Almost a hundred members of the Augustinian Recollect Family have participated in “The Constitutions, a way of Renewal,” a three-day study of the Constitutions, in Madrid from October 26 to 28. This event was organized by the General Secretariat of Spirituality in celebration of the centenary of the declaration of the Augustinian Recollects as a religious order through the apostolic brief, “Religiosas Familias” of Pope Saint Pius X in 1912.
The study of the Constitutions sought to present the Constitutions of the Order of Augustinian Recollects as a way of renewal for religious, and thus, it was realized, emerging from diverse perspectives. All the speakers are members of the Augustinian Recollect Family. They are considered to be experts in relation to their respective talks.
HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
The historical perspective was discussed last October 26. Javier Ruiz focused on the differences of the new text of the Constitutions, promulgated on August 28, 2011, in comparison with the previous Constitutions, underscoring the incorporation of texts from the Bible, from Saint Augustine and from the new magisterium on Consecrated Life.
Javier Ruiz, who was part of the team in-charge of the process of renewal of the Constitutions, pointed out: “I wish to see in the revised Constitutions the final touch in compliance with the directives of Vatican II, in its 50th anniversary, which established the well-aimed directives of the renewal of religious life, in order to apply them in the Constitutions.
In his talk entitled “The Apostolic Brief Religiosas Familias: its attainment and internal history,” Jose Javier Lizarraga, an Augustinian Recollect historian explained the internal process of the attainment of the apostolic brief that made the Augustinian Recollects an autonomous Order during a historical moment when the Pontifical Curia was precisely unifying orders and congregations.
Angel Martinez Cuesta, also an Augustinian Recollect historian, centered his talk “Reception of the Apostolic Brief and its Impact on the life of the Order,” on the review of the texts and commentaries of the Recollect religious then as well as those of the members of the Order of Saint Augustine. He pointed out that among the members of both Orders, “it was seen as a recognition of something that was already living and existing in reality for a long time.”
THE CANONICAL PERSPECTIVE
During a session On October 27, the study of the Constitutions started with the talk of Ricardo Daniel Medina, an Augustinian Recollect and an expert in Canon Law, who zeroed in on “The Constitutions as a guide and driving force of renewal” in the experience and spirit of the recently approved Recollect regulations, and on the importance of rendering them effective in the decisions both of the institutions of the Order and of each individual religious in the midst of a new, different, secularized and multifarious society. He proposed several incisive examples and practical suggestions, which were interestingly accepted by the participants.
THE PHISOPHICAL AND SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE
The Augustinian Recollect Antonio Carron put forward his concept of personal renewal from a philosophical and sociological perspective. He presented the kind of person who lives harmoniously today in our society so that, arising from his own personal profile, the dialogue of religious with the contemporary world may be effective.
Among the many conclusions he made, Antonio Carron presented the many tasks that the Order and the religious are called to do in the present world: to retake Saint Augustine, to regain common life, to be witnesses of recollection and thought with an adequate language for generations who today can listen to the religious. “We have to take actuality of our time to the actuality of God. The Augustinian Recollect life, in order to be authentic, has to ask the question.”
THE THEOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE
Group Photo The Augustinian Recollect Enrique Gomez presented a theological perspective, which focused on “the community as melting pot of renewal.” The life of the community “is the experience that validates the presence of the religious in the world; the community is aimed towards the achievement of happiness and to bring about the fullness of one’s existence through the practice of love. And our life in community ought to be countercultural, alternative, different, egalitarian, brotherly, united and eloquent in order to be salt and light.
THE AUGUSTINIAN PERSPECTIVE
Enrique Eguiarte, an Augustinian Recollect and an authority in Saint Augustine, called to mind in his talk entitled, “The Augustinian novelties in the new Constitutions,” the data related to the added Augustinian citations in the revised and up-dated constitutional text. The text that underlies the Constitutions is the teaching of Saint Augustine on religious life, since 488 Augustinian citations are incorporated to less than 300 pages of the Constitutions.
LAY PERSPECTIVE
The last talk was delivered last October 28 by Rosi Castaño, a member of the Secular Fraternity of Saint Monica (Mexico, D.F.). She has underscored the importance of the participation of the laity in all levels of the work of the Church. “Although the emptiness and the desert present in many parts of the world cannot be denied, these are special moments to discover what is essential in life. And here as members of the Family we have much to say.”
