Between the 10th and the 14th of June, a group of Augustinian friars gathered for a few days of retreat at the Good Samaritan House in Santa Venera. During these days the friars had the opportunity to stop for a while from the routine of life and live moments of silence, prayer and reflection accompanied by Fr Brendan Mark Gatt who animated these days.  The reflections shared by Fr Brendan offered interesting points of reflection about one’s particular call and journey in the Church.

These days were also a beautiful opportunity for the friars from different communities to come together and share the beauty of the Augustinian religious life beyond the daily commitments and everything that usually shapes the days with so much activity. The days of the retreat also provide an occasion for a wonderful and calmer experience of prayer and an opportunity of spiritual renewal. Another group of friars will take part in another retreat that will take place in Gozo next October.

The Maltese Augustinian Province with great sadness announces the death of Bro Mario Bonnici OSA who on Saturday 25^th May 2024 went to meet the Risen Lord whom he loved and served so much during his life. Bro Mario these last few weeks was living at Karen Grech Hospital.

As an Augustinian religious, Bro Mario lived and served for many years in our community at Tal Pietà where he used to work in St Augustine College. Six years ago, he formed part of the community of Valletta. Bro Mario was always ready to serve and apart from his service at our college, he served in several other convents.

His funeral will be celebrated on Saturday 1^st June at Saint Augustine Parish Church in Valletta at 9.30am. Before the mass the body of our brother Mario will be laid in the Oratory of Our Lady of the Good Counsel for the last respects of the public. A private burial will then take place in the tombs of the Augustinian Province in the cemetery of Santa Maria Addolorata.

The Augustinian brothers recommend him in prayer so that the Lord may receive him in his mercy and give him the payment of all that he has worked for during his life.

Between May 23 and June 8, Father Javier Perez Barba O.S.A., Assistant to the Prior General of the Order of Saint Augustine made a Canonical Visitation to the Augustinians in Malta. Father Javier is the Assistant responsible for the countries of Southern Europe, namely Spain, Italy, and Malta. Part of his duty as Assistant to the Prior General is hold visits to the religious of the countries under his responsibility, listens to them, and offers a constructive reflection for their renewal.

Along these days he actually spent two days in each Augustinian Community where he had the opportunity to speak with each religious individually and even held a meeting with each community respectively. At the end of the visits to the Communities he also met with the Provincial Council and shared with them reflections on what he heard and what he feels should be the Province's priorities for the coming years. He also had the occasion to visit the brothers in the House for Retired Clergy in Birkirkara and Villa Messina in Rabat.

In the name of the Prior General, Father Javier also paid a visit to the Contemplative Augustinian Nuns in the Monastery of Saint Catherine in Valletta and assessed with them the challenges of their present reality, while expressing the a desire of the Order to strengthen the reality of the Augustinian Contemplative Life.

In the traditional celebration for the Sick and the Elderly on the occasion of the Feast of St. Rita in Valletta, the Prior Provincial fr Leslie Gatt OSA, encouraged the sick to embrace Jesus as so many saints did in the hardship of life. While they find courage in the intercession of the Saint of the impossible Saint Rita, the Prior Provincial urged them to offer their suffering for more vocations - and holy vocations - in the Church and in the Augustinian Family where Saint Rita lived her Religious Consecration.

Numerous sick people and elderly from different homes for the elderly participated in the mass, in which they received the sacrament of the Annointing of the Sick. Such celebration for the Sick and the Elderly on the days of the feast of Santa Rita in Valletta is a tradition that goes back many years and many even remember its transmission on redifuxin.

Practically this marked the beginning of the celebrations that take place in honor of Saint Rita in all the Augustinian churches around Malta. The feast of the Saint was celebrated on Saturday in the Church of Saint Mark in Rabat and in the coming weekends it will continue to be celebrated in all the other churches served by the Augustinian friars. Meanwhile on the Day of the Liturgical Feast, which falls on Wednesday 22 May, it will be celebrated solemnly in the Parish Church of Saint Augustine in Valletta, which serves as a national shrine for the devotion to the saint, and in the Church of Saint Augustine in Victoria Gozo. In both churches there will be a program of celebrations along the day and a devotional pilgrimage with the statue of the saint in the evening.