Draw everyone to the love of God!

The month of October in the Church is the missionary month par excellence. From the Philippine Islands, the main mission of the Augustinian Recollects for more than four centuries, specifically from Palawan, the Prior General shares with us some reflections on our missions and the missionary spirit.

Although our Order, in its origin, was not strictly missionary, the missions belong to its essence. They have contributed to delineate and perfect the charism of the Order, making us open to the needs of the Church. The missions are our “greatest glory”, they have given us internal cohesion and external luster. In them we have had martyrs and saints.

We continue to share the mission with the laity and to improve their accompaniment. We work with passion for the glory of God and the salvation of souls, following the example of the missionaries who gave their lives for Jesus Christ. The vocation of the missionary is sublime, since it consists in announcing Christ as way, truth and life for the people, that is why we embrace and are multipliers of these beautiful reflections that we attach below.

Prot. CG 148/2023

To all the religious of the Order

Draw everyone to the love of God! ^[1]

The month of October in the Church is the missionary month par excellence, and for this reason and from the Philippine Islands, the main mission of the Augustinian Recollects for more than four centuries, specifically from Palawan, where we arrived in 1623, fertilizing this land with the shed blood of numerous missionaries of our Order, I would like to share with you some simple reflections on our missions and the missionary spirit.

Our historians have already made it clear on many occasions that our order is not strictly speaking a missionary order, we were not born with missionary purposes, nor have the vicissitudes that have shaken it over the centuries transformed it into an order with a preferably missionary character^[2] . There are solid arguments to support this affirmation, but this is not the moment to analyze them. However, it is no less true that the missions belong to the very essence of the being of the Order. In 1604, barely 16 years after the birth of the Recollection, in the midst of adolescence, the first steps to go to the missions were already being taken.

Throughout history, the Philippine missions have contributed to define and perfect the charism of the Order, adapting it more to the model of St. Augustine, who did not want his monks withdrawn into themselves, but open to the needs of the Church. ^[3]

Today we can affirm, and this is what our Constitutions state, that the missionary apostolate is an inherited right of the Order^[4] , which we could not renounce without betraying our identity or what is the same, it is impossible to understand our Order apart from the missions, because being missionary is in its essence.

The missions have given the Order internal cohesion and external luster. The fruits gathered in them have freed it from ecclesial anonymity and have allowed it to feel useful to the Church and to the world, and at the same time we can say that the missions constitute the “greatest glory” of the Order, its most precious flower, because in them it has given the clearest signs of its holiness, its apostolicity and its catholicity. In them the two saints of the Recollection were sanctified: Saint Magdalene of Nagasaki and Saint Ezekiel Moreno and the blessed of Japan. A hundred martyrs have shed their blood in the missions. And, finally, in the missions two of the three congregations of Augustinian Recollect nuns of active life that today share our spirit and whom we can consider as the greatest fruits of our apostolate^[5] .

What Pope Francis asked of us in the last General Chapter, in relation to sharing the charism with the laity, was already fully lived by our friars in the 17th century in the land of the rising sun and in other mission territories. We have to continue sharing the mission with them and we have to continue taking steps to improve their accompaniment.

St. Ezekiel Moreno, St. Magdalene of Nagasaki and the blessed martyrs of Japan are already on the altars and have sanctified themselves working in and for the missions; but it does not end there: In 1630 there were already more than three hundred confreres and members of the Third Order who had shed their blood for Christ in Japan^[6] . More than 70 Recollects were killed in the Philippines between the XVII and XIX centuries, without counting those who died in prisons in subhuman conditions^[7] . Mariano Gazpio, also spent his life in the missions, specifically in China. Hermana Cleusa, a martyr to the indigenous and Amazonian cause who gave her life in the mission of Labrea, and Bishop Ignácio Martínez, prelate of Labrea.

The Colombian Recollection was not left out of the missionary and martyrdom of the Order: Fathers Alonso de la Cruz, Bartolomé de los Ángeles and Miguel de la Magdalena were violently murdered by the Indians of Urabá and Darién.

Many other religious have worked in the missions and their names do not appear in the lists of servants of God or of the venerable, but they are certainly inscribed in the Book of Life.

When Ignatius Martinez was informed of his assignment to the missions of Labrea, in Brazil, when he was only 21 years old, he wrote to his two religious sisters in these terms: I am going as a missionary, that is, to work as much as I can for the glory of God our Lord and the health of souls, but with enthusiasm and truly, even to the point of giving my life if necessary to bring one more soul to Jesus Christ our God and our only Love^[8] .

Surely it was not his intention, but in the simplicity and depth of these three lines, Ignacio Martinez describes perfectly the being and the mission of the missionary: to work with passion for the glory of God and the salvation of souls, if necessary by giving his own life.

