five years ago Agustín Alvarez lives in complete solitude in the monastery of St. Joseph, located in the commune Florida.
by Bernadette Alvarez
by Bernadette Alvarez
The third most populous municipality is an oasis from the bustle of Santiago. Surrounded by the nature of the sector of Lo Cañas, at the foot of the foothills, and a building made from organic materials (stone, adobe, tile and wood), is the Monasterio San José en Soledad, built five years ago by the single monk who dwells: Agustín Alvarez (51), Catholic priest of the Schoenstatt movement.
There, in Florida, lives in isolation. He spends most of the day in silence, dedicated to household chores, crafts and prayer. Only sometimes I visit a priest, but the rest of the day live as a hermit.
Nobody would imagine that at the beginning Augustine was an active parish priest in Quinta Normal, which was dedicated to working with youth and adults. Today, this monk is the only member of the parent branch of Worship has Schoenstatt in the country and in Latin America and like other monks, dressed in a robe which hangs a long hood.
When it is yet night, the priest gets up and leaves his hermitage, which have faculty status, ie nobody else can get in there. In fast, quiet walks along a stone passage to the octagon-shaped chapel the monastery, where he prays. "Here I am not alone, I am thinking about humanity," he says, dressed in white and lit only by candlelight. The way to practice their religious vocation is through meditation, something very different from what they usually do other priests.
Before sunrise a prayer vigil and when it begins to dawn is the time for the Lauds, the morning prayer. If this is added the psalms, celebrating Mass and meditation alone, more than three hours that Augustine intended his beliefs.
"It's a privilege to live in this place and take this life (...) Having a space for meditation is a gift I share with those seeking silence and solitude to pray, "he explains. Because the monastery also has a receiving area for those who want to spend the day quietly, away from noise. You can even sleep there, any day of the week.
Lunch prepares him but that is what his followers have ladies who come from the eastern sector and continue for some time. "Sometimes the freeze. It is to last me more, "he says.
Before nightfall, the solitary monk are held in the chapel again, where after the recitation of Vespers (evening prayer) kneels and places his forehead on the floor. "It is in worship and gratitude," he says. And even in that position Augustine stayed for half an hour, he describes as a "rest." No sore knees or at least do not realize, because meditation is concentration.
The pace of life has been forged himself. "It was rising to the extent that I began to live it. Even today is moving, growing," he says.
hermit's life began drawing at age 20, while studying philosophy at the University of Chile in the 80's. With some friends participated in retreats at the Trappist Monastery at that time, La Dehesa "That prompted me to become a priest," he recalls. In
seminarian studying in Germany he met the industry Fathers Monks of Adoration. But it was after five years returned to Chile, sorted, and engage in common work of a priest, he could begin to realize his dream: to live a life of worship.
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