Opening Remarks | P. Joseph Farrell

Opening Remarks of President of CGO 2025
Joseph L. Farrell, OSA
3 September 2025

Six years ago, I had the honor of addressing the participants at the opening of the Ordinary General Chapter of 2019. At that time, I introduced the theme of story-telling to guide my reflections. We know that stories are part of our human tradition. The beauty of our story as Augustinians is that it continues to develop. There is no final chapter. There is no epilogue to read at the end and then we close the book. We can continue with our story always with new chapters to add. As we gather in Rome these days, once again, we celebrate and participate in the 188th General Chapter of the Order.

Since we last gathered, we have welcomed many new members into our communities, we have also lost brothers who have crossed the threshold of life and are earning their eternal reward. We have established new communities and missions and have had to bring to closure and completion other ministries where we have served for many years. We have been challenged by the horrors of war, famine, violence, and natural disasters in many parts of the world and have responded generously in various ways to the needs of those who were adversely affected by those calamities. The rapid development of technology and especially artificial intelligence has presented us with new and exciting possibilities while we also recognize the need to follow a path of prudence regarding the dangers that such rapid development can have on the dignity and value of the human person and the communities we form.

The universal church has been inviting us to discern, reflect upon and participate in a process of synodality and some of our proposals will reflect the results of much of the discernment we did in our various regions of the world. In addition, this past May, we all joyfully heard Habemus Papam and celebrated the announcement of our brother Robert Prevost being elected as the next Bishop of Rome and Pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church. Pope Leo, in his homily at the opening Mass of the Holy Spirit at the beautiful Basilica of Sant’Agostino last evening reminded us of the essential elements of listening, unity and humility in our Christian life and in our journey as Augustinians.

We are celebrating our General Chapter of 2025 during a Jubilee Year. As we know, it is the Jubilee Year of Hope. St. Paul reminds us with the encouraging words: “Hope does not disappoint.” (Romans 5:5) Pope Francis opened the Jubilee Year and Holy Jubilee Door in December 2024 and now we are blessed to be able to celebrate our Chapter as Friars, guided by Hope on our pilgrimage.

Many times as a member of the General Council, I was able to spend days assisting our Augustinian Contemplative nuns in Lecceto (Tuscany). One of the nuns there celebrated her 100th birthday back in September of 2022. When I arrived Lecceto that December to assist with the Christmas liturgies, Sr. Gemma was feeling quite weak and so was confined to her bed most of the day. The superior, Sr. Maria Carmela, invited me to go up and visit with Sr. Gemma for a brief period one afternoon. When I entered her room, Sr. Gemma was in bed but was very alert and grateful for a visit. I asked her if she needed anything, and her response is one that I will never forget. She said, “Paradiso Padre, solo Paradiso”… “Paradise, Father, only Paradise.”

Sr. Gemma was certainly aware that her mission here on earth was coming to a closure, and she was aware of the goal of her mission. It was clear to her that the ultimate goal of her mission was heaven, paradiso! Sr. Gemma was given that gift of Paradiso in February of 2023. What a great lesson she taught me. As we reflect on our mission, we should always be aware of the goal that drives us in our mission. What the purpose of our mission is.

The document, Synodality in the Life and Mission of the Church, composed by the International Theological Commission reminds us that:

Synodality is lived out in the Church in the service of mission. Ecclesia peregrinans natura sua missionaria est; she exists in order to evangelize. The whole People of God is an agent of the proclamation of the Gospel. Every baptized person is called to be a protagonist of mission since we are all missionary disciples. The Church is called, in synodal synergy, to activate the ministries and charisms present in her life and to listen to the voice of the Spirit, in order to discern the ways of evangelization. (par. 53)


Let us listen for a moment to some words from the Evangelist, Luke:

The Lord appointed seventy-two others whom he sent ahead of him in pairs to every town and place he intended to visit. He said to them, “The harvest is abundant, but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest. Go on your way; behold, I am sending you like lambs among wolves. Carry no money bag, no sack, no sandals; and greet no one along the way. Into whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace to this household’. (Luke 10: 1-10)

It may seem overwhelming when we see how much need is in the world. How can we possibly respond to all the needs that are placed before us? One of the ways that the Church always reminds us, is that we are not alone in this mission. From the gospel mandate, we go out two by two sharing the mission together. Jesus, in his wisdom, was aware of the burden that exists of going out to the peripheries. He appreciated the value of sharing in the ministry of evangelization so that those sharing in the ministry can depend upon each other. That is an essential part of who we are. We help each other in our ministries and missions.

