More than thirty-five Augustinian Recollect religious, local vocation promoters and counselors of the Province of St. Ezekiel Moreno, gathered to deepen the accompaniment in vocation ministry, according to the teachings of St. Augustine. The Augustinian Recollect Sisters and the Augustinian Recollect Sisters of Contemplative Life also participated.
The event was held at the Monastery of St. Mary. Ezekiel Moreno of Bacolod, coastal town of Negros Island during March 1 and 2, 2024.
The first day began, by way of introduction, with a reflection offered by Fr. Fabián Martín on the ministry of vocation ministry. In it he used the image of the nets and encouraged people to cast them out trusting in the Word of God and to drag them towards the risen Jesus, who is the one who gives full meaning to human life. For his part, Fr. Rafael Castillo coordinated a dynamic that helped to share by groups some personal satisfaction that the task of vocation ministry had left them and some challenge that they must face in the exercise of this ministry. In the same way, the presentation given by Fr. Bruno D’Andrea offers about accompaniment in St. Augustine on the platform In Imum cordis of the Order’s School of Formation. In it he expounds the considerations that the saint makes in one of his sermons about the passage of the disciples of Emmaus (Lk 24:13-32). Finally, a conference of Fr. José Manuel González Durán on accompaniment and discernment in St. Augustine, which is a resource that is also available on the aforementioned formation platform.
In the first part of the second day, Fr. Rafael Castillo and Fr. Fabián Martín explained a series of concepts about accompaniment and vocation, and spoke about how to accompany vocational discernment based on the charism. To this end, they presented the Decalogue of the Augustinian Recollect Accompanier and all the materials in English that the Order provides for vocation ministry.
The second part of the day was devoted to explaining the functioning of suitable tools for accompanying the process of vocational discernment, such as the vocation cards, and to discussing how they could be useful for the different communities in the Philippines.
The meeting ended with a Eucharist presided over by Fr. Rafael Castillo. In his homily, he described the exercise of accompaniment for vocational discernment as an act of mercy, linked to the mercy of the Father and an expression of his infinite love. And he recalled that accompaniment is always, as St. Augustine himself emphasizes, a service of charity.
