Cada persona tiene muchas razones por las que cada día sigue queriendo experimentar la vida religiosa, entregarse a los demás y corresponder al amor de Dios.
Aun hoy puede seguir siendo llamativo preguntarse por qué las personas son llamadas a vivir la vida religiosa, concretamente a través del carisma agustino recoleto. ¿Por qué lo hacen? ¿Qué les motiva? Cada historia personal tiene su propio trasfondo y significado. Personas que han tocado el corazón, experiencias únicas que han acercado a Dios, ilusiones y sueños… Son muchas las razones por las que una persona decide hoy entregar y consagrar su vida a Cristo.
Nieves Mary, superiora general de las Misioneras Agustinas Recoletas; Denis, misionero agustino recoleto en Sierra Leona; Alfredo, religioso agustino recoleto en Venezuela; y Olidier, novicio agustino recoleto, exponen en este artículo los motivos por los que decidieron seguir a Cristo y eligieron la vida religiosa.
Nieves Mary Castro
🤲 At the age of 15, I was looking for the meaning of my life. I was not filled by groups of friends, there was always an emptiness in me; and I always dreamed of helping those in need.
📺 I would watch documentaries about missions on television and Africa would appear, hunger and pot-bellied children, begging for rice grains; missionaries would also appear. That captivated and questioned me.
📕 As a reader from a very young age, and perhaps encouraged by the parish priest of my village, he provided me with books of a social nature. Encouraged by him, I began to read the New Testament, which was the easiest thing for me to understand at that time. There I found in the phrase of Jesus: “I am the way, the truth and the life” the full meaning I was looking for. I decided to become a missionary.
🗺 In Las Gabias there was a community of Augustinian Recollect Missionary Sisters. A nun who gave me religion class, leaving the Eucharist one day, asked me: “Nieves Mary, I see you committed to the Church, don’t you want to be a nun?” And as I had no knowledge of religious life, I answered her that I wanted to be a missionary, that my dream was to go to the missions, to Africa or wherever the Lord wanted. Then she told me: “We are missionaries!”.
Denis Castillo
🗣 The Voice. He called me.
🤗 The Embrace. I fell in love with Him.
🚰 The Thirst. He made me dependent on His grace.
🔄 Actualization. I believe that there is no other way.
Alfredo Sánchez
🤩 Testimony. It was the testimony of a religious who awakened in me to do what she did. Spirit of prayer, service to others, radical dedication..
👥 Community. In the Augustinian Recollect charism it is one of the fundamental pillars. I feel that it fills me with fraternal life and favors the search for God. Searching for God in solitude is possible, but if I share life with some brothers, that search is much easier.
🙌 Discipleship. I wanted to be a disciple who likes to learn. Within the consecrated life it is something I achieved. It is a continuous learning that helps to achieve holiness.
😇 Radicality of life. Consecrated life offered me a radicality of life that the world did not give me. It is based on the experience of faith. Without faith we renounce nothing, while the experience of faith makes our life meaningful.
Olidier Obando
🎁 Undoubtedly it is a gift and a grace that God has given me and that I have felt in my heart. I cannot explain it in so many words… Being in a mission, accompanying the missionaries, I felt the vocational call.
👏 Many priests have given me an example. One of the missionaries invited me to the vocation meetings. That touched me very much. God wanted to give me this great invitation.
🌎 Another reason is that I like the mission, bringing Christ to others. Although I feel that I cannot give much, it is Christ who is in us and it is He who carries the message. The Lord gives us everything, I like to bring hope.
🏡 Life in community. Jesus Christ had a group of brothers and sisters that he was transforming. It is an important value, in spite of what it all means.