“In the here and now of our lives, history calls out to us and urges us to offer a prophetic response to the existing challenges.” This is the shared heartbeat of the 30 participants from Latin America and the Caribbean who, from September 2nd to 8th, gathered at the Young Religious Meeting in Lima, Peru.
Our friars, who have less than seven years of solemn profession, were able to share in this space, provided by the Organization of Augustinians of Latin America (OALA), moments of communion, prayer, fraternity, formation, and discussion on the main concerns affecting their respective pastoral ministries.
We reproduce below the letter that these young Augustinians wished to address to the entire Order.
“We greet with affection our brothers in habit from Latin America and the Caribbean, our brothers in various places worldwide, and the men and women who walk with us in building the Kingdom of God, and the entire Augustinian family (religious women and men, laypeople, secular Augustinian fraternities, and friends of our religious family), who together, oriented by the cross of Christ and inspired by love for the Church, go on pilgrimage with the yearning of having one soul and one heart towards God.
Through times of formation, meditation, and prayer, we feel accompanied by Christ, who becomes our companion on the path of life. He offers us His Love and Mercy to revitalize our faith, His Word to strengthen our hope, and His Sacramental Presence to rekindle our charity.
We are Augustinian religious with renewed enthusiasm who, following the example of the Blessed Virgin Mary, wish to renew our "yes" to God and consecrate our lives to the service of Christ and, in Him, to our brothers and sisters with whom we share the gift of the charism received.
“To be the voice of the voiceless”
In the here and now of our lives, history calls out to us and urges us to offer a prophetic response to the existing challenges. We cannot ignore that we live in a world where humanity faces strong winds, ranging from natural and moral disasters, crises and persecutions,divisions and conflicts, to the most sensitive and painful realities of human life: physical and spiritual sicknesses, despair, exhaustion, and disillusionments. We also encounter totalitarian ideologies, bloody dictatorships causing poverty, hunger, and death, along with systematic violations of human rights, including those committed by some ministers of the Church who once swore to be the voice of the voiceless.
It’s in this context, as Augustinians of nowadays, where we must take part in history with our presence and words. Imitating the style of our Father Saint Augustine, we commit ourselves to defend justice, seek truth, promote the beauty of life, and establish peace in people's hearts and within the social structures of our nations.
Aware of the importance of renewal in the Church, and within the current context of synodality, we commit to collaborate in a process involving the entire People of God. We recognize that renewal is not limited to external structural changes but it implies a continuous conversion in reply to the call of the Holy Spirit, adapting the Church's mission without losing its essence in Christ and the Gospel. We pledge to be agents of this renewal process, addressing current challenges of inclusion, social justice, and prophetic witness.
“Serving with greater availability”
We know that Augustinians in Latin America and the Caribbean are committed to the ecclesial reality of the continent, but we also acknowledge the need to deepen our understanding of key aspects such as the preferential option for the poor, the formation of the laity, and the strengthening of the spirituality of communion. We commit to serving with greater availability, “unsettling” ourselves from established structures and embracing the challenge of feeling with the Church.
Finally, we commit to strengthening internal synodality within our Order, promoting transformational leadership focused on service, spiritual, ecclesial, pastoral, and Augustinian conversion, committing to integral ecology, and revitalizing prophecy among our religious. Likewise, as young Augustinians, we commit to promoting vocational discernment and youth ministry through the witness of our communal life.
Our commitment includes fervor and respect for the Sacred Liturgy, devotion to the Virgin Mary, and veneration of the saints and blesseds of our Augustinian family, the dynamics of listening, the spirituality of communion, and formation in the Augustinian spirit.
May this commitment be a faithful and determined response to the call that the Lord makes to us in these times, with the certainty that, in communion, we will achieve being true witnesses of the Kingdom of God.
In Christ, in Saint Augustine, and in fraternal communion, the Young Augustinian Religious of Latin America and the Caribbean, participants of the Meeting in Lima, Peru.
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