Augustinian Global Fasting (AGF): A 12-Month Journey of Faith, Fasting, and Care for our Common Home (click for Translations)

AUGUSTINIAN GLOBAL FASTING (AGF):
A 12-MONTH JOURNEY OF FAITH, FASTING,
AND CARE FOR OUR COMMON HOME

“You have made us for Yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in You.”
– St. Augustine, Confessions

A SACRED INVITATION

As we enter the Jubilee Year 2025, the Church calls us to renewal—a time of reconciliation, celebration, and conversion. It is a year of grace, a sacred opportunity to return to the heart of the Gospel. At the same time, we mark two significant global milestones: the 10th anniversary of Laudato Si’, Pope Francis’s groundbreaking encyclical on care for our common home, and the ongoing journey toward fulfilling the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), adopted by the United Nations as a shared blueprint for peace, people, and planet.

In this context of grace and urgency, we, members of the worldwide Augustinian family, propose a year-long spiritual campaign that brings together the richness of our Catholic faith and the call to ecological responsibility. We invite all who are inspired by the Augustinian charism—religious brothers and sisters, lay Augustinians, educators, alumni, parishioners, students, and friends—to join the Augustinian Global Fasting (AGF) initiative. This is more than a call to abstain from food. It is a call to fast from indifference, to feast on hope, and to act with love.

What is AGF?

AGF (Augustinian Global Fasting) is a global, year-long commitment to:

• Abstain from meat every Friday
• Eat only one full meal (plus two light meals, if needed, according to the Church’s norms on fasting)
• Offer this fast as a prayer for the healing of our hearts, our communities, and our planet
  

We begin this fast on May 23, 2025, the day after the Feast of St. Rita of Cascia, and conclude it on May 22, 2026, as we celebrate her feast once again. In this 12-month journey, we unite with one another and with the Earth, walking a path of spiritual conversion, ecological awareness, and Augustinian solidarity.

ROOTED IN TRADITION: THE SPIRITUAL MEANING OF FASTING

Fasting has always been central to the Christian journey. It is a practice of self-emptying that prepares the soul for divine intimacy. The Scriptures are filled with examples of fasting as a way to seek God’s will and mercy: “Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free…? Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up quickly.” (Isaiah 58:6,8) Jesus Himself fasted in the desert before beginning His public ministry. He taught His disciples: “When you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites… But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that your fasting may be seen not by others but by your Father who is in secret.” (Matthew 6:16–18). Fasting is not about deprivation. It is about transformation. St. Augustine, whose teachings and spirituality guide our way, reminds us: “Do you wish your prayer to fly toward God? Give it two wings: fasting and almsgiving.” (Sermon 206). For Augustine, fasting was not only an act of personal sacrifice—it was a gesture of solidarity with the poor, a way of purifying one’s desires, and a path toward the inner freedom to love more deeply.

Pope Francis, in his many teachings, especially during Lent, repeatedly emphasized the link between fasting and active love: “Fasting makes sense if it questions our security, and if it also leads to some benefit for others… Fasting should challenge our indifference.” (Pope Francis, General Audience, 2014). “Fasting, prayer and almsgiving… allow us to live lives of sincere faith, living hope and effective charity.” (Message for Lent 2021). In the spirit of these teachings, AGF is an invitation to fast not only from food, but from selfishness, waste, and complacency—and to feast on spiritual renewal, solidarity, and sustainability.

ECOLOGICAL FASTING: WHY NO MEAT?

Modern science affirms what many traditions have long understood: our diets impact not only our bodies, but also the world around us. The production of meat—especially beef and lamb—consumes enormous amounts of natural resources:

• Massive water usage (up to 15,000 liters per kilogram of beef)
• Deforestation for pasture and animal feed (especially in the Amazon)
• Significant greenhouse gas emissions (livestock contribute up to 14.5% of total emissions)
• Soil degradation, pollution, and biodiversity loss
  

In contrast, plant-based diets have a much lighter ecological footprint. A collective shift—even just one day a week—toward meatless meals can:

• Reduce water and energy use
• Lower carbon emissions
• Promote health and nutrition
• Encourage ethical farming practices
• Build awareness of sustainable consumption
  

By choosing no meat every Friday, we express our care for “our sister, Mother Earth,” as St. Francis of Assisi and Pope Francis called her. “The earth herself, burdened and laid waste, is among the most abandoned and maltreated of our poor; she ‘groans in travail.’” (Laudato Si’, 2). “Reducing meat consumption is an act of love for creation.” (Laudato Si’, implicitly supported in LS 211–214). This is not a fad or trend. It is an act of moral responsibility, consistent with the teachings of our faith and the call to care for the least among us—including future generations.

