The search for God, fraternal life, and accompaniment were at the heart of the homily delivered before the ten members in formation of the community, some twenty priests, and members of the Secular Fraternity.
“We seek God together, always together”: the Prior General celebrates Saint Augustine in Las Rozas
The Prior General celebrated the solemnity of Our Father Saint Augustine at the Saint Augustine Formation House in Las Rozas de Madrid, belonging to the Province of Saint Nicholas of Tolentino. In his homily, he presented the saint as a tireless seeker of truth and exhorted the young religious to allow themselves to be accompanied, to live fraternity, and to prepare to give their lives.
The celebration brought together the ten members in formation of the community and some twenty priests, including Augustinian Recollect friars and diocesan priests close to the house. Members of the Secular Fraternity linked to this community also took part.
Among the concelebrants were Fr. César Vázquez, parochial vicar of Saint Michael the Archangel in Las Rozas, the parish to which the religious community belongs, and Fr. Jesús González Alemany, episcopal vicar of Vicariate VII of the Archdiocese of Madrid.
Saint Augustine, a man who never stopped searching
“Augustine was, above all, a man who searched,” the Prior General stated at the beginning of the homily. He searched for happiness, truth, the meaning of his life, and whatever could fill his heart with joy and peace.
Saint Augustine searched in philosophy, astrology, eloquence, success, recognition, relationships, pleasure, and knowledge. Many proposals promised him happiness, but none managed to give him rest.
“And perhaps this is where Augustine’s greatness begins: he never stopped searching,” the Prior General noted. Even when he was mistaken or walked paths that he would later discover were not his own, he kept searching. Even if he moved away from God, God did not stop working in him.
In the end, he understood that what he was seeking outside was closer to him than he was to himself. He discovered that God had been waiting for him for a long time in the depths of his heart.
Learning to desire God
The Prior General placed desire at the center of Saint Augustine’s spiritual experience. The saint was a man of great desires, but he had to learn to purify them and orient them rightly.
“It is not enough to desire greatly; one must learn to desire well; one must learn what is worthy of being desired,” he explained.
The human heart can achieve success, accumulate knowledge, receive affection, and undertake numerous projects and, nevertheless, remain empty. Saint Augustine discovered that there was a desire deeper than all the others: “the desire for God”.
When that desire found its true destination, his whole life began to be set in order. The Augustinian experience thus invites us to seek the truth with a restless heart and to recognize that only God can fully respond to the deepest longings of the human person.
“We seek Him together, always together”
The encounter with Christ did not turn Saint Augustine into an isolated man; rather, it led him toward his brothers. His experience of God was always accompanied by a profound experience of communion.
Inspired by the first Christian community of Jerusalem, Saint Augustine proposed a common life sustained by listening to the Word, the Eucharist, prayer, fraternity, the sharing of goods, and concern for others.
The Prior General recalled that being an Augustinian Recollect entails a concrete way of living and seeking God: “We seek Him in prayer, in the Eucharist, in the Word, in the difficulties of community life, but we seek Him together, always together”.
The celebration of the solemnity of Saint Augustine in Las Rozas was an expression of this communion. Those in formation, religious, diocesan priests, and members of the Secular Fraternity gathered as one family to celebrate the spiritual father of the Order.
Persevering amid difficulties
Perseverance was another of the central themes of the homily. The Prior General recalled that Saint Augustine “was not a saint made in one piece,” but that his journey was full of searches, doubts, struggles, mistakes, decisions, and conversions.
Precisely for this reason, his experience continues to feel close. Saint Augustine does not speak from the perfection of one who never encountered difficulties, but from the life of a person who “never stopped walking” and who had to get up many times.
In the light of the Gospel, the Prior General recalled the words of Jesus: “I am the gate” and “I am the good Shepherd”. Augustine knocked on many doors until he found Christ, the shepherd who knows him, loves him, leads him, and accompanies him.
“Augustine sought the truth and ended up discovering that Truth had a face: the face of Christ,” he affirmed.
Allowing oneself to be accompanied in order to accompany
Accompaniment occupied a prominent place in the reflection. The Prior General recalled that Saint Augustine did not reach Christ on his own, but that God made use of specific people to lead him.
His mother Monica, Ambrose, Simplician, Alypius, his friends, and the Church itself accompanied his searches and helped him discern the path.
“Augustine was a man who was accompanied. And precisely because he allowed himself to be accompanied, he was later able to become a man capable of accompanying others,” the Prior General explained.
Following the example of Jesus, the Good Shepherd, Christian accompaniment does not consist in controlling, dominating, or creating dependence. “To accompany is to give one’s life. It is to listen. It is to walk alongside. It is to be patient. It is to help discern,” he noted.
It also means correcting when necessary, waiting when the time has not yet come, and rejoicing when the other grows. “The true companion does not lead toward himself; he leads toward Christ,” he underscored.
A special message for the young members in formation
At the end of the homily, the Prior General addressed special words to the young simply professed of the Saint Augustine Formation House.
“Dear young men, simply professed, do not be in a hurry to arrive,” he asked them. He encouraged them to learn to walk, to listen, to allow themselves to be helped, to know their own hearts, to seek God, and to live with their brothers.
The day will come, he added, when other people will need to receive from them what they are now receiving from their formators, companions, and community brothers.
The Prior General recalled that this stage does not have as its only purpose preparing them to exercise a ministry. Its deeper purpose is “to prepare you to give your life: like Christ, like Paul, like Augustine”.
The celebration concluded with an invitation to recover the desire for God, to persevere when the path becomes difficult, to live fraternity, and “to allow ourselves to be accompanied so that we may accompany” the people whom the Lord entrusts to each one.
