Within the framework of the Augustinian Recollect Missionary Year, Friar Sergio Pérez, ARY adviser in the Prelature of Lábrea, explains how some thirty young people have prepared to bring the Gospel to communities, visit the sick, and draw close to families during the month of November.
“Here I am; send me”. These words of the prophet Isaiah have become an invitation to which the young people of the Augustinian Recollect Youth (ARY) of the Prelature of Lábrea, in the Brazilian Amazon, want to respond with their own lives. During November, some thirty young people will undertake a missionary experience that will bring them closer to families, the sick, and those who have drifted away from the Church.
Friar Sergio Pérez, an Augustinian Recollect and ARY adviser, shares with recoletos.org how this initiative came about, born within the framework of the 2026 Augustinian Recollect Missionary Year, under the motto “Proclaim Christ wherever you can”.
For the religious, the proposal responds to the desire that young people not be only recipients of evangelization, but also protagonists in proclaiming the Gospel. An experience that will enable them to discover that mission begins with something as simple as drawing close to another person, listening, and sharing with them Christian hope.
Preparing the heart before setting out on mission
Friar Sergio explains that the ARY of Lábrea devoted a day to missionary formation, held at Centro Esperanza, where the young people usually meet on weekends.
The formation brought together about 25 participants, although approximately 30 young people will join the mission during November. The gathering took place over the course of an entire morning and had as its guiding thread the words of the prophet Isaiah: “Here I am; send me” (Is 6:8).
“We want young people to know how to arrive, how to pray, how to do the biblical reading,” Friar Sergio explains as he describes the aims of this preparation.
The religious notes that it was not only about offering practical tools for visits, but also about helping participants discover the spiritual meaning of mission.
For this reason, one of the most significant moments was the experience of lectio divina, the prayerful reading of Sacred Scripture. For some young people, it was the first time they had taken part in this form of prayer, which enabled them to approach the Word of God from an interior perspective and through Augustinian spirituality.
In this way, the formation sought to unite two fundamental dimensions of Christian life: a personal encounter with God and a readiness to go out to meet others.
A cross and a mission for the communities of Lábrea
On Sunday, November 1, the Solemnity of All Saints, the young people received their missionary sending from their adviser and the parish. During the celebration, they were given a cross, a visible sign of their commitment to proclaim Christ in the different communities of the Prelature of Lábrea.
This gesture marked the beginning of an experience that will unfold over the four weekends of November.
Friar Sergio explains that the young people will visit different parish communities, drawing especially close to families, to those going through situations of illness, and to people who, for various reasons, have stopped taking part in the life of the Church.
They will also devote part of their mission to meeting with other young people, inviting them to discover the Christian community and to take part in the Church’s activities.
The proposal, therefore, goes beyond carrying out a series of visits. It seeks to build relationships, listen to what people are going through, share prayer, and make the Church’s closeness present in the communities of the Amazonian prelature.
Friar Sergio notes that the initiative also has the support of the bishop of the Prelature of Lábrea, who has provided a letter of introduction for the missionaries. This document will make it possible to identify the young people and certify that the visits are part of an evangelizing activity promoted by the local Church.
Young people who make the Order’s missionary spirit their own
For Friar Sergio Pérez, this experience has special meaning because it connects directly with the identity of the Augustinian Recollect Youth and with the path the entire Order is taking during the 2026 Missionary Year.
The religious recalls that one of the pillars of the ARY is precisely mission. For this reason, the young people of Lábrea have wanted to join the invitation that the Order addresses to the entire Augustinian Recollect Family: to proclaim Christ wherever possible.
This initiative takes on particular meaning in the Amazon, a territory where the Church’s missionary presence is expressed through accompanying communities, closeness to families, and service to those most in need.
With the formation they have received, the missionary sending, and the scheduled visits, the young people want to show that evangelization does not depend only on major initiatives, but also on small gestures of encounter, listening, and prayer.
The testimony that Friar Sergio shares with recoletos.org shows how the Missionary Year is taking shape in the Order’s communities. In Lábrea, that spirit has the face of some thirty young people who have decided to devote their weekends to sharing the faith.
Their response is the same one that inspired the day of formation: “Here I am; send me”. An expression of readiness that they now want to turn into a concrete missionary experience, bringing the Gospel to the families and communities of the Prelature of Lábrea.
