The spirituality of our Order proceeds from the following of Christ according to the wisdom of the Gospel and the action of the Holy Spirit. Its principal point of reference is the teaching and example of Saint Augustine, complemented by the tradition of the Order. The principal document of our spirituality is Augustine's Rule, which directs our lives and actions and informs our characteristic values of unity, truth and charity.
Community is the axis around which Augustinian religious life turns: a community of brothers who live harmoniously together, united by a single soul and a single heart, seeking God together and open to the service of the Church. This community is the fruit of charity and is expressed in friendship, which brings forth and nourishes loyalty, trust, sincerity and mutual understanding. Charity unites us in Christ, helping us to recognize the signs of God’s love in the events and circumstances of life. Thus, united in charity, we share mutually the gifts given to us and to others. Our friendship in Christ not only favors the development of each one’s personality, but it also increases freedom within the community itself, in which a healthy openness of mind fosters dialogue and enjoys a necessary autonomy with which to serve God better.
Humility and poverty are the foundation of our common life and spiritual life, and are so closely related that no one can be called a “poor man of God” as was Augustine, without being humble. By reason of poverty and humility we consider all of our possessions, both material and spiritual, as the possessions of all, for we do not hold them as personal property, but as given to us by God to be administered. We are all beggars before God. Therefore, we make use of the goods of the earth as tools on our way toward our heavenly homeland.
