Within the formation stages, the Order of Augustinian Recollects organizes a six-week course of intensive formation before the candidates make their profession of the vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. It’s a time to reflect and become aware of the kind of life they want to freely assume and trust in the Lord’s grace as they make public their decision to live in the style of the Augustinian Recollects.
This year’s course began on July 16. It will run until August 26, with two locations: the monastery of San Millan de la Cogolla (La Rioja, Spain) and the convent of Our Lady of Good Counsel, Monachil (Granada, Spain). The coordinating team comprises the Augustinian Recollects Fabian Martin, president of the General Secretariat of Initial Formation, Kenneth Joseph Llacuna Onda, Danilo Janegitz, and Hector Manuel Calderon.
The nine friars of simple vows who take the course are:
- Jhyryx Gamulo Feril, Philippines,
- Rafael Ferreira dos Santos, Brazil,
- Daniel Alejandro Bencivenga, Argentina,
- Jorge Luis Contramaestre Rodriguez, Venezuela,
- Eduardo Jose Caripe, Venezuela,
- Eduardo Chavez Tellez Giron, Mexico,
- Sergio Perez Garcia, Mexico.
- Joe Jair Carabali Gonzalez, Colombia,
- Juan Manuel Garzon Santafe, Colombia.
The formation team, one member of each of the four provinces of the Order, facilitates spaces for reflection-prayer-sharing-bonding and coordinates the participation of other guests in the course.
The program is wisely elaborated to achieve the intended objectives: reflection, interior life, community experience, awareness of our pilgrimage condition, so much to the taste of St. Augustine, deepening in the value of the “evangelical counsels,” Augustinian Recollect spirituality and much more.
Each week is dedicated to a specific theme: week 1, community life, a fundamental feature of the Augustinian-Recollect life; Week 2, interiority; Week 3, life as a pilgrimage; during this week, the group does the Way to St. James cathedral. Week 4 is dedicated to ecclesiology and sees further than just the Order and perceives that the Church is the more excellent mystery the Order is only a small part of; week 5 focuses on the spirituality of the evangelical counsels, which must be an expression of overflowing love for Christ. Week 6 will be dedicated to spiritual exercises.
Within this program, the participants will be able to deepen their spiritual life, such as the visit to the sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes and the already mentioned way to St. James.
The course ends with the spiritual exercises directed by the Trinitarian religious, Ignacio Rojas, professor of the faculty of theology of Loyola University in Granada, Spain. These spiritual exercises will be experienced in the Fray Luis de Leon center, of the Augustinian Fathers, in Guadarrama, Madrid.
Within the life of the Order, this course acquires particular importance, which is why the Order oversees it is well prepared. The general and provincial priors usually visit the participants to share their concerns and experiences and offer them first-hand information on the current state of the Order or Provinces.