The speaker expounds the reaffirmation of one’s own identity and the direct testimony to so diverse societies that surround the presence of this Family in the world. “We as laypersons desire as well to revitalize our specific mission which we want to assume side by side with all those who make up the same family. We aspire to receive a continuous formation which is so necessary for the mission of transmitting our charismatic treasure to the persons of today.”
EUSEBIO HERNÁNDEZ, BISHOP OF TARAZONA: “THE CONSTITUTIONS AS OUR WAY OF READING THE GOSPEL.”
During the eucharist The Eucharist last Sunday, October 28, was presided by the Augustinian Recollect Eusebio Hernandez, Bishop of Tarazona (Zaragoza), who in his homily has presented the Constitutions as the continuation and actualization of the breath of the Holy Spirit to the founders of each religious institute.
He pointed out: “Our charism, the way of reading the Gospel which the first Augustinian Recollects had, is expressed today in the Constitutions, which, aside from making us look back on that first momentum, puts us in the present situation in order to continuously give testimony to the society of today with a strong, firm, appealing and welcoming faith.”
THE PRIOR GENERAL CLOSES THE GATHERING, ENCOURAGING THE UNITY OF EFFORTS WITH A CALL TO PERSONAL REVITALIZATION
The closing of the study of the Constitutions has been presided by the Prior General of the Order, Miguel Miró, who has delivered a sincere, realistic and meaningful homily for those religious present: “We are to rule out competition, the wounds that we have inherited, and all that which impedes the sense of being an Order in order to unite efforts during these times when this becomes an absolute necessity in each and every province to be able to do together with facility what the Constitutions demand.”
The Prior General has called to mind that “what the Church asks of us today is to live with fidelity and creativity our charism that belongs to the Church, for the sake Church and for the Church. And this is realized only through conversion and renewal.” He has pointed out that theoretical knowledge is not enough, but the constitutional text must be made into life, reference and criterion of discernment of our apostolate.
THE STUDY OF THE CONSTITUTIONS FOR THE PEOPLE WITHIN BUT WITH A GAZE DIRECTED TOWARD THE PEOPLE OUTSIDE
Jose Manuel Duran and novices In this three-day study of the Constitutions, among those present were: the Prior General, Miguel Miró, the priors provincial of the Provinces of Saint Nicolas of Tolentine, Saint Thomas of Villanova, Our Lady of Consolation and Saint Joseph, the novices of the novitiate in Monteagudo (Navarra, Spain), the theology students of Las Rozas (Madrid) and Monachil (Granada), friars coming different religious houses in Spain, the Augustinian Recollect Missionaries (MAR) in Madrid and members of the Augustinian Recollect fraternity of Getafe together with a speaker coming from the Secular Fraternity of Saint Monica (Mexico, D.F.). Likewise, the Haren Halde, an NGO of the Order was present all throughout the gathering, and presented also the reality of the NGO.
The study of the Constitutions was primarily held for the members of the Augustinian Recollect Family. Nevertheless, it had always a strong social element. It is evidently necessary for these planned renewal and revitalization to transform the Augustinian Recollect life into a stimulus, a living testimony, a proposed way of living the faith and a meaningful message for the world of today.
SHARING THE TREASURES OF THE AUGUSTINIAN RECOLLECT FAMILY
During the study of the Constitutions, many publications and new materials were promoted, as well as the panels used during the celebration of the centenary of the Province of Saint Thomas of Villanova and the exhibit of the itinerary of the Haren Halde entitled: “Twenty Years with You.”
In the auditorium, the novitiate in Monteagudo and the theology students of Las Rozas (Madrid) and Monachil (Granada), the Augustinian Recollect Missionaries (MAR), the Haren Halde, an NGO of the Order have presented their tasks and realities. Likewise, they also presented the official version of the Constitutions and of the Liturgy of the Hours proper to the Augustinian Family for tablets and cellular phones, the radio series on the biography of Saint Augustine realized in Mexico, the intranet of the Order and the last CD “ Agustín Íntimo, ” of Jose Manuel Gonzalez Duran, who sang some of the songs.