As part of the preparation for the Jubilee of the Youth, a group of 16 young people of the Augustinian Recollect Youth (JAR) of Panama made a pilgrimage to the tomb of St. Augustine in Pavia. A deeply spiritual experience, guided by the Augustinian charism and centered on the Confessions, which has marked their lives forever.
The dream of the ARB, thirty years later
Thirty years after the birth of the ARY, the dream continues to grow. This time, it has taken 16 young Panamanians on a deeply spiritual journey: a pilgrimage to the tomb of St. Augustine in Pavia, Italy. Bolivar Salomon Sosa -and at the beginning, also with Friar Ismael Xuruc-, the group undertook this journey as a preparation to live the Jubilee from the Augustinian interiority, and not from the passing euphoria.
“I felt it was the meeting of two restless hearts,” confesses Rubiela Cuadra, professor and national advisor of the JAR Panama, member of the international team. Her testimony, full of emotion, summarizes the experience of those who, like Agustín, continue to search for the truth in the depths of their souls.
An itinerary with the Confessions
The spiritual center of the pilgrimage was the itinerary proposed by the Confessions of St. Augustine. In front of his tomb, which they found exceptionally exposed, the young people experienced moments of awe, prayer and silence. ” The silence was eloquent”, says Rubiela, “because it was not the words that spoke, but the heart”.
With a spiritual diary in hand, each young person wrote their own journey of conversion, meditating especially on Book VIII, where Augustine narrates his inner transformation. Reading aloud, personal prayer and the Eucharist in the temple became key moments in a process that goes far beyond a journey: “This is an interior pilgrimage, one that is still maturing in us”.
Saving summer for winter
Inspired by an image of St. Augustine, Rubiela shares a metaphor that has resonated strongly among pilgrims: “This moment of grace is like the summer of life. You have to save its fruits for when winter comes.” The experience, he says, cannot remain an anecdote. “We have come to let ourselves be transformed to then be multipliers of grace in our families, communities and parishes.”
The testimony of these young people is also an example of the effort: many have financed their trip with raffles, sales and family work. But Rubiela insists: “The important thing is not just the physical trip. It’s letting God touch you. Everything is grace.
Pilgrims of hope, witnesses to the Gospel
In this final stage of the pastoral year, marked by the motto “Pilgrims of Hope,” the experience in Pavia has served as a prelude to the new motto that will guide the coming year: Proclaim Christ wherever you can. And there is no better way to do this, Rubiela assures us, than with life: “I don’t have to go to Africa to proclaim Jesus. I proclaim him in my home, with my friends, with the way I live. Many times, our life is the only Gospel that some people will be able to read.
On the road to Rome with a full heart
A few days before the official start of the Jubilee, Rubiela launches an invitation to the young people who are about to arrive in Rome: “It’s not about fireworks. It is a matter of opening our hearts, of allowing ourselves to meet the Lord in the depths of our hearts”. And from that encounter, to build a faith that does not fade, a mission that does not end.