August, a month of great significance for the Augustinian Family, has brought to the workers, beneficiaries, alumni, volunteers and friends of the Boys’ Town activities to promote Augustinian spirituality and the joy of the experience of life in community.
The month of August began in the Boys’ Town, a socio-educational project of the Augustinian Recollects in the vicinity of the city of Carthage (Costa Rica), with the celebration of the traditional pilgrimage to the National Basilica of Our Lady of the Angels, located just under five kilometers from the institution.
Around 50 beneficiaries, accompanied by religious and collaborators, joined this proposal with a walk on foot in a festive, joyful and also spiritual tone. Thus, during the walk they prayed and sang together.
The Health Fair was organized between August 5 and 19, in collaboration with higher education centers of health sciences and professional volunteers in the field. Within the same educational facilities, it was possible to offer to those who requested it, some type of care, training or information on prevention.
This event has its spiritual side with the celebration of the novena to Saint Ezequiel Moreno, the saint bishop and Augustinian Recollect missionary considered patron and special protector of cancer patients, a disease that he himself suffered and from which he died.
Thus, from August 11 to 19, the social networks of the Boys’ Town made a special communication effort to make the saint known and promote his testimony, example and spirituality. Within daily life, before beginning the day, the collaborators themselves performed the novena.
After the novena to the saint bishop, the novena to Saint Augustine began, which took place from August 19 to 28. In addition to the population of the Boys’ Town (religious, collaborators and beneficiaries), it was open to the general public.
The daily central act was the Eucharist at seven in the evening in the temple of Our Lady of Consolation. There were invited priests as presidents, which gave a touch of variety: Walter Morales, parish priest of San Francisco de Asís in Agua Caliente; Sebastián Abarca, vicar of the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Angels; Marco Segura, Augustinian; or the Augustinian Recollect, Alberto Vallecillos, parish priest of Our Lady of Carmen in Alajuela.
After the Eucharist and the novena had been prayed, a brief training topic was given and coffee was offered and a moment of dialogue, conviviality and space to strengthen community ties.
This year, the first edition of the AgustínFest was also held on August 24 in the gymnasium, with the participation of the musical group Los Hicsos, with great participation. In addition, on the day of Saint Monica, August 27, in the temple and with the lights off, the singer María Celeste Román and the pianist Nazaret Aguilar gave a recital in honor of the mother of Saint Augustine.
On August 28, the solemnity of the saint, the Day of the Collaborator was organized. At ten in the morning the bishop of Carthage, Mario Quirós, presided over the Eucharist and focused his speech on the restless heart of Augustine and on those who follow his charisma.
The same bishop later blessed the new facilities of the Augustinian-Recollect Spirituality Center (CEAR) of Cartago, which has involved the transformation and reform of the old office and management building. CEAR Cartago will soon offer courses, talks, motivations and spirituality days. The celebrations ended with coffee and refreshments for everyone.
On the other hand, throughout the month of August the Saint Augustine Technical High School organized the Augustinian Olympics, with questions about the life of Saint Augustine and the Creative Augustinian space, in which the beneficiaries presented drawings, songs and literary creations and received various awards and commemorative diplomas.
On September 1, the Augustinian month concluded with a party in which former students were honored, the entrepreneurship fair was organized and, for all audiences, recreational activities (inflatables, mechanical bull), food sales, sports or parades.
All of this was possible with the support of many different people: the religious of the Recollect community, the collaborators and workers of the institution, friends and volunteers and the beneficiaries, who gladly joined the program and participated with joy and commitment.
