The president of the General Chapter of the Order: "The beauty of our story as Augustinians is that it continues to develop"

On Wednesday, September 3, the President of the Ordinary General Chapter of the Order of Saint Augustine, General Assistant Joseph L. Farrell, addressed the capitular friars during these days of discernment, in which our brothers are to elect the new Prior General, his council, and the roadmap to be followed by the Order for the next six-year term. Below, we reproduce some excerpts from his speech.

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 188^th 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.

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.

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. 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.