Last July, the Fifth International Congress of the Augustinian Laity took place in Rome. Nearly 100 participants from 28 circumscriptions on five continents met again, five years later, after the 2019 Congress in Sacrofano, Italy, to continue this path of synodality, fraternity and love among equals.
Having let rest what was clearly a great experience of deepening the vocation of the Augustinian laity and his way of implementing his legacy in those places where the Order is present, Luis Arana, member of the commission for the Augustinian Lay Movement and one of the authorized voices to explain to us the moment in which the laity who vibrate with the teachings and spirituality of the Augustinian Lay Movement find themselves St. Augustine.
What is left two months after the enthusiasm with which the Congress of the Laity in Rome closed?
Without a doubt, a long list of things to do. It is very important to understand the context of the 2024 Rome Congress. At the end of the previous Congress (which took place in 2019), in response to an invitation from the Prior General and in communion with the Order, the Augustinian laity, both members of secular Augustinian fraternities and other lay people of the wider Augustinian family, began a process from which the Statutes for the Augustinian Lay Faithful emerged. During the 2024 Congress, the laity reflected on this process and the very rich path that lies ahead. It was an event of great importance; We now have the challenge of implementing the proposals that were made.
What do these statutes offer?
During the 2024 Congress it became clear that the structure outlined by the Statutes is a tool to connect groups of Augustinian laity with each other, within each circumscription, within each region and globally, to better live our Augustinian spirituality in a synodal way and in communion with the Order. The Commission for the Augustinian Lay Movement, that is, the Order's Commission for Laity and Youth, and the lay regional representatives are in the process of evaluating the reflections and proposals made by those who attended the Congress. But these reflections and proposals have a clear common denominator: to seek closer and more regular contact between our groups. In general, this contact already exists within each constituency, but not at the regional level; with the happy and notorious exception of Latin America.
What is the path that the Augustinian laity have set for the coming years?
The Commission and the regional lay representatives have not finished their task of evaluation of the Congress, but for my part, speaking strictly on a personal basis, I believe that in broad outline the next steps would be to try to give continuity to the structure established by the Statutes, so that our journey together (both of the laity among themselves and with the friars and religious) has support in permanent structures and does not depend on the charism of specific persons; to create and strengthen links and common activities at the regional level. Regarding this last point, Latin America has clearly marked the path to follow, with its multiple activities and initiatives; to seek to connect, within each circumscription, the youth groups with the groups of adult Augustinian laity, so that the former see in the latter the natural next step in their journey of community; and to think about the future of Augustinian lay groups in places where the friars and religious of the Order have significantly reduced their presence or will soon disappear; a reality of several “old provinces”.
The Prior General, in one of his direct addresses to you during the Congress, spoke of the importance of also being present in the area of culture and art. Do you have a road map in this regard in order to make the Augustinian charism visible through beauty?
Not for now, because for the moment our immediate need and priority is to affirm and develop the structure that we have created through the Statutes, at the world level and, above all, at the regional level. Part of that development should include the apostolate in the fields of culture and art. In our groups, there are lay people with a strong academic profile in the humanities - the Fraternity of St. Augustine in Utrecht, for example - and there have been very interesting initiatives in spirituality and the arts.
What are your hopes for the role of the laity in the Church?
My hopes are many, particularly since the Holy Father's invitation to live the synodal journey.
I was struck by the title of one of its chapters, “The Holy and Sanctifying Community (the Church).” There, Father von Rudloff explains that one's inner worth as a Christian is determined not by the role one is called to play, but by how one plays that role.
Personally, I believe that the problem is that the lay person is taken in the abstract, without considering his or her insertion in the ecclesial community (both at the general and particular level). In this sense, the invitation to the synodal journey made by Pope Francis could not have been more timely. It has opened a very rich reflection on how the laity should live our vocation in a concrete way from communion, participation and mission, together with the other members of the Church.
And what about the Augustinian laity?
The main obstacle to living our vocation is what I call “the temptation of Mount Tabor.” In his homily on Pentecost Sunday 2013, Pope Francis warned about the danger of a self-referential Church, and reminded us that the Holy Spirit “urges us to open the doors to go out, proclaim and bear witness to the goodness of the Gospel.” On a small scale, this warning is applicable to our Augustinian lay groups. Being self-referential is a typical temptation of lay groups associated with religious orders. Augustinian spirituality is undoubtedly dazzling; but we have to announce it to the world through our lives from an attitude of service.
After a long synodal process, how do you incarnate and live the pilgrimage hand in hand with friars and nuns in the ordinary course of making visible the work of the Order?
I have had the blessing of participating in pastoral tasks of the Order in very different countries, such as Argentina and the United Kingdom. Beneath the superficial differences that mark the local culture, the pilgrimage is very similar; it has an unmistakable Augustinian color.
Luis Marin de San Martin, OSA in all his presentations on the subject, points out that synodality is not a new fad in the Church. It is the way of being Church, engraved in our Christian DNA. We friars, religious and laity (both members of the secular Augustinian fraternities and other lay members of the wider Augustinian family) have in the Statutes for Augustinian Lay Faithful a framework for living our journey as an ecclesial community, in communion, participation and mission.
What do you find in this community and what does it mean for you to resonate with the teachings of St. Augustine?
In the Augustinian community I find the great richness of the spirituality of St. Augustine. This spirituality is based on two main pillars: the encounter with God in interiority and in community. This leads to the answer to the second question: for me, to resonate with the teachings of St. Augustine means to fulfill myself as a human being.
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