Ezekiel Moreno, who says: The vocation of the missionary is sublime, because it consists in the proclamation of Christ, way, truth and life of the people and the only source of individual salvation. His mission is of a spiritual character, but it produces beneficial reflections in all aspects of human life (…) as God’s ambassador, as his envoy, the missionary is called to show man the way that leads him to integral happiness, both eternal and temporal. He should preach humility of heart, chastity, meekness, resignation in adversity, forgiveness of injuries, compassion for the unfortunate and all that ennobles man and purifies and sanctifies his affections, always emphasizing the values of universal brotherhood, equality before the law and the right of all to share in the inheritance of the common father^[9] .

It is true that in the missions we have suffered numerous defections, but… only in the missions? However, there is much more, infinitely more, what we have received from them and which we have already mentioned above: they have given us internal cohesion, they have taken us out of anonymity, they have helped us to free ourselves from the threat of self-referentiality, they have widened our apostolic horizons, we have learned to see life through the eyes of the most needy, we have better understood the Beatitudes, we have gained in social sensitivity, we have put into practice what Augustine said, that it is better to need less than to have much^[10] . We have become all things to all: Palaweños, Casanareños, Labrenses, Marajoaras, Chotanos, Bocatoreños, Sierraleoneses, etc., to win over the few (1Cor 9,22). The people of these towns have taught us to be generous and detached, sharing the little they have; they have taught us to trust in Providence, not to complain, to be grateful and to never stop smiling. From these people and from these simple and humble people we have learned to carry our daily crosses with joy. Together with them, the commandment of love has become more intelligible and what is ours and mine has become less important because we have learned to put first the interests of the little ones whom we serve as if they were our Lord. The missions have cured our blindness and taught us to see Jesus in the face of the poor, but also to be the face of God for them.

In short, as the Gospel says, the poor evangelize us and undoubtedly many missionaries of the Order owe “their evangelization” to their work among the preferred ones of the Kingdom. Their passage through the missions has marked them definitively and has forged their personalities forever, and even outside the mission, most of them continue being those witnesses of the Kingdom with a very special way of being, because in those lands and with those people the most human, tender and close face of God has been revealed to them.

And as we have seen with countless testimonies, the mission is not at odds with religious observance, nor with holiness of life; on the contrary, I believe that the missions offer us the most propitious and fertile ground so that the seed of God can fertilize the hearts of the missionaries and bear fruits of holiness.

However, as if it were a chronic illness, our missions have almost always suffered from a lack of personnel, seriously compromising the effectiveness of the apostolic work and frequently putting at risk the very religious vocation of the missionary, and all this in spite of the clamor of the Prelates of the place and of the missionaries themselves. There are many details, situations and names of places and people that our chronicles offer confirming all this. The years go by, we continue adding pages to the history of the Order, but it seems as if in this aspect of commitment with the mission we have not advanced at all and we continue repeating the history: some bishops of our missions, notoriously discouraged, send us by letter their complaints when they contemplate the abandonment in which some of our missionary communities find themselves and also the missionaries continue expressing their discomfort with the situation.

The 2016 General Chapter, which restructured the Order into four Provinces, asked all Provinces to develop a Life and Mission Project in line with that of the Order in which the charismatic identity would be promoted and the missions would be strengthened, among other aspects^[11] , and specifically the Province of St. Ezekiel was asked to open two houses in a new country in Asia and to strengthen the mission of Sierra Leone^[12] .

The General Chapter of 2022 literally repeated these same Decisions^[13] and also asks the Priors Provincial to form the missionary communities with at least four religious, in order to guarantee fraternal life in community and the adequate attention to the pastoral and social reality of each place^[14] . To date, only one province has complied with what is established in our legislation and I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude for their great effort.

In all the provincial chapters the loss of the missionary spirit and the enormous difficulty of the provincials to find religious willing to serve in our missions have become evident. To what is this due? I understand that the causes must be multiple and I do not want to fall into reductionism nor get lost in casuistry, but I think that the lack of missionary spirit is a clear and immediate consequence of the lack of religious spirit. We have been infected by secularism and worldliness has infiltrated our communities; we have decreased the demands and observance and increased conformism, contemporization, accommodation and mediocrity; we are more concerned with ourselves, with our project of personal self-realization than with the salvation of souls; our consecrated life has become a modus vivendi and has ceased to be passion for the Kingdom. In short, I believe that we are lacking the strong, marked and configuring experience of God’s love in our lives, which would pull us out of the abyss of indifference and passivity into which we have fallen and launch us with evangelical and creative audacity to announce the Good News in our missions.

