Last Monday, April 29, 2024, an emotional celebration was held in Madrid (Spain) on the occasion of the appointment of the Dr. Carmen Montejo as Sister General of the Augustinian Recollect Order. The Eucharist, marked by the presence of family members, friends and members of nearby religious communities, was a testimony of gratitude and recognition to Dr. Montejo for his tireless work for the benefit of others. We share the heartfelt words of thanks from the new Sister General, and the homily of the Prior General, Fr. Miguel Ángel Hernández. Both are a reflection of the love and commitment to the Order.
THE WORDS OF CARMEN MONTEJO:
Thank you for this deep, free and forever bond.
I want to say thank you. What comes from within me today is gratitude, Miguel Angel, for making me a sharer in the spiritual goods of the Order of Augustinian Recollects and welcoming me into your religious family.
For me, this deep, free and forever bond that we celebrate today is a great gift from God. It is difficult to explain. The truth is that you are my brothers and you are very important in my life. Since Aguerri pulled me (literally) to go to the dispensary in Bajos de Haina in the Dominican Republic, I have received SO MUCH!
Thanks to all the friars who came to celebrate. To those of you who have traveled and to all of you, for the effort. Thanks to each one of you, because you put flesh on this bond of fraternal friendship and mission, charism and shared life.
Today, as in Bishop Casaldáliga’s poem (A heart full of names), “At the end of the road they will say to me: – Have you lived, have you loved? And I, without saying anything, will open my heart full of names”. Although this is not the end of the road, I hope, it is a very significant moment in my life.
So my heart is full of names: those of you who are here and those who are farther away, but very present: Carlos, Javier, Gabriel, who could not come, Ismael, Fabian, René, Angel, Javier, Enrique, Jerik, Javier, José David, Miguel Angel, Juan Pablo, Julian, Pedro, Miguel, Javier, Roberto, Roel, Vincent, Marco, Arturo, Martín, Héctor, Daniel, Leander, Freddy, Jesús Javier, José Luis, Fermín, Bernardo, Jesús, Gustavo, Juanjo, Jimmy, Jaime… Thanks to them and to all the brothers of the Order. To Toñín, for his almost daily work side by side. Thanks to Cruz and Simon for their company.
I remember those who already embrace us in the embrace of the Father, among them, Manolo Beaumont and Jesús García. Thank you, brothers.
Thanks also to my family for their unconditional love. To Miguel, companion on the road, (and brother general “consort”). To our children Pablo, Nuño and Mencía. To our parents, all four of us. And to our siblings: Santi, Raquel and Álvaro.
To all of us who share efforts, tasks and dreams in ARCORES and in the house of St. Joseph (Tagoy, Juanma, Boyax, José Manuel and Enrique, who is in Granada today, but also very present). Thank you, colleagues and brothers.
To the MAR (Olga) and the Secular Fraternity (Maricela), also partners in ARCORES. Thank you, dear sisters.
Thanks to the brothers of the St. Joseph of the Park group, to the sisters of the Revolt and to the friends of the soul with whom we also share faith and life. Thanks also to the parishioners of this chapel who are with us today.
Thanks to the Vicarage of the Province of Candelaria. Thank you, Lorenzo, brother and friend, and to the communities of the Augustinianum and of the parish of the Consolation, for your daily closeness and familiarity (To Isidro, Felipe and Javier who were unable to come. Manuel, so many years together already). And special thanks to this Orpheus community, which is my home, for organizing this celebration with so much affection: dear Teodoro, Raúl, Valerio and you guys.
Thanks to our father St. Augustine, to his mother St. Monica, to St. Ezekiel Moreno, to St. Catherine of Siena, and thanks to God, who continues to call us and to give us: “One soul and one heart directed towards Him”.
HOMILY OF THE PRIOR GENERAL, FR. MIGUEL ÁNGEL HERNÁNDEZ
St. John says in the first reading that God is light and that, if we are united to him, if we live in him, we too become propagators of that same light. We must live in communion with Christ in order to be able to share this light with all people, or at least with those who are close to us, those who come into contact with us every day or at some point in the future. The only way to propagate and transmit the light is to become light and we will only become light, united to Jesus.
