Upon completion of the explanation, we went to visit the Nazarene Augustinian Recollect Nuns, who have the particularity of using the Recollect habit in purple, joining them for vespers and enjoyement of some cookies, lemonade, and the joy of singing.
On Sunday evening, we visited Granada’s Charterhouse where Teresa Legarra Lopetequi gave us an excellent and entertaining explanation about the art than of the place, though very nourishing. After going through the souvenirs shop, we went to the convent of the Augustinian Recollect Nuns of Santa Maria Magdalena with whom we shared the Mass together with the sung evening prayer. They also treated us with some snacks and sodas to which we reciprocated with songs in Spanish and in Portuguese. After the long weekend of excursion, we went back home tired but with our heart full of laughs and beautiful experiences of lives who shared.