On April 24, the day of the conversion of our Holy Father St. Augustine, the Secular Fraternity of Macuxtepetla, Hidalgo, Mexico, began its journey after several years of formation given by the Augustinian Recollect nuns, whose convent is located in the same town.
What better day than the feast of the conversion of St. Augustine for such an event? St. Augustine is also the patron saint of the town’s parish and the head of the convent of the Augustinian Recollect nuns. In addition, the new fraternity will be dedicated to St. Augustine.
The renewal of the baptismal promises of the new brothers was a cause of grand celebration for all. Seven of its neighbors enthusiastically began their journey as a formally constituted fraternity, for which they had prepared for five years under the tutelage of the Recollect nuns.
The convent was dressed up for the joyful celebration. The nuns used the occasion to renovate the community’s chapel, which was gleaming with paint and varnish and exquisitely adorned with abundant flowers typical of the place. The Eucharist was presided over by Fr. Sergio Sanchez, an Augustinian Recollect, accompanied by the parish priest of the place, Father Angel Morfin, four other priests who serve as chaplains to the nuns, and a group of diocesan seminarians who exercised their function as altar servers in the celebration and some religious from other congregations. Although the invitation to family members had been limited, those present exceeded one hundred participants.
The customs of the native peoples of the Huasteca could not be missing. The fireworks resounded in the sky from the day before, announcing that the people were celebrating. In the liturgy, a group of typical dances participated in the entrance procession, offertory, and thanksgiving after communion, singing in Nahuatl, their native language. During the offertory, a crown was placed on the new brothers and the president of the Eucharist.
After the Eucharist, a meal was shared with various typical Huasteca dishes, accompanied by live music by the Huasteca music trio.
The president described the celebration as “a feast of the Spirit” because the nuns have been in the place for over fifty years, and the secular fraternity was the revival of the charism in the mountains of Hidalgo. A feast of the Spirit that the representatives of the other religious congregations present well understood.
We must thank the nuns for their constancy in accompanying the fraternity. They enthusiastically welcomed the Pope’s desire to put the charism in the hands of the laity. Life goes on; three new candidates began their “probationary period.”