The call to recognize the needs of the others in community is a call which demands a response. Augustine responded in his preaching and pastoral ministry and saw it as his duty to assist those in his care to discover their own place in that community and to make their vocation actualized in daily life

We certainly know from, Saint Augustine, the doctor of interiority, that looking within is the way to discover our ultimate goal. In Sermon 311 he preached: Go back to your heart and from there to God. You are going back to God, you see, from the nearest possible place, if you have gone back to your heart (Sermon 311, 13) And so we see that in going to the peripheries in our mission, we must never forget the importance of going within to seek refuge in the one who calls us to service. We pray in Psalm 91:2 that the LORD is our refuge and strength. We, therefore, must always and in every way take refuge in the LORD.

The goal of our mission, as the words of Sr. Gemma reminds us, is paradiso. This is the eternal Sabbath which Augustine describes at the end of the City of God. He wrote in the Book XXII:

The reward of virtue will be God himself, who gave the virtue and who promised himself to it, and than whom there can be nothing better or greater. When he said through the prophet, “I will be their God and they shall be my people” (Lv 26:12), what did he mean but “I will be their fulfillment; I will be all that people rightly desire – life, sustenance, plenty, glory, honor, peace, and all good things”?...He will be the end of our desires; he will be seen without end, loved without satiation, and praised without weariness. And this gift, this feeling, this activity, like eternal life itself, will be shared by all. (City of God XXII, 30)

It will be shared by all. Isn’t that exactly what being Augustinian is all about? Being in relationship compels us to transcend ourselves and to share. Every personal interaction demands a sharing on various levels: physical, psychological, emotional, and spiritual. When these are offered for the common good, in relationship with one’s brother or sister, one is truly fulfilling the call to be human.

Our incorporation as the Body of Christ is why Augustine insists on one’s ministering for the salvation of the other, his insistence on the common good. When I acknowledge the love of God that has been poured into my heart (Romans 5:5), it is only then that my relationship with God becomes real. From that loving relationship, I am then able to go out to the periphery and to reach out to my brother and sister.

With Paradiso as our goal, our vocation, our mission, is to share the gifts that we receive. We must first acknowledge, however, that the greatest gift that we share is God’s infinite and unconditional love. The love with which God loves us is the same love with which we love our sister or brother. There is a Latin phrase: Nemo dat quod non habet…You cannot give what you don’t have. We must recognize that we have received the precious gift of God’s love and from that gift we are able to generously share that love with others. The love that God pours into our heart through the Holy Spirit is God’s very self. God is the love that is poured into our hearts. God, therefore, is the gift we give to others when we love them. It is the most precious gift that we share in common as the Body of Christ.

Seeking the common good in doing things for the salvation of the other, described by the Gospel command, “love of neighbor,” is the love which obliges us to share our mission on our pilgrimage toward God. It is the love which, when realized, allows a person also to love God. It is in charity where God has a face and hands and feet and eyes. Augustine tells us: What sort of face has love? What form has it? What stature? What feet? What hands has it? No man can say. And yet it has feet, for these carry men to church: it has hands; for these reach forth to the poor: it has eyes; for thereby we consider the needy: Blessed is the one, it is said, who considers the needy and the poor. (ep. Io. tr. 7.10)

Augustine preached on the necessity of recognizing one’s duty in responding to the vocation to love. The message he gave to his listeners was that there was an obligation that all people have in recognizing that salvation is a communal event which is enjoyed in the common exchange of love. In describing Augustine’s understanding of love of neighbor, dilectio proximi, Hannah Arendt writes: Every beloved is only an occasion to love God.

Although this theme developed as Augustine matured in age and in ministry, we can see the seeds of this theology being planted in his early communities, made manifest in his Commentary on the Lord’s Sermon on the Mount. We see evidence of dilectio proximi in Augustine’s treatment of the golden rule in Matthew 7:12. The same can be applied to Matthew 22: 37-40: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment. The second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.”

Augustine connects the precept “you shall love your neighbor” -diliges proximum tuum- to the precept, “you shall love the Lord your God” -diliges dominum deum tuum- and relates it to the Gospel challenge to “love thy neighbor as thyself.”(Mt 22:39) (Cf: s. dom. mon. II, 22. 75)

In his Commentary on Paul’s Epistle to the Galatians, Augustine writes:

Who can love his neighbor, that is, everyone, as himself, if he does not love God whose command and gift enable him to love his neighbor? (exp. Gal. XLV)

We hear more and more in the news these days about Artificial Intelligence and the impact it has on our society. Our computers and technical systems are becoming more and more "intelligent." One example is the translation tools that are now available to assist us to communicate. The more you use them, the smarter the program becomes. Google maps are another example. The more we use these programs, the “smarter” they become. Artificial intelligence is rapidly changing the way we communicate, play sports, engage in war, educate, participate in business and execute plans for the future. Who knows, perhaps we will benefit from Artificial Intelligence during the celebration of this Ordinary Chapter 2025.

