That the Secular Fraternities be communities of lay people who live with passion in their family and work life the beauty of the Augustinian Recollect charism and take their itinerary in their hands”

May the God of hope fill our hearts with joy and peace. Dear brothers and sisters of the Secular Augustinian Recollect Fraternity: It is a joy to be able to communicate with all of you on the occasion of the feast of Saint Magdalene of Nagasaki.

It has been almost seven months since the General Chapter concluded and the Provinces have also been celebrating their Provincial Chapters, in the absence of the Province of La Candelaria which will celebrate it in the coming days.

In all the Chapters attention has been given to the Fraternities and Decisions have been made that ask the Order and the Provinces to take care of them, to be attentive to their needs, to offer them good formation, but above all we are insisted on that we do not take away from them the protagonism that corresponds to them and that you must assume.

We religious are here to advise, to accompany, but it is you who have to take life in your hands. This does not mean that we want to disregard the Fraternities, we are going to continue walking together, as the motto of the General Chapter said, but each one assuming the role that corresponds.

And the role that corresponds to each local Fraternity is to be the protagonist of its history, of its path, of its trajectory, becoming more aware of its vocation and its commitment every day.

The General Chapter in its Decision B.11 asks us religious to promote Secular Fraternities in our ministries and to facilitate the dissemination, knowledge and implementation of the document “Joyful in Hope”; the training of assistants; training of trainers and councils; the preparation of the Pilgrim Training Itinerary. And that’s where we are.

The General Council meeting the last week of September has reflected on what the Church and the Order expect from the Fraternities, has contrasted ideas and has finally appointed a team made up of religious and members of the Fraternity who will be in charge of carrying out the Capitular decisions and to animate the life of the Fraternities throughout the Recollect geography.

The coordinating team of the Secular Fraternity is made up of the religious Fr. Fabián Martín, Fr. Sergio Sánchez and Fr. Lauro Larlar and five members of the Secular Fraternity: Ms. Maricela Valles, Ms. Rosana Pucarelli, Ms. Tatiana Moreno, Mr. Hernán Ferrer and Mr. Gerardo R. Gómez.

In addition to this coordinating team that will stimulate the life and mission of the Secular Fraternity throughout the Order, there will be a council of presidents made up of all the national presidents and the coordinating team; their meetings will be frequent and will be held by digital means. In this way it will be easier for the difficulties, dreams, conquests and hopes of the Fraternities of each country to reach those ultimately responsible, so that they can act in a collegial manner according to the needs that appear.

The formation of the formators and presidents of the Fraternities and also of the spiritual advisers will be a priority in this period that we are beginning, without neglecting the elaboration of new volumes of the Pilgrim Itinerary. We are not satisfied with the appearance of new books, we also want to be sure that the dynamics and internal pedagogy of the Itinerary have been understood; We will also dedicate our efforts to this.

Thank God, the Pilgrim Route is giving a face and an identity to the Secular Fraternity. Formerly the Fraternities walked very independently of each other. Today in any corner of the world, the Fraternities reflect on the same themes, ask themselves the same questions, listen to the same testimonies, feed on the same Word of God and drink from the same sources of Saint Augustine.

This means that when Fraternities from different Provinces or countries meet, we recognize and identify with each other, because we are guided by the same project and we follow the same itinerary.

As I passed through the different ministries before the Santo Tomás de Villanueva Province and now the Order, whenever I have the opportunity I meet the Secular Fraternity and I insist on some aspects that today I want to extend to all the recipients of these letters.

1. The Secular Fraternity is a lay vocation

A vocation that the Holy Spirit has aroused in his Church to live the Gospel and our Christian life from the charismatic Augustinian Recollect identity. A vocation to holiness. That is our fundamental objective and the Church tells us that by living the Rule of life authentically it is possible to attain life in Christ.

Good proof of this is the testimony of St. Magdalene of Nagasaki and many other brothers, whom Pope Francis calls the saints next door, with whom we have lived and shared life and of whom we have not the slightest doubt who already enjoy the presence of God.

2. Our language is that of the laity

A purification of language and religious symbols in our Fraternities is necessary. If, as I say, it is a lay vocation, it makes no sense for us to continue using a language that is proper to consecrated life and that lends itself to confusion. The novitiate, the vows, the profession, the master of novices, etc., that is a specific terminology of religious life, which cannot have a place and must be banished from our Fraternities.

The same can be said of the clothing and other religious symbols and distinctives that are used and that create confusion for those outside and also for those inside. We are lay people who want to live our baptism from the Augustinian Recollect spirituality. Nothing more, but also nothing less.

