Reflection: 3rd Sunday of Advent, Cycle B

Is 61:1-2a, 10-11; 1 Thess. 5:16-24; Jn1:6-8, 19-28. Feeling oppressed by the Roman occupation, the Jews of Jesus’ time were anxious to know if the Messiah had already come. Seeing John the Baptist preaching and baptizing they immediately wanted to verify if indeed he was the Messiah or not. It gave John the Baptist a…

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In Pictures: Recoletos de Negros Oriental conducts ARSE 2020

NEGROS ORIENTAL—Members of the Augustinian Recollect communities in Negros Oriental—Recoletos de Valencia, Recoletos de Caidiocan, and Recoletos de Tambo—conducted the annual retreat in the first week of December 2020. Otherwise known as the Augustinian Recollect Spiritual Exercises or ARSE, the retreat lasted for three days. Pursuant to the tripartite agreement of the three priors (Fray…

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LECTIO DIVINA: III Sunday of Advent, Cycle B

Translated by Fray Dunstan Huberto Decena, OAR Jn. 1:6-8, 19-28. A. Invoking the Holy Spirit. We invoke the Holy Spirit using the words of St. Augustine. Come, Holy Spirit, by whom every devout soul, who believes in Christ, is sanctified to become a citizen of the City of God! (en. Ps. 45:8) Come, Holy Spirit,…

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Message of Prior General on the occasion of the 432nd Anniversary of the Augustinian Recollection

Happy Anniversary! “With gratitude and hope we celebrate on December 5 the Anniversary of the Augustinian Recollection. After 432 years, the restlessness of those brothers who at the Chapter of the Augustinian Province of Castile expressed their desire to live a more evangelical life with poverty, prayer and apostolic service, remains alive in our hearts.…

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SARF holds first National Online Novenas

by Jayzl Villafania Nebre, SAR (SARF de Provincialate) Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? (Rom 8:35) This was a question posed by the greatest Christian theologian who has ever lived posed to the Romans about two thousand years…

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USJ-R holds first virtual Christmas lighting ceremony

CEBU CITY–In the context of the new normal, the University of San Jose-Recoletos is the first and only university in Cebu which did an online launching of Christmas lights to date. USJ-R lit up its main campus on December 1 to formally usher the Josenian Christmas season. The 20-minute virtual activity started by reminiscing the…

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Reflection on the 2nd Sunday of Advent, Cycle B

The first reading from Isaiah opens with: “Comfort ye my people…speak tenderly to Jerusalem…Her guilt is expiated.” At that time Israel was in exile in Babylon because of her sin of idolatry. She had suffered enough because of her sins and now the Lord wanted to console her. A voice would now cry out in…

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In Action: Men and Women in Orange

Valencia, Negros Oriental—The humble Church of this municipality, the Parish Our Lady of the Abandoned administered by the religious of the Order of Augustinian Recollects, has been part of the lives of the people residing in this locality. For years already, the parish has provided all the means she has to provide the spiritual needs…

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