Fray Carlos, what are the CEAR?
The CEAR are Centers of Augustinian-Recollect Spirituality and is established as an “organism of formation and spiritual experience for religious and laity based from our charism as augustinian recollect”. Each CEAR counts with a team of coordinator, composed at least of two religious and two laities from the recollect family, who have the capacity to work as a team and with an adequate formation about the spirituality of the Order. They are organizations, they are teams; which are not identified with any physical head office. The activities that they organize can be given in a given place or as in an itinerant style, in other physical location, such as houses of spirituality, function rooms or parochial oratories, from educational centers, etc.
How did these centers start? What trajectory they have followed?
The CEAR stems from its consciousness awareness of what the Church asks of us as Augustinian recollects: that we share the wealth of the charism we received . It also started from the needs of its own religious that we have to dig deeper into the characteristics of our own charism.
They were born in Mexico and in Costa Rica. For so many years, there have been there religious who were anxious and dreamt of a place where we can receive more and better formation about our recollect spirituality and from there to be able to help other people to live their Christian faith based from our Augustinian-recollect spirituality.
In an assembly we had in 2013, the dream was clearly expressed and its need of having a House of Spirituality. We found out that to establish the house , we need a team of religious and lay people with formation and experience on the recollect charism. In the year 2006 we assumed the task of organizing a weekly lecture on augustinian formation. Together with doing the basic formation, we establish the first initiative: an Augustinian lecture for the lay people in three parishes in Mexico city.
After the initial experience of formative, the CEAR in Mexico city was established in 2009. In 2010 the CEAR of Pozos de Santa Ana, in Costa Rica, started. In the year 2012 the one of Queretaro was opened and in 2015 that of Chihuahua.
What are the works and tasks that they are doing along?
Until now, our offering is centered in three great areas of work. First, in the human aspect. We offer, for example, workshops on anagram, diploma courses on speech theraphy, anthology, various workshops related to self-esteem, communication and emotional management . Clearly we are convinced that once a person has a strong human foundation, the spiritual and charismatic aspects will easily be developed.
We also offer courses, workshops and experiences of Augustinian spirituality. Workshops on prayer, silent retreat on weekend, biblical and other courses on Augustinian thought and spirituality are given. We have integrated the initiatives proposed and drawn out by the Team of Revitalization of the Order: workshops on Augustinian prayer and spiritual exercises in silence.
Finally, we put emphasis in the formation the aspect of catholic social teaching. We try to reach out to the weakest of the people. For this task the social works are so important in which the Order counts in Mexico , specially the CARDI (Center of Accompaniment and Recovery of Integral Development). In this center we have organized a diploma course in volunteerism, with a weekly session of one hour and a half for one year. The program intends to give the volunteers sufficient basic instruments to make them competent in doing his service from an augustinian recollect charism.
In Mexico what do the CEAR mean for the Augustinian recollects?
For us, the CEAR meant for us a change of mentality in the way of organizing our ministries. We are in a historical moment when we find ourselves in the low number of religious; however, it is getting clearer that the CEAR are one of the stakes for the future as key for our new revitalization.
We have formed religious and laity to give courses, workshops and experiences of the CEAR in a good cordial way. And this is the wager that we have to strengthen. This also mean a considerable economic inversion to build and accommodate spaces for this purpose: halls, oratories and places for instruction on prayer. We have even constructed a House of Spirituality in the outskirts of Mexico.
Lastly, the CEAR has brought us to a serious reflection on the way how we want to share our charismatic riches. This has made us open ourselves to the means of social communication: internet, social network, television, magazines and catholic newspapers.
Finally, we are slowly convincing ourselves that the CEAR are the most valuable means to revitalize our religious communities and to share our Augustinian-recollect spirituality. The man of today is very hungry, spiritually, and our world offers all types of spiritualities. We believe that our offering has a great consistency, for being based in the Christian spirituality and in the way St. Augustine and the recollects have lived and tried to continue living it.