Serving in the cradle of the Church. This is how one could summarize the experience of Friar Dionisio Emanuel García Acuáyoung Augustinian Recollect Augustinian Recollect religiousfrom the Province of Our Lady of Candelaria, who participated from May 6 to 11, 2009. May 6 to 11 as a volunteer in Rome for the Jubilee 2025. A week of dedication, prayer and communion that reflects the young and committed face of the Church; and that makes him a pilgrim of hope in a different way, from the dedicated service.
An invitation and a generous response
Friar Dionisio is one of the 25,000 volunteers who, according to the Jubilee 2025 organization, will collaborate in this Holy Year. He is part of the large group of lay people, religious and priests who are giving their time and dedication so that this time of grace and hope can be lived in an orderly, welcoming and joyful manner.
During that week, in the heart of the eternal city, together with young people of different nationalities and charisms, he lived an experience marked by fraternity, Christian witness and spiritual preparation. fraternity, Christian witness and spiritual preparation for the Holy Year. for the Holy Year.
“I felt called to go out of myself, to offer my time and energy to others.” shares Friar Dionisio. “It was also a time to return to the essential: to be at the service of the Gospel, like St. Augustine, with my feet on the ground and my heart in God.”
Silence, listening and service
The days in Rome were not marked by haste, but by active listening. active listeninglistening accompaniment of pilgrimspilgrims, and practical and spiritual formation.. Among the squares and basilicas, Friar Dionisio felt that he too was a pilgrim of hope. pilgrim of hope.
“As an Augustinian Recollect, the silence lived in the midst of the hustle and bustle was part of my prayer,” he says, affirms. “Serving with humility, seeing faces from all nations and helping each person was a simple, yet profound gesture.”
An outgoing, young and universal Church
The testimony of Friar Dionisio shows what Pope Francis has repeated so much: the Church needs young people with their shoes on, ready to walk, to help, to proclaim.
During his stay in Rome, he was not only a witness of the diversity and richness of the Church, but also a living part of this people on the way to the Jubilee of the Jubilee. people on the way to the Jubileewhere the motto “Pilgrims of Hope” takes shape and face.
“The Church is alive. It is young. And it is walking. I witnessed that. I came back with a renewed heart and more in love with my vocation.”
A call to the entire Recollect family
Friar Dionisio’s participation in this volunteer program is also an invitation to the young people of the young people of the JARthe laityand all the members of the Augustinian Recollect family to actively join the Jubilee.
Volunteer service, in any corner of the world, is a concrete way of being builders of the City of God. of being builders of the City of God..
Pilgrims of hope, servants with joy
Dionisio’s experience in Rome is one more sign of how the Augustinian Recollect charism continues to be alive in the heart of the Church. continues to beat in the heart of the Church. From interior silence to the proclamation of the Gospel with concrete gestures, this service anticipates what the Holy Year will be: a feast of faith, a call to conversion, an opportunity to walk together ..