Conferences on “Communion: Our Mission”

Cebu City – The celebration of the closing ceremony of the 25th anniversary of the Province on its day two, holds Conferences on the theme: “Communion: Our Mission” at USJ-R Basak Campus, Cebu City last November 27, 2024.

The day started with the Morning Prayer at Recoletos Colisseum which was followed by the Eucharistic Celebration in honor of Nuestra Señora de la Salud, presided over by Fr. Francisco Javier y Rodriguez, OAR, 2nd General Councilor and President of General Secretariat of Spirituality, and concelebrated with a good number of Augustinian Recollect priests and religious. Also present were the Augustinian Recollect Sisters, Secular Augustinian Recollect Fraternity, and Recollect Augustinian Youth. In the homily, Fr. Monroy reminded the religious, “It is not about our work, it is not the work of the Augustinian Recollects, it is the work of God. Looking back, therefore, must be done with a special sensitivity that we must ask from the Spirit of God. The sensitivity to see the hand of God, his will made real, through (and, sometimes, despite) our evangelizing action.”

After the Holy Mass, followed by the first input on Communion with Most Rev. Midyphill Billones, DD, auxiliary bishop of Cebu, as resource speaker. Bishop Billones shared three points: 1. Common judgment of communion versus uniformity of decisions. To attain this, he advised that, “The first duty of love is to listen, this then partnered with conversations where the heart is the discernment of the Spirit.” 2. Christian solidarity versus social, human aggregation. The good bishop said, “Implies putting one’s faith into action, communion does not stand in service of activity but activity in service of communion.” 3. Pastoral or missiological trajectories. He explained that “Synodality is something we talk about as a basic part of life.” Towards the end of the input, Bishop Billones challenged the religious, “We will be judged after a hundred years, how have we received and appropriate the ecclesiology of communion. Have we crossed the bridge of its intimate connection to synodality? And have we applied it meaningfully in our times? Have we become tradutore or traditore? The answer begins from within each of our hearts,” said the bishop.

The input on Mission was followed after the lunch break with Fr. Emmanuel I. Cruz, SThL, Rector of Immaculate Conception Major Seminary – Graduate School, as the resource speaker. Fr. Cruz emphasized a renewed look at the Church’s mission wherein, “the Church receives its mission from Jesus Christ who is a missionary himself as He was sent by the Father,” Fr. Cruz said. The salient points of Fr. Cruz focused on the following: the Church is mission, collaboration in mission, new evangelization, and ecclesia in Asia. As a challenge, Fr. Manny stressed that “In the process of encountering the world’s different cultures, the Church not only transmits her truths and values and renews cultures from within, but she also takes from the various cultures the positive elements already found in them.”

During the coffee break, the committee decided to insert a short input by Fr. Javier Monroy, OAR, on “Linear Basicas Espitiualidad Agustino Recoleta,” (Linear Basics of Augustinian Recollect Spirituality). The talk was delivered in Spanish and Fr. Raul Buhay, served as the translator. Fr. Monroy just wanted to address two important points which he called “Dos Rios,” (Two Rivers): The vital experience of St. Augustine and the renewing passion of Recollection. He bridged this spiritual experience to the new plan of formation entitled, “Redi ad Cor,” derived from the experience of St. Augustine “Redi ad cor et inde ad Deum” which means return to the heart and then towards God. He challenged the friars to always go back to the truth and start walking with the truth.

After the conferences, followed the Evening Prayer and the Socio-Cultural Night rendered by the students of the University of San Jose – Recoletos. A sumptuous dinner was served and as a final activity, everyone was mesmerized by a scenic firework display at the school grounds.