           The poet William Blake wrote a famous poem about the fire of the Holy Spirit that is very illuminating:

Unless the eye is not set on fire, God will not be seen.

Unless the ear is not set on fire, God will not be heard.

Unless the tongue is not set on fire, God will not be named.

Unless the Heart is not set on fire, God will not be loved.

Unless the mind is not set on fire, God will not be known.

The last General Chapter also asked us to strengthen our interprovincial missionary presence in Cuba^[15] .

I have recently had the opportunity to visit the Banes community in Cuba and believe me if I tell you that nowhere else that I know of are we as needed at this time as we are in Cuba.

The bishop of the Diocese of Holguin, to which we belong, Bishop Emilio Aranguren, accompanied by his auxiliary bishop, visited us in Banes and told us that to enter into the dynamics of the Kingdom of God in Cuba we must understand the value of the little, the value of the small, the value of the anonymous and the value of the gradual.

And it is true. If one were led by the few Catholics we serve, with our utilitarian mentality we would say: let’s go to other places where there are many more people to serve and who demand much more from us and let’s not waste our time here.

Here in Cuba one understands the Scripture better when it speaks to us of the remnant of Israel or the little flock. It is in their midst and with them that God has been doing his work and we trust that one day he will bring forth from the midst of that small remnant, a numerous people that will give him glory.

Sometimes in the ministry we are tempted by “stardom”, we want to shine, attract crowds, show off, attract attention… In Cuba we do not go beyond mere anonymous servants, who few know, but who try to sow the seed of the gospel in the hearts of our brothers, far from the spotlight and applause and knowing that they will probably not see the fruit of what they are sowing.

Finally, it is necessary to be very patient and not give up in the face of difficulties, to understand that the process is slow and gradual and that it is necessary to start from the bottom and to know where this Church of Cuba comes from and all that it has had to suffer to reach the present moment.

It does not matter that we are few and that we serve few; it does not matter that we are small and insignificant in the face of the challenges of this Church; we do not need recognition or tributes, because we know that our names are inscribed in the Book of Life; and it does not matter that the process is slow and gradual so long as we do not abandon this small remnant to which the Lord sent us^[16] .

To the missionaries: I want to thank you in the name of the Order not only for the work you do, but mainly for what you are and what you represent in the life of the people to whom you have been sent. Thank you for your availability and for your dedication, not without sacrifices and difficulties.

When I think of you, the parable of the laborers in the vineyard comes to my mind (Mt 20:1-16), in which the owner, going out to the marketplace, hires them to work at different times, and I notice those who complain about the hard day and about having been working since dawn. They have not understood anything! They have not enjoyed the work, nor the magnanimity of the owner of the vineyard, nor have they understood what gratuity means. In their hearts and in their thoughts, their only concern is money. I ask that your attitude in the mission not be like that of these day laborers, the attitude of barely holding on, because you are not wage earners but apostles in love with the Lord and his vineyard. Your dedication to the Lord in the missions is either a response of love to a Love who has loved us before and has given his life for us, or else we are like the workers in the vineyard, wage earners who are not interested in the vineyard but in a way of making a living. Live with joy the privilege of having been sent to evangelize the preferred ones of the Kingdom, do not reserve anything for yourselves, do not be afraid to give yourselves and wear yourselves out in the mission entrusted to you, because in this surrender the Lord will be doing his work in each one of you.

To the Provincials: I would remind you of what the Prior General, Fr. Almarcegui, said in 1963 in a letter addressed to Bishop Florentino Armas: We must look upon the missions entrusted to us as “a great honor” and not just bear them as a burden from which we are not allowed to detach ourselves^[17] .

Our missions are not a heavy burden, they are our pride and glory, they should be, together with our formation houses, the apple of our eye. We must watch over them, we must invest in them and we must accompany the missionaries.

Our Constitutions say: The Province should make a clear and firm option for its missions. It should consider and esteem the mission entrusted to it as a benefit granted by the Church and be concerned to provide it adequately with religious and with the necessary means^[18] .

I ask you to work intensely to overcome the egocentric tendency of withdrawal and closure that we are living and to look beyond the immediate and urgent needs that are presenting themselves to us. In the short term, try to provide the missions with the necessary personnel so that our work of evangelization and social promotion does not stop; and in the medium and long term, work to recover the missionary spirit in the Provinces, starting from an objective analysis of the reality, which will lead us to implement the actions that are most convenient.

To the sick and elderly religious: I would say to them that prayer has been, is and will always be the first factor in the work of evangelization. No matter how hard I try to preach, to show the falsity of their cults, to expose the eternity of a happy or  extremely unhappy life, everything is useless if I do not dedicate myself first to win the heart of Him, who is all love, who tells us: “You can do nothing without me” (Jn 15:5).

