Heeding God’s call through the beautiful sound of St. Augustine Priory’s bell, the capitulars, together with the members of the local community, headed to the Chapel at 7:00 AM for the morning prayers and the celebration of the Holy Eucharist being Vocations as the theme of today’ Mass. Presiding the Eucharistic celebration was Fr. Marlon Beof, OAR, President of the Secretariat of Vocations and Formation, with Frs. Fidel Hernandez, OAR and Eliseo Gonzalez, OAR as main concelebrants. Serving as deacons were Ulises Feliciano, OAR and Ascension Esqueda, OAR while Br. Anthony Toretti, OAR served as the liturgist.

In his homily, Fr. Beof encouraged us to face with faith the present reality of our Province including its concerns, worries and challenges (among others, the diminishing members of our Province). He inspired us saying: “We can overcome all these, for God is with us and his presence means a salvific one. He urged us to go back to the Source of our vocation, Jesus Christ in the Eucharist, to focus again on our spirituality and charism by putting Christ in the center of our life and recovering the joy of living our Augustinian Recollect Charism”.

At 9:15 AM we started our first session of the day with the reading of the messages to the chapter from the following: Bishop Carlos Briseno Arch, OAR, Fr. Miguel Miro, OAR with the General Council and General Curia Community in Rome, Sr. Beatriz Alvarez, AR in Leon, Spain, Fr. Jose David Nino, OAR, Prior Provincial Our Lady of Candelaria Province in Colombia, Fr. José Ramón Pérez Sáenz, OAR, Prior Provincial of St. Joseph Province in Madrid, Spain and the SAR Chapters of Monastery of St. Cloud, West Orange, NJ and Tagaste Monastery, Suffern, NY. With a good round of applause, the capitulars expressed their gratefulness for this show of spiritual and moral support from our Augustinian recollect brothers and sisters.

What followed was the reading of the minutes of the 1st day’s sessions by Fr. Michael Rafferty, OAR, chapter secretary. After some clarifications and corrections from the capitulars, the minutes were unanimously approved.

The chapter proceeded next to the reports on the formation programs prepared by Fr. Elieo Gonzalez , OAR(St. Augustine Priory), Fr. Frank Wilder, OAR on (Tagaste Monastery), and Fr. John Gruben , OAR (Overseas students). Following their reports there were proposals in this area delivered by Frs. Joseph Gallardo, OAR Marlon Beof, OAR and Jose Antonio Arias, OAR and Francisco Sandoval, OAR.

After a 15 minute coffee break, Fr. Antonio Palos, OAR gave his report on the work of the Secretariat of Apostolate. Proposals in this area were presented by OAR Frs. Antonio Palos and Alfredo de Dios, Domingos Machado, Fidel Hernandez, Francisco Sandoval and Br. Mario Alvarez, OAR

The last sessions of the day were dedicated on the Secretariat as well as financial reports of Br. Anthony Toretti, OAR, Provincial Procurator.

Trying to, faithfully, follow the schedule, the capitulars took a break at 5:30 PM for private meditation until 6:00 PM when they had evening prayers followed by dinner. Some members of the Knights of Columbus of Oxnard who have been close friends of our community at St. Augustine Priory, provided a delicious Italian dinner. Tanta Grazie!