In one of his advent homilies a few years ago, Cardinal Cantalamessa, offered a brief reflection on Love. He insisted that love is something that could NEVER be artificial. If it is artificial, it is not love ... because to be love it must be something real. Love must always be real, authentic. The moment it becomes artificial, it becomes something other than love.

From his early years of ministry, Augustine began to develop a theme surrounding real love, nothing artificial. It is a theme that worked its way into his ministry and preaching throughout his life. It is kept alive and made real in our life as sons of Augustine. The common good, based on loving relationships, becomes the good of everyone who is my neighbor. That person is someone with whom I am created to be in relation, and that relation is none other than the realization of love. This love then, made manifest only through the virtue of humility, is what calls each one of us to go deep within ourselves to discover our true selves, to discover God, and then to transcendence ourselves in sacrifice for the salvation of the other. It is the essence of what it means to be alive. The gift of our very selves in complete love is necessary. It was Jesus’ self-emptying, his ultimate kenosis, which brought salvation to the world.

Augustine’s spirituality which calls the human person to transcendence in the sacrifice of one’s self is made real when our common life and our apostolic ministries are seen in this same light. The radical message of Jesus Christ in the example and sacrament of his life and sacrifice offers to us and to the world a new dimension of love. Self-sacrifice offered for the salvation of the other is not an attempt to augment what Jesus has already done on the cross. Rather it is to help the other to realize what Jesus has already done. Where Jesus’ salvific act is realized in the lives of those in community is where the light of Augustine’s spirituality shines most brightly.

Our earthly mission should point us in the direction of heaven, paradiso, or the eternal Sabbath. This is what it means to arrive at a place of peace. The peace that the seventy-two disciples were sent to bring to the world as they preached the good news, was the foretaste of the eternal peace promised to us as our reward at the end of a life well lived. At the conclusion of the Confessions, Augustine prays: Give us peace, Lord God, for you have given us all else, give us the peace that is repose, the peace of the Sabbath, and the peace that knows no evening. (conf. XIII 35, 50)

Community formed on earth should lead its members to the eternal community of the eternal Sabbath of heaven. In other words, we work for one another’s salvation by leading each other to that salvation. The image that the Synod on Synodality uses as part of its logo is a great example of how we are all called to lead each other. You can see in the image that the people are leading each other. The figure of the bishop is in the center of the group, not at the front. In fact, it is a child at the front of the group. The community in the logo includes men, women, young, old, ordained, lay, and people with various physical abilities and inabilities. The whole group is on pilgrimage together, traveling as one body towards the same goal. It is an image that I believe truly represents the way we live our common life and respond in our apostolic activities.

Augustine recognizes people as being created equally and it is that identity which demands the fair and just treatment of every individual. It is a matter of justice when one responds to the needs of a brother or sister and should never be a matter of pride. A relationship is formed between two members of the same humble family: one whose hand is giving and the other whose hand is receiving. Augustine preached:

What's called for, you see, is not only the kindness of lavishing assistance, but also the humility of lending a helping hand. I don't know how it is, my brothers and sisters, but the spirit of the person who actually hands something to a poor man experiences a kind of sympathy with common humanity and infirmity, when the hand of the one who has is actually placed in the hand of the one who is in need. Although the one is giving, the other receiving, the one being attended to and the one attending are being joined in a real relationship. You see, it isn't calamity that really unites us but humanity. (s. 259.5)

The relationship is fractured when one fails to recognize the need of those around him. There is a debt which demands payment when the equality among people is thrown off balance. Fraternal charity, when seen through Augustine’s eyes and through the prism of the Gospel, compels each person to recognize that when a rich person gives something to a poor person, he or she is actually giving what is God’s and therefore it is not a moment of mere generosity susceptible to the influence of pride. Such actions are simply the repayment of a debt. The bishop of Hippo tells us:

Whose goods are you giving away, if not the Lord’s? If you were disbursing what is truly your own, that would be generosity on your part, but since you only give what belongs to God anyway, you are only making restitution. What have you that you did not receive? (en. Ps. 95.15)

When the act of giving something to someone springs from a humble heart, the result becomes a moment of unconditional love. The motivation behind the merciful work is not so as to attain the reward of paradise, but rather is the pure presence of love which seeks to ease the suffering of another person. Christ came to live among us and as one of us and to be the humble example of mercy. He did not come assist us so that he could be exalted on a throne, but came to be one like us so as to teach us how we are to live our mission as his brothers and sisters.

In the days ahead we will have time as brothers to discern all of the works we do in our ministries. At each Chapter gathering we are invited to review what and how we do things and also how we live our life in community as Friars. By reviewing first, we are better able to discern how we continue on the pilgrimage of life.