AGF AND THE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS

In 2015, world leaders agreed on 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to guide global progress by 2030. These goals include:

• Ending poverty and hunger
• Promoting health, education, and equality
• Ensuring clean water and sustainable energy
• Combating climate change and environmental degradation
  

AGF directly supports many of these goals, particularly:

• Goal 2: Zero Hunger
• Goal 3: Good Health and Well-being
• Goal 12: Responsible Consumption and Production
• Goal 13: Climate Action
• Goal 15: Life on Land
  

Our small personal sacrifice can have global consequences. By fasting, we acknowledge that we are part of one human family, and that the choices we make each day either build or break the bonds of justice and peace.

WHY NOW? WHY THE AUGUSTINIAN FAMILY?

The Augustinian tradition is built on community, interiority, and truth. These values call us to live not for ourselves, but with and for others. In Laudato Si’, Pope Francis urged us to build a culture of ecological conversion — a change of heart that sees the world not as a collection of resources, but as a gift of God’s love, entrusted to our care. “The ecological crisis is also a summons to profound interior conversion… [to] a different lifestyle, one capable of bringing about significant changes in society.” (Laudato Si’, 217–219). The Augustinian family — spread across continents, cultures, and ministries — has a unique capacity to live and share this message. Through our schools, parishes, formation houses, missions, and institutions, we can model a way of life rooted in simplicity, wisdom, and compassion.

A GLOBAL INVITATION: WHO CAN JOIN?

AGF is open to everyone who desires to live more intentionally and faithfully in this Jubilee Year. While rooted in the Augustinian tradition, it welcomes participation from:

• Religious brothers and sisters
• Lay Augustinians and Third Order members
• Students, teachers, and alumni of Augustinian schools
• Parishioners in Augustinian parishes
• Families, colleagues, and friends of our communities
  

Each community can choose how to localize the initiative: creating AGF Fridays with reflections, shared meals, prayer services, or learning sessions on Laudato Si’ and the SDGs.

We invite:

• Schools to promote “Meatless Fridays” in their cafeterias and curriculum
• Parishes to integrate AGF into Friday devotions and community outreach
• Formation houses to deepen spiritual reflection on fasting and simplicity
• Lay groups to accompany one another in mutual encouragement
• All participants to share testimonies, photos, prayers, and ideas under the hashtag
  #AugustinianGlobalFasting
  

Let this be a movement of joy, not burden—a movement of unity across borders and
generations.

A YEAR OF GRACE: OUR JOURNEY FROM MAY 23, 2025 TO MAY 22, 2026

Each Friday is a stepping stone in a 52-week pilgrimage of faith.

• Week by week, we grow in mindfulness, simplicity, and solidarity
• Season by season, we align our rhythm with creation and with God’s time
• Month by month, we accompany one another in our struggles and triumphs
  

As we begin on May 23, 2025, we walk under the patronage of St. Rita of Cascia, a woman of perseverance, prayer, and impossible hope. She teaches us that even the hardest hearts can be softened, and even the darkest circumstances can blossom into peace. On May 22, 2026, we shall conclude our fast, not in weariness, but in celebration—gathering around the table, not just to break bread, but to rejoice in a year of grace, growth, and global communion.

A MOVEMENT OF LOVE AND A MOMENT OF GRACE

AGF is not merely a campaign — it is a movement of love. It is our humble response to the call of the Gospel, the cry of the Earth, and the needs of our brothers and sisters. It is about choosing hope over apathy, community over isolation, and spiritual renewal over routine. And now, as we embark on this journey during the Jubilee Year, we are also witnessing a historic and deeply moving moment in the life of the Church: the election of our new Holy Father, Pope Leo XIV. We pray for him, the new Vicar of Christ, that he may be filled with the wisdom, courage, and compassion necessary for his mission as Shepherd of the Church. We recognize the immense responsibility he now carries, and we commend him to the guidance of the Holy Spirit and the prayers of the entire People of God.

As Augustinians, we are especially honored and overjoyed that one of our own brothers has been called to this sacred ministry. We give thanks to God for this profound privilege and gift. With hearts full of gratitude and reverence, we commit ourselves to accompany him through prayer, witness, and fidelity to the Gospel. This is also a renewed call for each of us in the Augustinian family to live out our own consecration with deeper authenticity and passion. We are called to bear witness — through our words and actions — to the vision that Pope Francis has left us in Laudato Si’ and Fratelli Tutti: a vision of integral ecology, universal fraternity, and a Church that goes forth, healing wounds and building bridges.

Let this Augustinian Global Fasting not end in May 2026, but echo through our lives long afterward. May this year be the beginning of a new path: one where our faith expresses itself not only in devotion, but in transformation — of hearts, communities, and the world. Let us fast. Let us pray. Let us walk together with Pope Leo XIV, with one another, and with all of creation — toward a future filled with justice, mercy, and peace.

In Deum,

Rev. Fr. Victor Fernandez Gonzaga, OSA

Representative of the Augustinian Order to the United Nations

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