I believe that the Word of God is there for us to look into. And today the questions we have to ask ourselves in the light of that Word are the following: Am I living in the light? Is my life light for others? As I pass through the world, am I illuminating the path of my brothers and sisters? Does my life help others not to get lost, not to get disoriented? Does my life point to heaven, does it point to God?
In the Gospel Jesus thanks the Father for the understanding that the simple and humble have of the Kingdom of Heaven that he announces. The wise and learned do not understand, the doctors of the law and the learned cannot understand Jesus because his preaching, his message, his doctrine do not fit into their poor and rickety schemes, not to say miserable schemes. The simple allow themselves to be surprised by God and before the good news that Jesus announces to them, they jump for joy and embrace it with all their strength, full of joy. Because the message of Jesus is life, it is joy, it is salvation, it is hope, it is knowing that my life is worth much and has meaning, it is understanding that our God is not the legislator and judge attentive to our slightest deviations to reprimand us, punish us and crush us. No, the God of Jesus is a God of tenderness and mercy, a God who has compassion, a God who is faithful, who does not treat us as our faults deserve, nor repays us according to our iniquities, but according to the greatness of his heart, which has no limits.
And we also celebrate the feast of St. Catherine of Siena, who is one of the patron saints of Europe, a woman of the 14th century who, despite her poor education, was declared Doctor of the Church by Paul VI: she was a Dominican laywoman who cared for the sick during the Black Death. Advisor to many people from all walks of life and an ambassador and peacemaker, involving herself in politics, mediating between the Pope and the Italian cities and influencing the Pope’s return to Rome. His life reminds us that politics does not have to be divorced from faith. But his great contribution to the church is undoubtedly spiritual.
Today we are gathered as an Augustinian Recollect family because the General Council wanted to appoint Carmen Montejo as Sister General of the Order. That does not mean that you are only now beginning to be our sister, I believe that you have been a sister, friend, companion in fatigues, confidant and sometimes even mother of many of our friars for a long time. This is a public recognition that you deserve for all your trajectory and contribution to our family: from the medical attention to our elderly and not so elderly and being attentive to each one of your friars, to your collaboration in Arcores, and more recently in the commission for the protection of minors and vulnerable persons of our Order.
This, Carmen, is a recognition of your tireless work in favor of others, especially those most in need; this, brothers, is a recognition of a woman fighter who defies difficulties and obstacles without ever giving up. This, Carmen, is our way of telling you that we feel you are “one of us”, embarked in the same boat, committed, sometimes more than us, with our things, with our projects, with our initiatives, in short, with our family.
I know that the friars of the former Consolation were infinitely happy with this recognition, but I am sure that affection crosses borders and it is the whole Order that today thanks God for having put you on our path, it is the whole Order that today thanks you for being part of our lives, of our family and already of our history. It is the whole Order that today too, like Jesus, says to the Father: thank you, Father, because you have revealed these things to simple and pure-hearted people, like Carmen, who are in tune with the project of your Son and who embrace it with all their soul, life and heart.
And the beauty of Carmen with us is that she knows better than anyone our fragility and stays by our side, because she knows us, as a doctor, when we are more fragile and vulnerable, when we are broken and broken, she knows our fears in front of the disease, our insanities and manias. Not only that, but because of his participation in the commission for the protection of minors and vulnerable people, he also knows a little about the darker side of the family.
But it is true that he also knows our most beautiful side, which is our work on behalf of the poorest and most disadvantaged in society. Get to know the dispensaries of Dominicana and know that in many places of the Order they dream that you can get to know other social works.
You know our family very well, Carmen, you know its lights and also its shadows. We are no better or worse than any other family, but we want you to know that we love you and we are very happy to make you part of ours.
The Constitutions state that the Prior General, by official document, can admit to the participation of the spiritual goods of the Order, with the title of brother general of the Order, those faithful who distinguish themselves as distinguished benefactors of the community. This participation refers to common spiritual goods, such as prayers, suffrages, Masses and other good works performed by the religious.
That is what we are doing Carmen and believe me when I tell you that all the friars were very happy when we talked about the possibility of this appointment.
Thank you very much for everything, God repay you and give you back in graces and blessings all that you do for this family, who always considered you their sister, but now in a more official way.
