2025, a year to celebrate with the whole Church that we are Pilgrims of Hope. Thus we began the Holy Year, recalling a value that, besides being evangelical, is profoundly Augustinian. With the help of the Recollect historian Ángel Martínez Cuesta, we remember the relationship between the Augustinian Recollect Family and Jubilees.
We have recognized in Mary of Nazareth that consoling, transformative atmosphere that invites personal commitment: Mary of Consolation, Saint Augustine, and the Jubilee: look to the heavens, regain strength, and extend your hand to others. Furthermore, during the Jubilee of Marian Spirituality, we turn to the Augustinian Recollect Pablo Panedas, a specialist in Spiritual Theology: “Pray, read, work, govern yourself, in community”: the Marian Jubilee as an opportunity for renewal.
To present the vision of Christian hope of Augustine of Hippo. He believed that this is the only feasible, real, and authentic hope: Jubilee of Hope: and you, in whom do you place your hope? With the Augustinian Recollect Enrique Eguiarte, we understood that, although Saint Augustine never participated in a Jubilee, he did visit Rome and St. Peter’s Basilica: Saint Augustine and the Jubilee.
The first of the specific Jubilees was that of Social Communications. The Augustinian Recollect Marciano Santervás (Izagre, León, Spain, 1947), in two articles, recalled this particularly rich and relevant area of evangelization: “No other activity is in such a favorable position to create the climate of hope and trust that the Pope asks for”; and “In our Family, the culture of encounter and teamwork are essential for constructive communication.”
For the Jubilee of Artists, we turned to Santiago Bellido (Valladolid, Spain, 1970), whom we asked what motivates him to seek and promote beauty: “I seek harmonious beauty; art should be sublime. I hope my works inspire something positive!”.
We also had a historical touch with the Jubilee of one hundred years ago with the story of Juan de Dios Aráiz, the Recollect who showed the missions of the Order in the Jubilee of 1925, on the 150th anniversary of his birth.
For the Jubilee of the Sick, an Augustinian Recollect, Hugh Patrick Corrigan (Dublin, Ireland, 1954), shared with us how he lives with his degenerative illness: “I prefer to suffer and have God with me, than not to suffer but not have God. In the face of suffering, I count on the Lord by my side.”
Guided by the Augustinian Recollect José Manuel Romero, we experienced the Easter Triduum focusing on Christian hope. Three days to remember, four scenes of hope.
On the feast day of Saint Rita, we take the opportunity to remember her curious and significant relationship with Jubilees: Saint Rita, the Saint of Jubilees, a sign of hope.
For the Jubilee of athletes we spoke with José Antonio Paunero, who has directed the Sports Club of the Saint Augustine High School in Valladolid (Spain) for more than 15 years: “Effort, self-improvement, responsibility, kindness, patience, joy, freedom or teamwork are sporting values and also Christian values”.
For the Jubilee of the Seminarians we turned to Abraham Alejandro Montoya (Mexico City, 1987), David Suárez (Grecia, Alajuela, Costa Rica, 2000) and Raimundo Gildo Sousa (Boca do Acre, Amazonas, Brazil, 1997), three Recollects in their last stage of initial formation: “To be salt and light in a turbulent, disoriented and egocentric world, being creative and faithful.”
The Jubilee of Bishops brought us two invaluable testimonies. Francisco Javier Hernández (Cascante, Navarre, Spain, 1941), Bishop of Tianguá (Ceará, Brazil) from 1991 to 2017, said: “Feeling absolutely loved by God is the root of everything you do, regardless of your stage of life.” Eusebio Hernández (Cárcar, Navarre, Spain, 1944), also an Augustinian Recollect and Bishop of Tarazona (Saragossa, Spain) from 2011 to 2022, spoke to us about his consecrated and episcopal vocation, his vision of the Jubilee, and how he experienced the arrival of Leo XIV. “The absence of God in our society cannot be filled by superficial, lazy, materialistic Christians.”
For the priestly Jubilee we turn to the Augustinian Recollect Marcos Liu (Ji Ning Shi, Inner Mongolia, People’s Republic of China, 1983), a priest since 2015: “I am challenged to love and serve more by the calloused hands of the humble, the smiles of children and the patience of my brothers.”
The testimony of Fabián Martín, an Augustinian Recollect specializing in the spirituality of consecrated life, reached us to celebrate the Jubilee of religious. “Let us be a hopeful song in the midst of pain and worries, witnesses that God embraces us with passion.”
And with the help of the Augustinian Recollect missionary José Manuel Romero, we highlight how the Augustinian Recollect Family has always sought to be a family of missionaries of hope among the peoples. A beautiful conclusion that serves as a bridge between the Jubilee that is ending and the Augustinian Recollect Missionary Year that is beginning.
