11111989 JPII Address OFS Italy
Saint John Paul II
ADDRESS TO THE SECULAR FRANCISCAN ORDER OF ITALY
Rome, Saturday November 11, 1989
On November 11, 1989, Saint John Paul II received in audience the 7,500 participants in the pilgrimage organized by the Secular Franciscan Order (SFO) of Italy, on the occasion of the VII Centenary of the approval of the Rule of the Order. During the meeting in the courtyard of San Dámaso, John Paul II delivered the following speech in Italian, translated into English, from L'Osservatore Romano, 3-XII-89.
1. Dear brothers and sisters of the Secular Franciscan Order of Italy: You have gathered in Rome to pray over the tomb of the Apostle Peter, as Saint Francis liked to do, and to celebrate the VII centenary of the Bull Supra montem, with the that my predecessor Nicholas IV, on August 18, 1289, instituted the Third Order, then called the brothers and sisters of penance.
My greetings to all of you and to all the members of the Secular Order of the Italian communities. I also greet the National President, Mrs. Emanuela De Nunzio, the National Assistant, Father Giuseppe Martin, and all the representatives of the various Franciscan families present here.
I know well that the Secular Franciscans in Italy are numerous and enjoy a unique tradition of ecclesial service. This gives me great joy.
ferment in the world
2. The Secular Franciscan Order, as is well known, represents the oldest form of organization of lay people who, under the guidance of the Church, fraternally united, and inspired by the charism of Saint Francis, strive to bear witness to the Gospel with his own life, dedicating himself to the apostolate according to the forms required by the conditions proper to the lay state. Called to live in the century, but impelled by the Holy Spirit to reach the perfection of charity, according to the model of life of the seraphic "Poverello" of Assisi, you act in the world as leaven, full of Christian spirit, aware that you must advance generously on the path of holiness (cf. Apostolicam actuositatem, 2).
This is precisely what Saint Francis asked for in his exhortation to the brothers and sisters of penance, addressing "all those who love the Lord with all their heart... and love their neighbor as themselves, and hate their own body with its vices and sins, and receive the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, and produce fruits worthy of penance” (1LtF 1,1-4).
sincerity of faith
3. According to the Bull Supra montem, Secular Franciscan life has very precise requirements. First of all it is founded "on the rock of the Catholic faith", that is, that faith which the disciples of Christ, with ardent charity towards their Master, taught and which the Roman Church professes and preserves. Saint Francis recommended -and the Bull reminds us-, with word and example, the value of this first and fundamental norm for the sanctification of every Christian. For this reason, all the faithful followers of the Franciscan mission were asked for the "sincerity of this same faith" always firmly maintained and manifested in works (cf. Supra montem, prologue).
To the coherence and unity of the faith corresponds in the secular Franciscan tradition a rigorous conduct of life. This is based above all on the spirit of poverty, adapted of course to the demands of those who remain in the century, but not for this less rigorous. The renunciation of a costly lifestyle in terms of clothing, food and entertainment, was at the origins of the Order a necessary sign also for lay people who wanted to give a sincere witness to the poverty of Christ. This remains the essence of Franciscan life even today.
But even poverty, to be truly a virtue, needs to be sustained by intense prayer. The Bull Supra montem therefore strongly recommends prayer, especially liturgical prayer, frequent reception of the sacraments of reconciliation and the Eucharist, fasting and penance, practiced out of love for God and in a spirit of charity.
Furthermore, the Franciscan spirit cannot lose interest in peace. Hence the invitation to work concretely for peace, according to one's own possibilities and conditions: "Restore peace between brothers and sisters, or even between strangers who have fallen into discord" (Supra montem, n. IX ).
Radical internal change
4. Even today, the fundamental rule of all the children of Saint Francis in the Secular Order asks that their own way of thinking and acting be adapted to that of Christ through a radical interior change and a true conversion carried out day by day (Apostolic Brief Seraphicus Pater of Paul VI, No. 7, 1963). Of course, the conditions of the contemporary world demand other signs, other ways of living a holy life, in the daily effort of the apostolate. However, it is clear that the fundamental rules for truly living according to the Gospel remain the same. The Franciscan rule still teaches today how one must open one's heart to Christ, how one can walk with Him and how one can make one's brothers know that adherence to the divine Word grants a gift that frees and sanctifies. In a word, with an authentic Franciscan lifestyle, an effective growth in the Christian way of acting is proposed to every man and every woman, and therefore corresponding to human dignity itself.
Primate of the spirit
5. Then consider how precious is the rule of life proposed by your Order. Modern man, involved in the civilization of consumption, needs to rediscover a true orientation for the program of his daily choices. Today there is a need to announce that the primacy of the spirit is essential to authentically affirm human values as well. You must make people understand that poverty according to the Gospel is truly liberation and beatitude; that love for Christ is a source of joy; that charity towards one's neighbor is in itself a valid reason for living. Modern man asks the Church and all of you, disciples of Saint Francis, how to effectively live the demands of the Gospel "without gloss", while maintaining your own condition as laity, committed to the temporal order.
The universal vocation to holiness, the mission entrusted to the laity in the redemption of earthly realities, the value of prayer, so clearly intuited by Saint Francis, must therefore be for all of you the program that must be confirmed and consolidate.
May the Apostolic Blessing help you in this purpose, which, under the auspices of the seraphic Father Saint Francis, I cordially impart to all of you and to your communities.
Comments
Post a Comment