On November 13, feast of the birth of St. Augustine, the Augustinian Recollect family renews its desire for holiness by looking to its saints and blessed, remembering that holiness is here, on the daily journey.
A history of holiness that lives on
On November 13 we celebrate the birth of St. Augustine. And every year, when this date arrives, something within us is rekindled. We celebrate not only the day on which the great bishop of Hippo came into the world; we also celebrate the beginning of a history of holiness that has continued to multiply over the centuries. We celebrate a spiritual family that continues to live, that continues to inspire, that continues to send us out on the road with a restless heart.
Because holiness – that word that we so often imagine to be distant – in the Augustinian family has very concrete faces: men and women who allowed themselves to be reached by God and who responded with their entire lives. And today, remembering Augustine, we feel that it is a good day to ask for the same grace: we want to be saints.
He was that tireless seeker who went through doubts, wounds and twisted paths until he discovered, almost without realizing it, that God had always been calling him from within. His life as a follower of Christ did not begin when he found the truth, but when he decided to let himself be found by it. From then on he taught us to live with a restless heart, always searching, always on the way to Love.
The Augustinian Recollect family opens up as a great mosaic of dedicated lives. Each face, a story. Each yes is an opportunity to follow him and today we celebrate that, our call to holiness.
Lives that sustain our journey
At her side, as in every good story, is the silent and strong figure of St. Monica. A woman who prayed without tiring, who waited without despairing, who believed when no one else believed. If today we continue to find Monica Mothers in our communities, it is because their example is still alive: women who sustain the faith of their homes, who accompany, who sow tears turned into hope.
St. Ezekiel Moreno, for example, speaks to us of a holiness that wears itself out. He loved to the extreme, especially among the sick and the poor. His life teaches us that fidelity becomes luminous precisely in the midst of fragility, when pain does not suffocate love but purifies it.
St. Magdalene of Nagasaki reminds us that faith, to be authentic, needs courage. She defended Christ even when everything around her was marked by persecution. In her we recognize so many lay people and lay brothers and sisters who, with simplicity and firmness, live their faith in difficult environments, without renouncing charity and truth.
And how not to think of St. Rita of Cascia, the saint of the impossible, who obeyed the voice of God in the midst of pain and costly forgiveness. Her life is the living memory that the Gospel continues to open roads where there seemed to be no way out.
Jenaro Fernandez, a man of government, of silent work, of faithful study and constant prayer, also inspires us. His memory takes us to so many friars who sustain the life of the Order from the invisibility of service.
And we meet Monsignor Alfonso Gallegos, pastor of those who needed him most, who knew how to walk at the speed of the people and offer his life for those he accompanied. In him we see so many friars who, in parishes around the world, continue to make their dedication a home for the wounded of the road.
Blessed Stephen Bellesini takes us to the classroom, where he discovered a privileged place to evangelize. His life is an encouragement for all the educators of our EDUCAR Network, who proclaim God’s love every day in the simple gesture of teaching.
A shared and fruitful vocation
We cannot forget St. Alipius and St. Posidius, the friends that Augustine needed to sustain his vocation. They are still alive in every young member of the Augustinian Recollect Youth who learns that true friendship is a sure way to God.
And, in Amazonian lands, the dedication of Clesua Coello resounds like a river that never stops moving. His martyrdom and his service to the indigenous communities of Brazil are a light for our missionaries, those friars who navigate rivers, cross mountains and carry Christ to the ends of the earth, trusting in Providence every day.
All these lives – the known, the canonized, the silent – form one single story: the story of Augustinian and Augustinian Recollect holiness. A holiness that is not measured by visible miracles, but by the ability to let God do his work in us.
Therefore, on this November 13, as we celebrate the birth of St. Augustine, we say again with humility and deep desire: we want to be saints. We want to live with our hearts on fire. We want the restlessness of Augustine, the prayer of Monica, the dedication of Ezekiel, the courage of Magdalene, the hope of Rita and the fidelity of so many brothers to impel us to build, day by day, the City of God.
Because holiness is not far away. Holiness is here, on this road that we travel together. And God keeps saying to us: “Come. I want you holy.”.