To Revitalize
What would the 126th provincial chapter emphasize which your province just recently had?
There is a section which for me appears very important, which we entitled: “to restructure in order to revitalize”. The decision to close some communities has struck us a big blow, and we still could not yet fully accept it yet. The reaction is also distinct, depending on the relationships attached to these ministries. This speaks about of an external restructuring that opens us up to new horizons of life. For some religious the role of their ministry has changed as well as in the religious community itself. Everybody is geared towards looking into the essence of our consecrated life, the being, before any structure.
The primary objective of the last provincial chapter reads: “To restructure the Province in order to revitalize our consecration and mission”. How are you going to realize it?
Consecration and mission are the two sides of the identity of a religious; the first refers to its nature and the second to the expression of that nature. Revitalization passes thru permanent formation.
Our age does not matter; the Lord continues to call us each day and sustains our response in making it as foundation of our existence and as the only love of our life.
Mission is a matter of love, a love whicht is received and shared. Usually it is expressed into actions that express of what is divine (celebration of the sacraments, catechism, evangelization, etc); the vitality of the mission depends on the “passion” of the works that are done; this force comes from the Spirit as it’s the expression of the identity of the calling, from a conviction: “the Lord wants me as augustinian recollect”.
The average age of the religious of the province is 58.71 years. How have you faced this situation?
We face it squarely. I ask myself: what does it mean of the religious to live in the present stage of his life? and I recall what the Vita Consecrate says: “there is a youthful spirit that stays in time…, each important cycle has its different commitment to realize, a specific way of being, of serving and loving”. This vibrant spirit has to be rekindled. It is only God who renews the persons.
Half of the religious are above 65 years – retirement age in the labor market-, it starts to decline, aches and pains appear, but at the same time it is the age of wisdom and spiritual maturity. I think this is not the time for expansion but for interiority and recollection. Let us not forget that we are recollects.
In the process of renewal that the Order is undergoing, what influence do you think that Pope Francis has? What emphasis would you give to his pontificate?
I talk on what personally touched me. He is a pope of gestures, of little gestures capable of destabilizing a century-old structure, full of mute ghosts of “ this has always been this way”, provoking gestures that push us to see farther beyond ourselves and to think and project to others and from beyond the limits.
On the other hand, I stress two words that come out to me right now: joy and hope; to live the joy of one’s calling, the joy of the encounter with Jesus, and the insistence that we do not lose hope.
Churches of America and Europe
You know the communities and ministries of Mexico and Costa Rica, and during these last six years you served in the government living in Madrid, what differences would you indicate between the Church of America and Europe?
I stress two points. The people of God is a school of life, in all its spectrum; the laity urge us in so many ways to walk and sit with them. My impression is that there is much contact with the people in America than in Spain simply because the communities mostly dedicated to parochial and mission ministries are small. In Spain several communities with conventual lifestyle prevail, some of which with very little contact with the neighborhood.
The second important point is on the level of Christian formation. In America, we generally find people with scarce formation of the faith; with a Christian life based on popular religiosity and limited in the participation in the sacraments, nothing more. But at the same time, longing for formation, and at least very receptive. This is a very precious opportunity for formation; all of us religious know that we form ourselves when we give reason to our faith in a systematic and consistent manner. In Europe the people are better formed, I imagine that everybody have in their infancy and adolescent life a Christian formation well guarded in the family, in the catechism and in school. They depend less on the indoctrination.
Finally, the process of secularization which started well ahead in Europe, but America is not a stranger to this reality phenomenon; it’s just a matter of time. The leadership and prestige of the religious are more appealing and influential in America; some religious have deployed its human and pastoral resources because of its prominence. In Europe we have this urging to walk with the people in a society organized outside beyond religion, which force us to think on what is spiritual and pastoral
Plans
What plans do you have to revitalize the spiritual, fraternal life and the evangelizing spirit of the religious communities?
We never start from zero; each one lives his own process of continuous conversion. I am convinced of the need to touch and stir the life of people. Revitalization is the work of God and the door is opened from inside; the Lord transforms our hearts if we ask it with faith and humility, in a trusting prayer.
However, I believe we predispose the friars; the services of the secretariats and the inspiration of the local priors are very important. We intend with the secretariats continue with the permanent formation for everybody and each of the religious, giving them time, strategies, ways and extraordinary activities for his personal formation. The living of the ordinary means, those who daily live in a community, is the task of the prior. To put an example: I see dissatisfaction for some friars in the way of celebrating the liturgy of the hours; others miss those moments of sharing the listened word in our small way world of search and finding; others ask for faithfulness to personal prayer.
On the other hand, we all know the goodness of fraternal life and its therapeutic effects, but we are burdened with reunions and fraternal corrections. In this area the secretariats can offer and extend on formation.
Finally, I believe in the life experiences in the mission. Nobody remains the same after his return from a mission who witness the reality where life is lived in its poorest, lack of education and abuses of all forms and types. The poor and its situation of poverty and exclusion revitalize us, if we allow ourselves.
You were once a vocation promoter, dealing with the youth, what proposal on formation do you offer to a young man who wants to be an augustinian recollect?
At first I was giving more importance to what is an augustinian recollect: I tried to impart them the life of St. Augustine and of the recollects. But now it seems to me that what is more essential is the personal encounter with Christ, the Lord. We religious ourselves and with our incoherence, can be deceiving; but if a youth feels that gratuitous and unconditional love of Jesus who calls, that young man has no way out, the Lord has won him.
The pedagogy of Jesus “come and see” is for all times and places. And this also applies to all those who want to be augustinian recollect. We then have to open our houses, for them to know and share our life.
What plans do you have to evangelize and be in solidarity with the poor?
First, that the religious allow themselves to be evangelized. In my personal experience, I think we spend too much time pretending ourselves to be masters and leaving aside the experience of being a disciple. I don’t deny that there is willingness and sacrifice in the service we render in the pastoral, but not always we let ourselves challenged nor questioned by the gospel nor by the faithful. The solidarity with the poor is the fruit of the life of a mature Christian. If he is poor by the option made in answer to that which he received.
What importance have the RAY (Recollect Augustinian Youth), the secular fraternity and the formation of the laity in the experience you have in the ministries?
At this moment there is an awakening of the RAY in some places of the province, fruit of the work done from the corresponding general secretariat. The youth is ungrateful and discourages many; the youth need so much attention and have to accept his changeability.
I spent more time with the secular fraternity. Although I can say so many things on that, I only want to underscore some: it is a special vocation that we have to promote, discern and accompany. It is a vocation good only for a few, I have my suspicion when they enter by groups. On the other hand, I know that they are a gift for the Order because they enrich our charism. And finally, its presence in the ministry is a sign of fruitfulness and vitality of the same. At this time we need to strengthen the sense of belonging to a family, its formation and independence.
This is a time for the laity, and it has always been. We are indebted to them since we have been benefited from them and now we have to return to them the formation, spaces of leadership and service.
“We have seen the Lord”
What is your dream for the Order? Is it realizable?
As an institution, I dream of an Order which make use of the human, structural and materials resources for formation for the evangelizing mission; the sense of the Order has to be strengthened more than that of the Province.
With regards to the personnel, the words of the first witnesses of the resurrection continue to impress my mind: “we have seen the Lord”. How different things could be if we have lived with this certitude and would share it through our witnessing.