From October 24 to 29, 2022, in the house of formation St. Thomas of Villanova, Ñuñoa Santiago, Chile, the "1st Meeting of LAY-OSA Coordinators of Latin America has taken place
Laity and religious under the motto "Augustinians walking together", with great joy and hope they have been developing different themes that allow us to know, share and understand the reality of the different circumscriptions of the Order.
These days included moments of deep community spirituality, prayer, Eucharistic celebration, as well as workshops and activities aimed at strengthening the bonds among the brothers and sisters of the Augustinian family, to know the spirituality and humanity of St. Augustine and to analyze the Rule and Constitutions with the objective of recognizing through it, as stated by the organizers of the Encounter, "our identity and mission, which lead us directly to an integral service in the Church, strongly marked by the presence of the laity".
"Each person lives his or her vocation according to the measure of grace received" (Fr. Edward Daleng)
To walk together is proper to being Augustinian
The president of the commission of the laity of the Order, the Assistant General, Fr. Edward Daleng, wanted, at the opening of the congress, to delve into the motto of this Encounter.
"To walk together is proper to our being Augustinians", Father Daleng pointed out. "Our charism impels us to live in communion and to be witnesses of communion in the Church. We cannot stop living in communion in as much as baptism generates in us a new life to become members of the Body of Christ, the Church".
Daleng then assured that "each person lives his or her vocation according to the measure of grace received, legitimately in the plurality of the states of life embraced. The multiplicity of responses to discipleship testifies to the freedom of God and the grace that works in the lives of Christ's followers for their well-being and that of the Church.
A synodal perspective
As reported from Chile, this first meeting is nothing more than a "synodal look that accompanies us in understanding the different realities of our fraternities, who, as a response to the vocational call of the Order, seek to promote acceptance, empathy and service" in that shared mission of being in the world as baptized in the current context in which the Church finds itself.
Chilas Flye, in charge of the laity of Latin America, and Friar Juan Francisco Constanzo Parada, advisor of the fraternities of Chile, were responsible for the organization and good work during this meeting which has been, in the words of its organizers, "an opportunity of encounter in this synodal experience" whose fruits were entrusted to the patroness of the Augustinian Province of Chile, Our Lady of Grace.