On the occasion of the feast of Saints Alipio and Posidio, patrons of the Recollect Augustinian Youth, the Prior General, Miguel Angel Hernandez, asks us to take the friends of Augustine as references in the faith.
On May 16th we will celebrate the feast of Saints Alypius and Possidius. Last year, on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the birth of the RAY and at the request of the General Secretariat for Vocations and Youth, then Prior General, Fr. Miguel Miro, was asked to declare these saints, close friends of St. Augustine, as patrons of the RAY and so it was done.
St. Augustine says that to celebrate the saints and not imitate their virtues is to celebrate with a lie. If the Order has set them as our patrons, we must strive to know them, seek inspiration in their lives and imitate them.
With this opportunity, I wish to focus on two aspects of the lives of these saints that could very well serve as inspiration for you, young people of the Recollect Augustinian Youth:
1.- The life of Alypius follows the same paths as that of Augustine: Tagaste, Carthage, Rome and Milan, and they practically made an identical spiritual journey. Our Recollect Augustinian Youth also have a journey of stages that should be followed by all young people who want to live their faith from the Augustinian Recollect identity. I encourage you to make the journey together, to live the faith in community, to share the difficulties as well the victories of this pilgrimage. In walking together, the road becomes more bearable; together, we will always have someone to lean on and someone to pick us up if we fall; together, it will always be easier to find the way out when we lose sight of the goal in foggy and stormy days. Together, the joys are multiplied and the sorrows are diminished. There is no greater joy than to share together the faith and the following of Jesus in your reality as young people and from the Augustinian Recollect charism.
2.- Augustine will say of Possidius in one of his letters: “In Posidius you will find much of my person”. May God grant that after making this journey of faith, we will also find in the young people of the Recollect Augustinian Youth much of the person of Augustine, especially his passion for Christ and his love for the Church, which he defended with all his strength. May we also find in the heart of the young Augustinian Recollect Youth that love for Christ and for the Church.
We thank Fr. Juan Pablo Martinez, who has been RAY in-charge these last six years, for all his efforts, concern and work in favor of the RAY. May God repay him. And we welcome Fr. Ismael Xuruc, who will be the new guide on behalf of the Order and whose mission will be to continue consolidating and advancing the RAY project and to start organizing for the next World Youth Day in Lisbon. Welcome, Father Ismael.
I ask you that the feast of Saints Alypius and Possidius be in all our RAY communities a reason for meeting, celebrating and fraternal sharing.
May our Lady of Consolation protect, console, guide and accompany us and may Saints Alypius and Possidius, our patrons, bless us from heaven.
Miguel Ángel Hernández OAR
Prior general