These are words of Fr. Gazpio^[19] when he was a missionary in China and we can make them our own. I ask you to continue your missionary work from the limitations of your health, from pain, from sickness, lying on a bed or prostrate in a wheelchair, continue praying and trying to conquer every day, as Fr. Gazpio tells us, the heart of Christ so that he may show his merciful face on our missionaries and feel strengthened in the mission that the Church and the Order have entrusted to you. I know that I cannot ask more of them because they have already given everything. From here also my gratitude for that life that has been worn out in the service to the brothers. But, please, do not stop doing what you can still do: pray for our missions and missionaries and for vocations in our Order, offering your sacrifice in the evening of life.

To the young religious and to those who still feel strong and enthusiastic despite the passing of the years:

Why not me? This was Augustine’s response when he was told about some episodes of conversion of well-known people who had left everything to follow the Master, as was the case of Anthony in Egypt or of the Roman soldiers who left the seductions of the world to consecrate themselves to the Lord. I would also like this to be the response of many of our young religious and not so young people who feel that they still have much to give. I hope that, having listened to the glorious deeds of our missions, our hearts, like Augustine’s, will be inflamed and overflowing with availability. The readiness of the prophet when he heard the voice of the Lord saying: “Whom shall I send? who will go on our behalf? here am I, Lord, send me! And he said it trembling, frightened, scared to death and knowing his limitations, but putting his trust in God first and knowing that when He calls, He also gives us the graces we need to embrace the mission He entrusts to us.

Why don’t you dare to give a few years of your youth where you are most needed? Why don’t you step forward and, like Isaiah, say to your Provincial: Here I am, send me!

To those in formation, postulants, novices and professed: I encourage you to prepare yourselves well so that you can give the best of yourselves in evangelization. Do not spare the Lord anything. I am happy that, as it has appeared in the social networks, in some formation house they have celebrated a missionary week with the purpose of getting to know our missions, to spread the work of our missionaries and to encourage the missionary spirit. It saddens me when I see the young people of our formation houses more concerned with incense and liturgical vestments than with the promotion of human dignity and the evangelization of men. Everything is important, but we must know how to prioritize. I ask you and I ask the formators to cultivate in the different stages of formation the missionary spirit in the hearts of our young people. If in the formative stages they do not vibrate, there is no commitment, they do not tune in nor are they enthusiastic about the missionary work of the Province and of the Order, do not expect that when they are ordained they will begin to be interested in it. See, then, the way to go sowing in the heart of our formandos that seed that awakens in them that yearning to be sent and to leave the sacred enclosures of the temple to let the tenderness of God overflow in favor of the men ^[20]

I conclude with the final words of Pope Francis’ message on the occasion of the 97th World Mission Sunday, which we will celebrate on October 22: Let us also set out again, enlightened by our encounter with the Risen Lord and animated by his Spirit. Let us go forth with fervent hearts, eyes open, feet on the way, to enkindle other hearts with the Word of God, to open the eyes of others to Jesus in the Eucharist, and to invite all to walk together on the way of peace and salvation that God, in Christ, has given to humanity. Holy Mary of the Way, Mother of the missionary disciples of Christ and Queen of the missions, pray for us^[21] .

[1] PS.33,2,6

[2] Ángel Martínez Cuesta; Contribution of the Order to the Missionary Work of the Church, p.26

[3] St. Nicholas of Tolentine Province; Always on Mission, p. 26.

[4] OAR Const. 286

[5] Ángel Martínez Cuesta; Contribution of the Order to the Missionary Work of the Church, p. 30.

[6] Ángel Martínez Cuesta; Contribution of the Order to the Missionary Work of the Church, p. 35.

[7] Cf. Province of St. Nicholas of Tolentine; Always in Mission.

[8] Book Servant of God Ignacio Martínez, Apostle of the Amazon- Epistolary, p.38

[9] Angel Martinez Cuesta, Blessed Ezekiel Moreno, 251

[10] Rule 3, 17

[11] PVM OAR 2016-2022, A.7.

[12] Ibid. A.23 and A.24

[13] PVM OAR 2022-2028, A.1 and A.3

[14] Ibid. D.7.

[15] PVM OAR 2022-2028 D.10

[16] Article published on the Order’s website. Miguel Ángel Hernández, Prior General.

[17] Letter to Bishop Florentino Armas, Rome, April 24, 1964, in Acta OAR 8 (1963-64) 25-27.

[18] OAR Constitutions, 288.

[19] Letter written by Fr. Gazpio on July 14, 1930 from China.

[20] Pope Francis. Homily at the Chrism Mass on March 24, 2016.

[21] Message of Pope Francis on the occasion of the 97th World Mission Sunday.