The Prior General of the Augustinian Recollects, Friar Miguel Ángel Hernández, paid a renewal visit last week to the Parish of Consolation and the Augustinian School of Madrid, two ministries of the province of La Candelaria. Intergenerational coexistence, mutual care, and human quality marked the meeting.
It was an intense visit, marked by the meeting with the religious, with the mission teams, and with the educational community. In the background of all the meetings, the Prior General highlighted two notes that accompanied him during the days: the intergenerational harmony in the communities and the human quality of the people who sustain pastoral and educational life.
Fraternal meeting at the feast of the province
The visit coincided with the feast of the province of La Candelaria, a context that favored a climate of extended fraternity. At the Parish of Consolation, religious from different houses in Madrid gathered, in a community meeting that allowed them to share the joy of belonging to the same religious family.
Members of the management team of the Augustinian School also participated in this celebration, reinforcing the natural link between both realities: parish and school, community and mission, religious life and apostolic service.
The “vital forces” of the parish: listening to understand
One of the most significant moments in the parish was the meeting with the so-called “vital forces.” The community prepared a simple dinner, tapas-style, which became a space for conversation, listening, and mutual understanding.
The participants introduced themselves and shared their experience, until composing a true radiography of parish life: its dynamism, its identity, its challenges, and its human richness. For the Prior General, it was an especially valuable opportunity, because it allowed him to understand the parish not only from the structure, but from the people who make it possible.
A community marked by generational contrast
During the visit, Friar Miguel Ángel Hernández emphasized the strong generational contrast that exists in both communities.
In the Augustinian School there are four very young religious, simple professed, some in the final stretch of their theological formation. Alongside them live elderly religious: except for one, most are over 80 years old.
In the Parish of Consolation the reality is similar: two simple professed and a community mostly formed by octogenarian religious, some even close to 90 years old.
Far from being a difficulty, the Prior General perceived in this coexistence a profoundly evangelical trait: the elders take care of the young and the young take care of the elders. A reciprocal care that generates an environment of harmony, respect, and healthy coexistence, where each generation feels accompanied and valued.
Elderly religious: fidelity, sweetness, and commitment
The Prior General also expressed his surprise at discovering some elderly religious little known to him until now. He was especially impressed by their level of commitment, their activity, and their way of living fraternity with a kind and serene character.
The daily dedication of some friars—with 83, 86 years or more—became for him a reason for gratitude and pride. In his silent testimony, Friar Miguel Ángel Hernández found a sign of hope: religious life continues to be fruitful when it is sustained in fidelity, in goodness, and in constant service.
At the Augustinian School: meetings with management, faculty, and pastoral care
The agenda at the Augustinian School included various meetings that allowed to know the internal functioning of the center. The Prior General met with: the management team, the faculty, divided into two groups: the head of pastoral care, the Augustinian group Fratellis, which develops its activity in the school. It was an intense day, with a real work rhythm, which allowed the Prior General to observe closely the daily dynamics of the center.
Human quality and warmth: the style of an excellent school
One of the aspects that most impressed the Prior General was the human quality of the management team. He also highlighted that the meeting was not prepared as a ceremonial act: that day corresponded to the ordinary meeting of the team and he simply made himself present.
That transparency allowed him to witness a way of working characterized by respect, responsibility, and mutual care. In his words, not only quality was perceived, but also warmth: a style of relationship that sustains the work, strengthens the educational community, and gives consistency to the project.
The Augustinian School is considered the third best subsidized school in Madrid, and the Prior General pointed out that, after this experience, he understands with greater clarity the reasons: excellence is built from within, with committed people and a solid institutional culture.
Fratellis: Augustinian identity in the life of the center
The meeting with the head of pastoral care and with the Fratellis group highlighted the spiritual and community dimension of the school.
Pastoral care is lived as an integrating axis that accompanies students, educators, and families, and that keeps the Augustinian identity alive. The existence of groups like Fratellis shows that the educational proposal is not limited to academic formation, but promotes spaces of belonging, inner growth, and shared life.
A visit that confirms and encourages the mission
The renewal visit of the Prior General to the Parish of Consolation and the Augustinian School of Madrid left a clear impression: the mission is sustained when the community is cared for.
In both realities, Friar Miguel Ángel Hernández perceived a concrete fraternity, woven in the daily, where generations accompany each other, responsibilities are shared, and religious life continues to offer a serene and fruitful testimony.
The Consolation and the Augustinian School appear thus as two complementary spaces where the Order continues serving the Church with closeness, human quality, and family spirit.
