A Service of Love: Farewell Address of the Outgoing Prior General P. Alejandro Moral Anton

On Saturday, September 6, during the sixth day of the 188th Ordinary General Chapter of the Order of Saint Augustine, Prior General Alejandro Moral Antón delivered his farewell address to the capitular friars, marking the conclusion of his 12 years of service as Prior General. He began by expressing heartfelt gratitude for their support and urged all to remain committed to the ongoing renewal of the Order. The full text of his message follows.

Dear brothers:

I begin these words with a heart full of gratitude and with the deep awareness that every path of service in the Church is born of a gift and finds its fulfillment in charity.

Any authority, including that of the Prior General - and especially his - must always be exercised as a service of love: service to God, the beginning and end of all things; service to the Church, our Mother, in total availability to her guidance and needs; service to the Order in each and every one of its members, so that we may bring to fullness the vocation to which we have been called.

Twelve years ago, the then Superior General of the Jesuits, Fr. Adolfo Nicolás, in his reflection addressed to the capitulars, presented us with eight challenges. In my speech, just after being elected Prior General of the Order, I focused on the first challenge, which stated: "You must recover the great challenges of humanity." And he added: "We religious must ask ourselves: how can we reduce humanity's sufferings? Jesus walked the roads of the world doing precisely that: healing, listening. There are no religious challenges. We are religious, and therefore we stand close to humanity from within our religious identity. The challenges of humanity are our challenges, just as they were Christ's." And he concluded: "We must recover the ancient tradition of religious Orders and the reason for which they arose, which was to work for humanity.

Many other things must be done, but if we are not shaped, as religious and as an Order, by compassion, everything we do will be irrelevant and may even become dangerous, because it could easily lead us away from our mission of introducing into the world the compassion of God.

COMPASSION was the motto chosen for the inaugural address of my first six-year term as Supreme Moderator of the Order.

Rome and Formation

My personal history intertwines with that of our religious family. In 1978 1 arrived in Rome as a young student of the institutional program. In 1983, after obtaining the Licentiate in Sacred Scripture and completing the first course for the Doctorate, I returned to the Seminary of Los Negrales, where I taught some subjects on the New Testament and served as librarian, bursar, and master of professed students.

What has Rome meant to me? It has been a wonderful experience, marked by encounters with extraordinary fathers, some of whom today already participate in the liturgy of heaven, while others are still with us; I think of Fr. Vittorino Grossi and Fr. Angelo Di Berardino.

In Rome I strengthened my faith, renewed my Augustinian vocation, built solid and lasting friendships, and learned to deeply love the brothers of the Order. Here I discovered the richness of diversity and the beauty of the unity that binds us, Rome opened my mind and heart: it taught me to live not only according to my own thinking, but in communion, in reconciled diversity, in the unity of the Spirit.

Years of Service and Governance

Eight years passed in the house of formation, but from 1991 my service in governance began, which has continued to this day. Today, after 35 years, I can say with humility and gratitude:

"Let the one who presides not consider himself happy because he rules with power, but because he serves with charity" (Constitutions of the Order). I have sought to live in this way, aware that governance is not possession but service, not power but self-giving.

Acknowledgments

First of all, I feel the duty and joy to thank the brothers who have shared with me the service during this last six-year term. They have been my closest family, those who shared joys and sufferings, who guided and supported me:

• Fr. Joseph Farrell, Vicar General

• Fr. Anthony Banks, General Councilor

• Fr. Edward Daleng, Councilor and Procurator

• Fr. Ian Wilson, who replaced Fr. Paul Graham, a holy man, whom I carry in my heart and whom we ask to intercede for us;

• Fr. Javier Pérez, who replaced Fr. Luis Marín de San Martín, now Bishop;

• Fr. Alex Lam, Councilor;

• Fr. Pasquale Di Lernia, Secretary of the Order

• Fr. Franz Klein, General Treasurer;

• Fr. Josef Sciberras, Postulator General.

• Fr. Andrés Gómez Rozo, General Archivist.

To each of them I extend my most sincere gratitude. They have been companions on the journey, faithful brothers, wise counselors, and men of prayer.

My gratitude also extends to all the officials and all the brothers who, in various ways, have contributed to carrying forward the projects that were undertaken.

Trials of Time

I cannot forget that this six-year term began in dramatic circumstances: the COVID-19

pandemic, which for long months affected our communities and the entire world. We wept over the loss of many brothers, we suffered isolation, and we experienced the fragility of life.

That experience has changed us. It has taught us that we cannot live enclosed in individualism, that fraternity is not a luxury but a vital necessity, and that our vocation is authentic only when it is rooted in true communion.

Alongside joys, there were also sufferings and painful responsibilities: I had to make difficult decisions, or the sorrow over brothers marked by personal tragedies. In those moments I tried not to judge, but to be close with mercy and compassion. If I did not always succeed, I humbly ask forgiveness.

Towards Renewal

Looking to the future, I strongly feel that our Order needs an authentic renewal. It is not enough to simply administer what exists: we must rethink our religious life in fidelity to the charism.

The fundamental points, in my view, are three:

1.    Formation, solid and ongoing, to prepare mature religious, rooted in the Word and capable of discernment.

2.    Community life, the heart of our identity: fewer works, but more authentic and fraternal communities... with a missionary spirit of communion.

3.    The sharing of goods and austerity, a Gospel sign of inner freedom and credible witness in a world marked by consumerism.

We have great values, we have energy and abilities: we only need to rediscover the joy of our vocation, the passion of communion, and the courage of witness.

Hope and Continuity

Today, at the end of this service, I entrust with serenity and confidence the journey of the Order to the new Prior General. To him go my most sincere wishes and my full availability: I will always be ready to help whenever he wishes and to go wherever the Order considers my presence useful.

I thank you, brothers, for the affection I have received in all the circumscriptions. I have always felt welcomed and loved, and for this I give thanks to God.

Conclusion

Dearest brothers, everything we have lived-the joys and struggles, the successes and the fragilities—finds meaning only if it remains rooted in the Word and in the charism. For this reason, I wish to repeat, as at the beginning, the principle that unites us: "Have one heart and one soul directed toward God."

May this word of Augustine be a light for our future, a support for the new Prior General, and a guide for each one of us.

I conclude with a brief prayer:

Lord Jesus Christ, good and merciful Shepherd, bless our Order. Grant the new Prior General the wisdom and charity of service. May we, following the example of our Father Augustine, live united in heart and soul, directed toward You, our only Good. May Saint Augustine intercede for us, and may Mary, Mother of Good Counsel, accompany our steps. Amen.

Thank you.