How we can humbly reach out to others, enter into their chaotic situations, so as to be able to walk together as equals along our common pilgrimage? We don’t help others so as to lift ourselves up, but rather, to lift up the other so that we can all be on equal grounds. It is then that there is balance, or to use a more biblical word, justice.

In one of the Tractates on the First Letter of John, Augustine clarifies his message of allowing only love to motivate a person’s good works. He states:

Once you have bestowed gifts on the unfortunate, you may easily yield to the temptation to exalt yourself over the poor and to keep him or her subject to yourself. They were in need, and you shared. Because you have performed a service, you seem to be greater than the ones whom you have served. You should want them to be your equals, so that both of you may be subject to the One on whom no favor can be bestowed. (ep. Io. tr. 8.5)

Augustine’s sermons allowed his congregation to evaluate their actions as if they were looking into a mirror. With his words and his example, he called everyone into accountability, providing an opportunity for each member to evaluate his or her behavior and to challenge each other to authentically live up to the calling they received as members of Christus totus.

We will have many opportunities in the days ahead to evaluate who we are and to take an honest look at our lives. The Instrumentum Laboris that was shared with all the members of the Order was prepared to help to stimulate evaluation and conversation. The themes of 1. Vocation and Formation, 2. Augustinian Study and Theological Schools, 3. Communion of material goods, 4. Community life, apostolic activity, missions, 5. and finally, but not least important at all, Structures that support our common life will give us the guiding posts to mark the progress we make during these days.

By identifying himself with the poor, the Bishop of Hippo was able to present their needs to his congregation as their ambassador. His insistence on giving assistance is based on the Gospel and must always spring forth as a response to love. This service will not go on forever for it eventually leads to that eternal happiness, paradiso, in which there will be no burdens to be taken up. In other words, our faithful response to the duty we have to assist others in their need will eventually be crowned with eternal relief from that duty.

The Lord himself commanded that we love one another, putting so much force in the wording of the precept that he said, By this it will be recognized that you are my disciples, if you love one another (Jn13:35). It is the duty of this love to bear one another's burdens. But this duty, which does not last forever, should certainly lead to everlasting beatitude, in which there will be none of those burdens of ours that we are ordered to bear for each other. But now, while we are in this life, which is to say on this journey, let us bear one another's burdens, so that we may be able to attain to that life in which there are no burdens at all. (div. qu. 71.1)

This message of bearing one another’s burdens in love is central to Christian spirituality and to our own Augustinian Spirituality. Each sector of life is touched by our Augustinian Spirituality and we are being called to give an honest appraisal of who we are individually and in common.

It is tempting to narrow our appraisal down to the measurement of accomplished good works and placing in the credit column a complete list of the corporal works of mercy we perform. Love is what motivates all of us to accept the challenges ahead and the sacrifices that come with one’s participation in the baptismal priesthood of Christ. It calls for not only action but an attitude which acknowledges, invites, accepts and integrates the participation of divine love in the essence of the human person.

Regarding how this is accomplished, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, summarizes:

The emphasis must be not upon achievement but upon attitude. What holds a life together is simply the trust - or faith - that the eyes and the heart are turned towards truth, and that God accepts such a life without condition, looking on the will rather than merely the deed. God asks not for heroes but for lovers; not for moral athletes but for men and women aware of their need for acceptance, ready to find their selfhood in the longing for communion with an eternal ‘other.’

We have seen, then, how love for God and neighbor is what motivated Augustine’s life and nourished him in his ministry. This attitude, which he brought to his vocation, is what embraced the complete cross of Christ and allowed its sacramental grace to guide him in his life. He was able to find in his life a love which is divine. Indeed, he discovered that love is God.

God’s love is the bond that held each of Augustine’s relationships together. Love is what led him to an understanding of living in constant hope, even when faced with fear or the death of loved ones. It is what brought him to conversion and then compelled him to respond affirmatively to the call to ordination, even while shedding tears over the frightening future which he could foresee was in store for him. It enabled him to offer advice to the bishops of North Africa in councils and synods and it is what gave him the courage to speak out against abuses and heresies infecting the Church. His entire ministry, all of what he did for others, all of what he accomplished in order to give glory to God was done because of the love of God he found so present in his life and the desire to offer his loving service for the salvation of the other.

I conclude these reflections by, once more, offering a citation from our Holy Father Saint Augustine. This is from a reflection he gave on Psalm 33. I believe it highlights well the themes we will explore in the days we meet in Chapter and provides us with encouragement to keep walking together along the way. Augustine preached the following words:

Your feet are your love. You must have two feet so as not to be lame. What are these two feet? The two commandments of love: love for God and love for others. Run to God with these two feet.” (Expositions of the Psalms 33, 2, 10)

And so, some of us will be running fast on our pilgrim journey, others not quite as fast, but it will be important to note, that we are all running in the same direction. We are running towards Paradiso, and we are compelled to help each other along the way.