Augustinian Recollects of the Sick (ARE)

Today, February 4, is World Cancer Day. Its objective is to promote research and prevention, improve services for patients, raise awareness and mobilize the whole society in the fight against cancer. The Augustinian Recollect Family also has a say in this area.

The Augustinian Recollect Ezequiel Moreno (1848-1906) achieved sainthood through his commitment to living the gospel from his religious vocation, which led him to be a missionary, a trainer of missionaries, a restorer of consecrated life and a bishop in very difficult times. In the Philippines, Spain and Colombia he left the traces of his intense experience of spirituality and the charisma of his religious family, the Augustinian Recollects.

Beyond his religious consecration and his ministry and service to the Church and the People of God, there is another remarkable fact about this saint: he died of a particularly painful and intense cancer at a time when neither therapies nor palliative treatments were developed.

Saint Ezekiel is therefore a special intercessor for cancer patients. His own experience of the disease, associated with his way of living it and giving it meaning, has been followed by many people, communities and organizations to give hope and meaning to those who suffer from the same disease.

In Colombia, a religious congregation dedicated to cancer patients even arose in the light of this Augustinian-Recollect spirituality and through the life model of Saint Ezekiel Moreno. These are the Augustinian Recollects of the Sick (ARE), founded on January 18, 1985 by the impulse of the Augustinian Recollect Sebastián López de Murga (1912-1999) and Irma Pinzón Vélez (1930-2023), who thus fulfilled a call to “bring love and bread to the sick”.

This mission is carried out by the Saint Ezequiel Moreno Foundation, which is guided by consolation and mercy, compassion, solidarity and dedication to each patient. This is how Sebastián López himself explained the birth of the Foundation:

“On the evening of Holy Thursday, April 15, 1976, I was in the Candelaria church in Bogotá praying to the Blessed Sacrament for the sick, when I felt a great desire to organize an institution dedicated to visiting the sick, wherever they are, and to bring them comfort, friendship and Christian warmth; and, if they are very poor patients, permanent help that would alleviate their situation in some way.

I did not doubt then, nor have I doubted since, that it was a call from Grace… On May 7, 1976 in the morning, I made the first visit to a poor woman, sick with cancer. It was the first step taken by the Blessed Ezequiel Moreno Foundation.”

Fifty years later, the Congregation continues with this legacy. The sisters and volunteers locate the sick, approach them, become part of their daily reality and accompany them whatever the stage and diagnosis of their illness.

Each patient experiences a process in which their lifestyle changes completely, feelings and emotions become more evident, and the big questions arise depending on each person’s mood: Why me? Is it a punishment? Where is God? What did I do to deserve this?

Family roles also change, the family suffers with the patient emotionally and also financially. Everyone’s life undergoes unexpected disruptions and forced relearning.

As Sister Sandra Rojas (ARE) says, “we are convinced that each of the patients we visit and accompany experiences their process in a unique way, from assimilating the diagnosis to authorizing the treatment to follow.

This is where our apostolate has a great ecclesial and spiritual meaning, since they, in the midst of their pain and uncertainty, hope that someone will listen to them, understand them, not judge them, but offer them a word of comfort and hope.

It is the beginning of a spiritual journey of reconciliation with oneself, with one’s surroundings and with God. The words of St. Ezequiel Moreno can help:

‘Do not be afraid to throw yourself into the arms of God, because you are falling into the arms of a father who caresses and embraces with love.’

We are certain that God suffers in every sick person and fights with him in this struggle for healing.”.