“The Augustinian Recollect family does not resist the Spirit”

Prior General Miguel Angel Hernandez held his first meeting with the Augustinian Recollects Sisters in Manila and encouraged them not to resist the Holy Spirit.

On the eve of the Solemnity of Pentecost, the Prior General, Miguel Ángel Hernández, was for the first time with the Augustinian Recollects Sisters. Taking advantage of his visit to the Philippines, he held a fraternal meeting with the sisters of the congregation at Santa Rita College in Manila. In a talk of about half an hour, the Prior General encouraged the sisters to let the Holy Spirit, whose coming is celebrated at Pentecost, act in every life.

“Why have we transformed the hurricane wind of the Spirit into air conditioning?” she asked herself before the nuns. “We cannot forget that we – men and women religious – have to be the allies of the Spirit,” he said. Recalling the Provincial Chapter of Toledo in which the Collection was born, he added: “We cannot resist the Spirit. The Augustinian Recollects and the Augustinian Recollects are men and women who do not resist the Spirit but let him act.” He also wished that “his wind and his strength will take us wherever he wants; to lead and guide us; let him do his work in us in spite of us.”

Pentecost, as he explained to the sisters, is “the Christmas of the Church, a call to come out of ourselves and open the doors of our hearts.” He invited us to “put aside fears and launch ourselves with the power of the Holy Spirit to evangelize boldly.”

A family meeting

The Prior General also expressed his desire to hold a meeting of all the superiors general of the Augustinian Recollect family, men and women religious. “This enriches us and is at the heart of who we are,” he said. It is necessary to “walk together and create communion.” Therefore, responding later to one of the questions of the nuns, Miguel Ángel Hernández expressed the need to work together “in projects that unite us”, such as EDUCAR or ARCORES.

“We can enrich each other. The greatest wealth is the God within us and sharing it I think was Augustine’s dream; it was what he did all his life,” said the Prior General. Added to all this, he delved into the meeting in another matter. This is one of the issues that Pope Francis addressed in his audience last March with the 56th General Chapter: “Putting the charism in the hands of the laity.” This is “a common dream,” he said.