06141988 SJPII Address General Chapter SFO

 

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To the participants of the General Chapter of the Secular Franciscan Order (June 14, 1988)

From June 5 to 15, 1988, the Secular Franciscan Order held its V General Chapter in Rome, which had the specific task of studying and approving its new General Constitutions. Now the final approval and the subsequent approval of the Holy See are lacking. At the same time, the Chapter has re-elected Ms. Manuela Mattioli, a Venezuelan, as Minister General of the Order.

On the 14th, the Pope received in audience the participants in the Chapter and, after listening to the General Minister's greeting, gave them the following address in Italian (in L'Osservatore Romano, June 15, 1988, p. 4), whose translation into Spanish we take from the National Bulletin of the SFO: Fraternity (Documents) n. 167 (2/1988) 7-8.

Dear brothers and sisters:

1. I have very gladly accepted your request for a meeting on the occasion of your General Chapter, dedicated to the study of the new General Constitutions, which must be approved by the Apostolic See. They will replace those of 1957, which date back to the pre-conciliar period and which therefore need updating according to the indications of Vatican II and the subsequent documents of the Magisterium concerning the renewal of lay and secular Christian life.

However, the renewal of the Secular Franciscan Order had received a strong impulse already before the Council, when Pius XII, on July 1, 1956, insisted, with an intuition that we may well call prophetic, on innate perfection in the same values of the secular state. My Predecessor thus anticipated what the dogmatic Constitution Lumen gentium would teach about the dignity of the lay vocation (c. IV) and about the universal call to holiness - that is, to perfection - in the Church (c. V ).

Referring to the example of Saint Francis, the Pope said that we can all "strive for the perfection of our own state and achieve it even without embracing the state of perfection", that is, the religious state of the practice of evangelical counsels. The mandate to be perfect, to be holy, does not concern only religious and priests, but all Christians, all the Lord's disciples. Perfection is not a luxury, it is not a secondary or almost superfluous aspect of the Christian life, but it requires a precise answer from all the baptized, which directly affects the question of salvation.

2. But you are also an Order, a "lay Order, but a true Order", as the Pope said; moreover, Benedict XV had already spoken of "Ordo veri nominis." This ancient term - we could say medieval - of "Order" does not mean anything other than your close belonging to the great Franciscan Family, your fraternal bond and even would like to say "filial" with the First Order and TOR, vigorous branches of the spirituality of the Poor thing from Assisi. The word "Order" means participation in the discipline and austerity proper to that spirituality, within the autonomy proper to your lay and secular condition, which, on the other hand, frequently carry with them sacrifices no less than those made in the religious and priestly life.

3. The period that has elapsed since the approval of the previous Constitutions has been marked by a particular attention of the Supreme Pontiffs in relation to your Order, until following it with paternal and solicitous haste for the gradual renewal during a period that, as we well know, does not it has been easy. My predecessors have shown you the path of true renewal, a path that you have endeavored to follow faithfully.

I will briefly recall here, in addition to the dear memory of Pius XII, that of John XXIII, who in 1959 addressed you with these kind words: "Ego sum Joseph, frater vester" ("I am Joseph, your brother").

Important was the intervention of Pope Paul VI -which I make mine in this circumstance-; He exhorted you to live a "triple trust": trust in the profession of poverty, chosen as a specific virtue, liberating from the "perpetual seduction that is wealth", and bearer of "perfect joy"; poverty, therefore, not only as a distancing from riches, but also as humility and abandonment to divine Providence. Confidence in the love of the Cross: "There is here a grave temptation that must be overcome, that of removing the page of the Cross from the Gospel." Confidence today in Franciscan spirituality: "We have confidence in each other - Pope Montini said then - that still the strong and patient back of Saint Francis will support the visible and human Church" (19 May 1971).

4. This confidence is also mine. You will remember that one of the first acts of my pontificate was to visit the tomb of Saint Francis. And a significant proof, among many others, of the topicality of Franciscan spirituality has been the worldwide success of the prayer meeting in October 1986 in Assisi: how could one not in fact recognize in that event the "style" - Can we call it that - of that tireless and hard-working preacher of peace that was Francis?

That is why I am pleased to recall the meeting that I had, in the same year, with the members of the Presidency of the International Council of your Order, gathered in Rome to deepen the outline of the new Constitutions. In that circumstance, I invited you to realize in your daily life, in secular commitments and in relationships with all men the spirit of the Beatitudes, which is that "salt of the earth" that gives true flavor to the world and makes it a tasting of paradise (cf. Sel Fran n. 46, 1987, 6-8).

5. I know that you are now planning to deepen and implement the teachings of the last Synod of Bishops and of my encyclical Sollicitudo rei socialis. These are two excellent occasions to express your good will turned into reality, continuing your faithful adherence to the Magisterium of the Church, of which, on the occasion of this Synod, you have given proof with your active participation by sending your own proposals and aspirations.

I urge you to continue in this line, at the same time that I express my satisfaction for the work you are doing. I wish you in particular a happy conclusion to the improvement of your Constitutions, and I pray for this intention.

This century, as you know, sees an immense flowering of the charisms proper to the laity. It has been repeated many times, especially after the Synod: "It is the hour of the laity." And it's true. In fidelity to their own mission and in faithful cooperation with the Sacred Pastors, many laity, groups, movements, associations, institutions, moved and guided by the Spirit, are doing immense good for the Church today. They are a true hope. And, as you well know, this is what counts, not so much the number, but the quality. These are sometimes small and humanly poor groups: the important thing is good will and fidelity to the Church. They will be, as Jacques Maritain once said with a happy expression, luminous stars scattered in the night of the world.

The Blessed Virgin, who we can say that she assumes in herself the religious vocation and the lay and family vocation, can understand you in depth. Precisely because of this "synthesis" that she makes between spirituality and secularity, she is in perfect conditions to make you understand the deep meaning of your specific vocation, and to protect you so that you can fully realize it. Trust fully in Her, as I heartily bless all of you, along with your brothers and sisters, your relatives and loved ones.

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