3. We are specialists in charity

The Fraternity is not a group of people who want to specialize in Saint Augustine. The Fraternity is a group of people who want to specialize in loving and serving in the style of Augustine. It is not only about knowing the doctrine of Augustine, it is about aspiring for our hearts to burn like Augustine’s and ignite in the fire of the Word of God.

Obviously, going through the Pilgrim’s Itinerary will lead us to a great knowledge of Saint Augustine as well, but it is not the main thing, those are the additions that the Gospel speaks about.

4. The Fraternity is a group of brethren who share life.

It is not possible to live the Fraternity, nor to feel like brethren with all the consequences with a couple of meetings a month. It is not possible to be a brethren by learning a lot of doctrine from Saint Augustine. If we want to seriously embrace the proposal that is being made to us from the Fraternity, we have to give ourselves enough space and time, so that we feel that, inside our hearts, “the other” has become a true brother and not just someone who frequents the Same meetings as me.

The meetings of the Fraternity have to become an opportunity to be able to pour out our hearts into the hands of our brethren, with all confidence and freedom, knowing that I will not be judged.

Many times in our meetings we hear beautiful things about Saint Augustine and we learn many other interesting things. However, we return home with the same lump in our throats and with the same affliction and anguish that we brought to the meeting, because we have not had the opportunity to share the moment we are experiencing.

The meetings of the Fraternity should offer us those spaces to share life. And that demands that we all be trustworthy, discreet, respectful and understand that what the brother shares with us is a treasure that he places in our hands and that I must keep for myself in the depths of my heart.

5. The Pilgrims’ Itinerary, much more than study sheets.

Probably for the vast majority of Fraternities, the sheets of the Itinerary do not go beyond a few study topics. This is one of the great challenges that lies ahead: explaining the Itinerary properly and making the brethren understand that the topics offered are not really the most important thing.

What is truly important is the opportunity offered to us to talk about ourselves, about our life of faith, about what God is doing within us, about the difficulties that we encounter along the way, about our dreams and hopes, but also about our frustrations and defeats. And all this in light of the issues we are dealing with.

6. To new wine, new skins.

We cannot pretend to rejuvenate aging Fraternities with young people. Certainly we cannot put limits on God, but it is normal for young people not to feel attracted to groups of older people, with very different mentalities, lives, experiences and ways of seeing life.

For this reason, the ideal is that in each ministry where the Fraternity exists, new groups of Fraternity will emerge, each one living its stage and its moment; for that and for that reason we follow an Itinerary. All groups can and should have common moments of meeting: monthly retreat or with the periodicity that is decided, gatherings, some training talks, celebrations of our saints and feasts of the Order, etc.

In all those moments we all have to share together, those who made their promises 30 years ago and those who arrived the day before yesterday. But the training has to be differentiated. Each one has to go through their process, because the really great thing about the Pilgrims Itinerary is that, if you take it seriously, it transforms you inside and changes your life.

7. The religious advise, but they do not direct and much less command.

We religious accompany, but we do not make the decisions. The protagonist is all of the laity. Gone are the days when the religious adviser did everything in the meeting. Gone are the days when the Fraternity group was in the image and likeness of the adviser. Gone are the days when members of the Fraternity went to the meeting to listen and went home without further ado.

If there are not people sufficiently prepared, that must be the main task of the adviser, to prepare brethren with leadership capacity and teachers capable of configuring Christ in the hearts of others. We all have to work so that the Fraternities are less and less dependent on the advisors, which does not mean, as I have already said, that we want to ignore them. On the contrary, we want to see them grow and assume the role that corresponds to them.

If we do not have prepared people, the National Councils will have to organize training and leadership schools or simpler courses that come to alleviate these deficiencies. I also invite you to have the Order’s Formation School.

And in relation to the spiritual advisers, I want to inform you that the Order will publish, as soon as possible, a manual or instructions on the function of the adviser in the life of the Fraternities.

I would like that in all the local Fraternities and also in the National Councils this letter could be read and reflected upon in the community, which, I am sure, will provoke debate, restlessness and in some, concern.

My wish is that the letter unsettles us a little, stirs us up from within, and arouses in all our Fraternities a sincere desire to grow, to uncover and serve the brothers, all the hidden potential that exists.

My wish is that the Fraternities be communities of lay people who live with passion in their family and work life the beauty of the Augustinian Recollect charism and shine in the Church for their testimony of charity and brotherhood.

May Saint Magdalene of Nagasaki, who allowed herself to be carried away by the Spirit of the Lord, help us to live these times of synodality in which Pope Francis asks us to put the charism in the hands of the laity.

And, I am sincere, I cannot think of or know of other better hands than those of the Secular Fraternity, to deposit in them this charism that we carry in clay pots.

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