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Secular Augustinian Recollects
Christian Spirituality Today Pope John Paul II has called the 21st century the "Century of the Laity," emphasizing the fact that the Church is not simply the hierarchy (Pope, Bishop, Priest, and Deacon) but rather the whole community of believers: what the Second Vatican Council has so aptly called "The New People of God." The rite of baptism calls each and every believer to share fully in the three-fold mission of Christ to witness, worship, and service. Every believer fulfills this Christ-given mission according to the circumstances of his or her life and through the gifts given to that person by nature and by grace. Another image of the Church, this one given to us by the great St. Paul, fittingly symbolizes the unity and diversity in the Christian community. It is "The Body of Christ." Within the body each member exercises its function for the common good of all, and this is true in the Church as well, which through grace constitutes a spiritual body. Who are the Secular Augustinian Recollects? One of the traditional ways in which believers have grown in their baptismal commitment and mission is through a spiritual association with one of the religious Orders in the Church. These believers go through a period of instruction, testing, and profession of vows similar to members of an Order. Although they remain in the world and carry on their ordinary lives, they do so with a new character and purpose. They are often called tertiaries or Third Order members. In the Augustinian Recollect tradition they are known as Secular Augustinian Recollects or simply SARs. We read the following in the Rule of Life of the Secular Augustinian Recollects: "The Augustinian Recollect Secular Fraternity receives Christians who, called by the Holy Spirit to the perfection of charity, commit themselves to live the Gospel according to the experience and spirituality of the Order of Augustinian Recollects. Its members have full membership in the Augustinian family and share in its ideal, its graces and its richness. They are sons and daughters of the Augustinian Recollection in the fraternal communion of its spiritual goods, and are called to the mission of service to the Church and the world according to their own secular condition." Perhaps one of the most brief but beautiful descriptions of the true nature of the SARs, also taken from the Rule, is that they are those motivated "to live the union of hearts and minds and to make the spirit of St. Augustine a practical reality in the Church and world today." The Secular Augustinian Recollects is a worldwide fraternity and exists wherever Augustinian Recollect friars are present and active. What are the activities of the Secular Augustinian Recollects? The Secular Augustinian Recollects normally meet monthly for prayer, instruction, and fraternity. They remain members of their own parishes and are expected to bring something of the fruits of their spiritual association to the people of their parishes, most especially those in need. Each SAR chapter has its own spiritual director, a friar from the local community, and an elected president and executive board. The local chapter also has its own monthly newsletter called Tolle Lege ("Take up and read" from the Confessions of St. Augustine) which is sent to every chapter member and to every other chapter as well, with information about upcoming events, prayer requests, birthday acknowledgements, etc. Besides monthly meetings on the local level, the SARs usually meet regionally every year for a day-long assembly or day of recollection, which is an opportunity to get to know members of the other local chapters, listen to spiritual conferences, and spend time in prayer and discussion. How can I become a member of the Secular Augustinian Recollects? You must be a practicing Catholic in good standing with the Church to become a Secular Augustinian Recollect. If you are accepted as a candidate to the SARs, you pass through a trial period (novitiate) after which you are asked to make a commitment to this way of life through public vows. Virtually every one of our houses (see Houses of Province) has a chapter of the SARs as part of its extended family. If you live near one of our communities or wish to learn more about our SARs, please contact us. Why should I become a Secular Augustinian Recollect? Every Catholic who is serious about his/her religion in today's world needs a spiritual home, a place to be nourished by the truth of our faith in a world of so many false religious ideas and distorted notions of what is right and wrong. When you are an Augustinian Recollect, you belong to a Catholic community with roots stretching back 1500 years, a community that has stood the test of time with the full approval of the Church. Not everyone is called to St. Augustine's personal vision of how the Christian faith should be lived out. There is also the vision of a St. Francis of Assisi (Franciscans), a Saint Theresa of Avila (Carmelites), or a St. Ignatius Loyola (Jesuits), and many others. No one way is exclusive; it depends on the individual. Many men and women of today, however, have found the way of Augustine very well suited to their personal lives. The fraternity has helped them to answer those questions they find in the deepest recesses of their hearts. St. Augustine speaking to God in his Confessions said: "Our hearts are restless until they rest in You." We invite you to come and see if you too may find rest, peace, and joy through the life of a Secular Augustinian Recollect.
Japanese Martyr and Patroness of the Secular Augustinian Recollects
Motivated by the spirituality of Augustinian Recollect missionaries, she was received as a tertiary, professing vows of obedience and chastity. As the persecutions of Christians increased, many Christians renounced their faith in fear. Dressed in the habit of the Augustinian Recollect tertiary, Magdalen turned herself over to her persecutors and was martyred in 1634, suffering the cruel torture of slow strangulation. She was beatified in 1981 and canonized by Pope John Paul II on October 18, 1987. The Secular Augustinian Recollect Fraternity welcomes those Christians who, moved by the Holy Spirit to the perfection of charity, dedicate themselves to live the Gospel according to the spirituality of the Order of Augustinian Recollects. They have accompanied the apostolate of the Augustinian Recollect religious throughout the centuries. St. Magdalen is a precious example of the unity within the Augustinian Recollect Family. Prayer O God, you who are pleased to choose the small and humble in order to manifest the marvels of your love, and who chose the young woman, Magdalen of Nagasaki, to spread the Gospel among her companions, to protect her fidelity to Christ, to make an offering of her life to you as a Secular Augustinian Recollect, and to die a martyr of the faith, grant us, through her intercession, that we might always be faithful witnesses of Christ in our own daily lives and love our brothers and sisters with a sincere and unselfish love
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Born
in 1611 near Nagasaki, Japan, Magdalen belonged to a wealthy and fervently
Christian family. Her parents and siblings were martyred for professing
the Catholic faith when she was still a young girl, and then, along
in the world, she dedicated herself to prayer and apostolic activity.
