Many of us in the past few weeks have seen the block buster hit movie from the top selling novel, The Shack. And in this movie, Papa reveals to Mack how important faith in God really is. Those of us who are members of any Secular Franciscan Fraternity realize that faith and life go hand in hand. We are called to build up the Kingdom of God in what we do in our lives for service but also in our every day situations. But we must remember that what we do for others also applies to what we do in building up those in our own fraternities. For we are called to live the Gospel of Jesus every day in fraternal communion. So what do our General Constitutions and our Rule have to say?
Article 3 of the General Constitutions of the Secular Franciscan Order states the following:
Article 3 of the General Constitutions of the Secular Franciscan Order states the following:
1. The secular state characterizes the
spirituality and the apostolic life of those belonging to the
OFS.
2. Their secularity, with respect to vocation
and to apostolic life, expresses itself
according to the respective state, that
is:
— for the laity, contributing to building up
the Kingdom of God by their presence in their life-situations and in their
temporal activities;[1]
— for the secular clergy, by offering to the
people of God the service which is properly theirs, in communion with the
bishop and the presbytery.[2]
Both
are inspired by the gospel options of Saint Francis of Assisi, committing
themselves to continue his mission with the other components of the Franciscan
Family.
3. The vocation to the OFS is a vocation to
live the Gospel in fraternal communion.
For this purpose, the members of the OFS gather in ecclesial communities
which are called fraternities. (highlights and unlinking is my doing)
Community life for Secular Franciscans is essential. We build community life in all that we
do. We pray together; we serve together;
we study together; we rejoice together; we often grieve together; and many of
us worship together. But how do we take
this to the next level. How do we go
from just being a community of Secular Franciscans to being a community that is
bonded in fraternal communion?
In the Rule of the
Secular Franciscan Order it states that those who profess this life “should seek to encounter the living and
active person of Christ in their brothers and sisters, in Sacred Scripture, in
the Church, and in liturgical activity. The faith of St. Francis, who often
said, "I see nothing bodily of the Most High Son of God in this world
except His most holy body and blood," should be the inspiration and
pattern of their Eucharistic life” (Ch. 2, para. 4). We are called to be imitators of Francis who
during his day was known as alter
Christus. For us this means loving
those who are in our communities as Christ and Francis love us. It means more than just doing the corporal
and spiritual works of mercy with those in our community for those outside our
fraternities. It means being Christ, or
being Francis for those within our Fraternity – locally, nationally, and throughout
the world. Just as Jesus and Francis
were mercy for all those they met, so we become mercy for all those we meet.
This is not an
easy task. It is one of those things
that we all – including me – struggle with.
Just as in any family there are those we like more than others. But all must be enveloped with love, with
mercy, with God’s loving embrace.
My hope for
tonight’s meeting is that we can discuss becoming a fraternity that embraces
all with God’s love and mercy through the following questions:
- How do I become God’s mercy for all those in this Fraternity?
- How do I leave behind those attitudes or habits that cause others to distance themselves from me in my family? In this fraternity? Some of those might be gossip, faithfulness, etc….
- What can I do that will help others to desire to follow Christ by following Francis?
