As is now tradition, the Prior General of the Order of Augustinian Recollects, Friar Miguel Ángel Hernández, addresses the entire Augustinian Recollect family to congratulate them on Christmas. In his message this year, he expresses deep gratitude for the recently experienced Jubilee Year and encourages us to look to the new year with a missionary horizon, the central axis of the upcoming time of reflection and commitment.
Christmas: when heaven touches earth
The Prior General’s Christmas message is situated in the heart of the Christian mystery: the Incarnation. “At each Christmas, heaven touches the earth again,” he affirms, recalling that God makes himself present not with noise or power, but in the humble silence of a manger and in the tenderness of a child.
From that believing contemplation, Christmas is revealed as the beginning of the greatest mission in history: God becoming man so that man may live from God. A mission that is born of love and unfolds in the concrete history of humanity.
“God does not come with a crash, but in the silence of a manger and in the tenderness of a child.”
Mary and Joseph: welcoming and guarding the mission
Friar Miguel Ángel Hernández turns his gaze to Mary, the first to welcome the mission. In her believing heart and in her total availability, the Word becomes flesh and is offered to the world. Mary teaches that the mission begins in interiority, when Christ dwells in us and impels us to share the gift received.
Alongside her, Joseph, a just and silent man, appears as a faithful guardian of the mission. His concrete obedience and his faith lived in the everyday remind us that we also evangelize by caring for, serving, and sustaining life with simple and persevering gestures.
“Mary teaches us that the mission begins when we let Christ dwell within us.”
Shepherds and Magi: announcing and seeking
The shepherds, the first recipients of the announcement, represent the disciple who listens, believes, and goes out without delay to communicate the joy of the Gospel. Touched by the good news, their lives become testimony and announcement.
The Magi, guided by a star, symbolize the tireless search of the human heart. Their path evokes the spiritual experience so dear to Saint Augustine: a restless heart that only rests when it finds God, the true light.
“We recognize the tireless search of the human heart, always restless, until it rests in God.”
At each Christmas, heaven touches the earth again. God does not come with a crash, but in the silence of a manger and in the tenderness of a child. There begins the greatest mission. https://t.co/5yUPcB0rQK #AnunciadACristo #MensajeDeNavidad25
— Miguel Ángel Hernández (@PriorGeneralOAR) December 23, 2025
A Christmas with a missionary horizon
In the context of the Order’s institutional journey, the Prior General situates this Christmas greeting as a bridge between the Jubilee Year lived and the new time that opens, centered on the mission. A call directed to the entire Augustinian Recollect family to rekindle the evangelizing ardor wherever life and service lead them.
Christmas thus becomes a renewed impulse for community life, fraternity, and the proclamation of the Gospel, under the protection of Mary and Joseph, models of faith, obedience, and mission.
“Our vocation, Augustinian Recollect, is to ignite the fire of Christ’s love wherever life leads us.”
