On his 49th anniversary as an Augustinian Recollect, Bishop Jesús María López Mauleón, bishop of the Prelature of Alto Xingu-Tucumã (Brazil), shared with emotion his experience in the meeting of CEAMA held in Bogotá on August 17-20. There, together with more than 90 bishops of the region, he lived days of listening, prayer and communion, remembering that the mission is the heart of the Church. His words, full of hope, resonate especially in the week in which the Augustinian Recollect family prepares to celebrate St. Augustine.
A unique experience in the key of communion
Bishop López Mauleón was the only Augustinian Recollect bishop present at the CEAMA meeting in Bogotá. There he met with 92
bishops from all over the Amazon region, among them four cardinals. “For me it was a unique experience -he explained- . Imagine meeting 90 bishops from so many different nations, all seeking a single goal: communion and synodality among us.“.
At the closing Mass, he said, there was a particularly symbolic gesture: the Cardinal of Bogota handed over the crosier used by St. Paul VI during his visit to the city in 1968. Pope Paul VI had used during his visit to the city in 1968, when he pronounced the historic phrase: “Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of the world”.when he pronounced that now historic phrase: “Christ points towards the Amazon“. Mons. Mauleón recalled this detail with emotion, convinced that “that call is still alive and invites us to be part of it.that call is still alive and invites us to place Christ at the center of this immense and wounded land.“.
Augustinian spirituality in Amazonia
The richness of the meeting, according to the Recollect bishop, was expressed in the way it was lived: a long time of prayer, listening to the Spirit and community dialogue.
“It was true communion. We all listened to each other, shared experiences, searched together. And that is the essence of the Augustinian charism: to have everything in common, to live in fraternity, to listen to the other and to share the gifts that God gives us”.
In his words one can perceive the conviction that the contribution of the Augustinian Recollects in the Amazon is not only pastoral, but spiritual: to show that the unity of the Augustinian Recollects in the Amazon is not only pastoral, but also spiritual. unity is not uniformity, but a gift of the Spirit that enriches everyone. “This community that we have experienced resonates profoundly with the Augustinian -he affirmed-. It is what the early Church lived and what St. Augustine dreamed of for his communities”.
Pope Leo XIV’s message: three priorities
In his address, Pope Leo XIV addressed three fundamental priorities to the bishops of the Amazon: to proclaim the Gospel, to defend the native peoples with justice and to care for the common home. Bishop Mauleón strongly emphasized the first:
“The proclamation of the Gospel is the most important thing. We cannot stop at defending rights, even though it is fundamental to do so. The bread that we have to give is the fresh and clean bread of the Gospel and of the Eucharist, without additions, without additions that do not go to the essential”.
For the bishop, these words of the Pope are a reminder that social and ecological commitment must always be born of faith in Christ and the explicit proclamation of his Good News. “If we do not proclaim Jesus, if we do not center our lives on Him, the Church loses its essence,” he said.he said.
Challenges of the mission
In the Amazon, the mission faces great challenges: immense distances, lack of resources and diversity of cultures. Bishop Mauleón explained it clearly:
“What in other parts of the Church is done in five years, here you need ten years to achieve it. We don’t have enough missionaries, and many times we face political and multinational forces that condition the lives of indigenous peoples.”
However, he also sees in it an opportunity to live the Gospel in a radical way: “We need fathers, religious and lay people with clarity of what is at the heart of the Gospel, ready to live in simplicity and closeness, accompanying small communities and being signs of hope….“.
A contribution to the Universal Church
The CEAMA experience, moreover, does not remain only in the Amazon. Bishop Mauleón revealed that a couple of bishops from the Mediterranean participated as observers, with the intention of replicating this model in their territories:
“They wanted to learn what we are doing here. The Amazon can become a sign and a foretaste of what the Church can live in other parts of the world: communion, synodality and shared mission among all the baptized”.
This global echo is, for him, a sign that what is being lived in the Amazon is of interest to the whole Church and that the Augustinian Recollects can contribute a lot with their experience of community life, mission and fraternity.
What is CEAMA?
The Ecclesial Conference of Amazonia (CEAMA) is a collegial body of the Catholic Church created in June 2020, as a direct result of the Synod for the Amazon convened by Pope Francis in 2019. Its purpose is to articulate pastoral action throughout the Amazon region, covering nine countriesBrazil, Peru, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana.
Unlike other bishops’ conferences, the CEAMA has a new structure, which is innovative structurenot only bishops, but also lay people, religious and representatives of religious and representatives of indigenous peoples, in line with the synodal spirit promoted by Pope Francis.in tune with the synodal spirit promoted by Pope Francis.
Its mission is clear: to promote a Church with an Amazonian facecommitted to the defense of life, peoples and creation. This implies working on issues such as evangelizationevangelization formation of ministriesthe defense of human and human rights and environmental advocacy, and theand environmental care of the Common Home.
In the week of St. Augustine: mission at the core
In these days in which the Augustinian Recollect family prepares to celebrate St. Augustine, the words of Bishop Mauleón are linked to the message that the Prior General addressed to the whole Order: to return to the mission as the center of our life. mission as the center of our life.
“Today, as I celebrate 49 years as an Augustinian Recollect, I remain convinced that God calls us to proclaim Christ where He is not known. That is our charism, our essence and our joy”, concluded the bishop.
With the strength of their witness, we recall that the Augustinian legacy is not only a spiritual heritage, but a living call to be present in the places where it is most needed. As St. Paul VI prophetically pointed out, Christ points towards the Amazon… and with him he also points towards all the corners where the Church, in communion, is called to announce the Gospel.