With the breeze of the Atlantic Ocean and Christ the Redeemer as witnesses, eighteen Augustinian Recollect religious gathered in the city of Rio de Janeiro to participate in the Ongoing Formation Encounter 2025, directed to friars between 55 and 69 years of age. Under the motto “Make me remember you”, this experiencethis experience, convoked by the General Secretariat of Charism, Spirituality and Ongoing Formation, has revealed itself as a true journey to the heart of the consecrated vocation in its stage of fullness.
The proposal is experienced as a symbolic voyage through the sea of the soul: to reach the shore to meet again in fraternity, to dive into what has been lived, to dive into the depths of personal and community identity, and to emerge renewed, with wisdom and hope.
Mario Aparecido, who is leading the process with experience and closeness, and Friar German Rodriguez, the retreat’s spiritual director. Danilo Janegitz, who, based on the logotherapy of Viktor Frankl, helped the participants to look at maturity as a time of meaning and reconciliation with their own history; and the other was given by Dr. Graciela Senosiain, who proposed a profound integration of the psychological and spiritual dimension of vocation at this stage of life. 
Through fraternal dynamics, spaces of silence and listening, moments of reflection and prayer, the friars have undertaken a process of “grateful memory”: a contemplative look at the road they have traveled, recognizing the faithful presence of God at each station of their vocational history.
The image of the sea, so present in the carioca landscape, becomes a mirror of the soul: its depth, its calm and its strength inspire this “interior tourism” that invites us to rediscover the beauty of consecration in maturity. As Saint Augustine recalled: “Men go out to admire… and forget themselves”.
This meeting is, precisely, an invitation to look inward, to reencounter the grace that inhabits every corner of life.
The spiritual retreat, recently begun, marks the heart of the process: in silence, each religious delves into the ocean of the Spirit, searching deep down for the “pearls of gratitude” that give new meaning and fullness to his dedication.
The formation meeting will last until August 3, offering the participants a valuable space to integrate their vocational experience and project it with renewed enthusiasm.
This encounter not only strengthens the personal experience of each participant, but also renews the community commitment to continue building together the Augustinian Recollect charism with passion, joy and wisdom. Because in the memory of God -that which the motto says- there is no forgetting, only faithful love that transforms life.
And so, to the rhythm of the waves, the brothers continue this journey with one certainty: God has been, is and will be.