05051997 SJPII address OFM
May 5, 1997: Message of Saint John Paul II to the Order of Friars Minor
To the Most Reverend Father Hermann Schalück, Minister General of the Friars Minor.
1. On the occasion of the ordinary general chapter that is celebrated next to the sanctuary of the Porziuncola, beloved place of the Poor Man of Assisi, I am very pleased to express my cordial sentiments of congratulations to the Order of Friars Minor. It is precisely in the Porziuncula that Francis began his evangelical life (cf. 1 Cel 22), it is there that he concluded his earthly life (cf. 1 Cel 110), "because he wanted to give his soul to God where he clearly knew for the first time the way of the truth" (1 Cel 108b).
In addressing you, Most Reverend Father, I wish to convey my fervent greetings to the capitulants and to all the brothers who work in various areas of the world, wishing each and every one, in the words of Saint Francis, "true peace from heaven and sincere charity in the Lord» (2CtaF 1).
Benlliure: Saint Francis in the Plaza de Asís2. "The mandate to evangelize all men constitutes the essential mission of the Church, a task and mission that the vast and profound changes in today's society make no less urgent" (Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Nuntiandi, 14). This urgency has been well understood by your Order, which has placed it among the priority arguments of the capitular sessions. In it, the commitment of the Friars Minor to follow the poor, chaste and obedient Christ is strongly underlined, in order to be able to better announce to all men the sublime truths of the Good News, remaining "firm in the Catholic faith" (2 R 12,4) and fervent in communion with Holy Mother Church (cf. TestS 5).
Indeed, the apostolic and missionary work is fruitful when it is carried out in harmony with the legitimate shepherds, to whom Christ has entrusted the responsibility of his flock. The Order must therefore guide its members to collaborate more and more effectively with the local churches in which they provide their valued service (cf. Phil 1,5).
3. In the wake of my venerable predecessors, in particular Pope Paul VI, who addressed the Apostolic Letter Quoniam proxime (AAS 65 [1973], 353-357) to the Madrid General Chapter, I too want to feel spiritually close to the works capitulants, who repropose the theme of the "Vocation of the Order today", wanting to deepen it from the perspective of memory and prophecy.
When considering their glorious past, rich in history, holiness, culture and apostolic commitment, Franciscans cannot help but feel the commitment to live up to it, striving to write new and significant pages of their own history (cf. Vita consecrata , 110). Finding ourselves at the dawn of the third millennium, how can we not highlight the vocation and evangelizing mission of the Order, which lie, so to speak, at the heart of its very identity?
The reference to the origins and outstanding phases in the history of the Order is like a paradigm of the current commitment of the Fraternity, called to live today the mission that God has entrusted to it, through the Church, through the profession of The Rule of Saint Francis. The "memory" of the gift given by God to the Church and to the world in the person of the Poor Man leads you to understand contemporary situations in a renewed way and to open yourselves, in dynamic continuity, to the expectations and challenges of the present, to prepare with constructive I pledge the future.
4. The vital unity between yesterday, today and tomorrow is necessary for "memory" to become "prophecy". In fact, "true prophecy is born from God, from friendship with him, from attentive listening to his word in the various circumstances of history" (Vita consecrata, 84b).
The authentic "prophecy" also requires that the Christi vivendi forma, shared by the Apostles (cf. Ibid. 14.16) and assumed as his own by Francis of Assisi and his first companions (cf. 1 Cel 22.24), be the norm of the Lesser Brothers in this last part of the century, in order to deliver intact to the future generations of the third millennium the spiritual inheritance that they have received, through the mediation of so many known and unknown brothers, from the hands of the same seraphic Father.
The reference to the original experience, brought about by the Spirit of the Risen Christ, will certainly open your Family to a future rich in hope and will help you to discover in daily events the presence of God, who acts in the world, and to promote that wise dialogue between faith and culture that is so necessary, particularly today.
It must never be forgotten, in fact, that consecrated life, placed at the service of God and man, "has the prophetic mission of remembering and serving God's plan for men, as announced by the Scriptures, and as can be seen from a careful reading of the signs of God's providential action in history» (Vita consecrata, 73a).
In this perspective, careful discernment that leads you to question yourself about the meaning of your munus in the Church and about the vocation of the Franciscan Fraternity at the present time is essential, also for your Order.
5. The specific munus of the Friars Minor was indicated by Saint Francis himself when he wrote in his Letter to the entire Order: Praise God “for he is good, and exalt him in your works; for this is why he has sent you into the whole world, so that by word and deed you may bear witness to his voice and let everyone know that there is no other omnipotent but He» (CtaO 8-9).
This munus was later explained by the numerous Church documents relating to the mandate to preach penance that Pope Innocent III conferred on the Order (1 Cel 33) and that my venerable predecessors confirmed over the centuries.
The entire history of the Minors confirms that the proclamation of the Gospel is the vocation, the mission and the raison d'être of this Fraternity. The same Rule, illustrating the vocation of the Order in the Church, recalls that the Brothers are called to be with Christ and are sent to preach, healing the sick (cf. Mk 3,13-15; 1 Cel 24; Vita consecrata, 41). These clear guidelines of the Founder demand unity and complementarity between the proclamation of the Gospel and the witness of charity. It is an apostolic and missionary task that is incumbent on everyone: brothers, clergy and laity. The Legend of the Three Companions recalls that "when the chapter was finished, [Francis] gave license to preach to those who had the spirit of God and the appropriate eloquence, whether they were clergy or laymen" (TC 59c), and the other brothers collaborated with them through prayer and charity.
6. This indispensable unity to the apostolica vivendi forma requires, therefore, that all the brothers, each according to his own condition and his specific gifts, be fully inserted into the unique evangelizing vocation of the Order. And this demands a constant effort in the field of formation, which precedes and accompanies the commitment of the workers in the Lord's vineyard (cf. Evangelii Nuntiandi, 15). Seek, therefore, to guarantee to all, clergy and laity, an adequate formation, so that each brother is able to insert himself with an apostolic spirit and with due professionalism in the broad field of evangelization and works of charity ( see Mt 10,7-8).
It is also necessary that apostolic action and the work of human promotion be animated by a constant spirit of prayer, since the commitment to "fill the world with the Gospel" springs from the experience of God. This is the profound meaning of the personal and interior knowledge of Christ, which the Order, in communion with the whole Church, is called to promote in the People of God. As is known, the unity between evangelization and contemplation is deeply embedded in the Rule of the Friars Minor, inviting them "not to quench the spirit of holy prayer and devotion" (2 R 5,2). Saint Francis recalls that “the preacher must first extract from the prayer made in secret what he is going to spread later through the sacred discourses; it must first be inflamed internally, lest it transmit words that do not carry life» (2 Cel 163a).
It is from communion with Christ that the apostolic and charitable life will draw content, coherence and dynamism. From the experience of his life-giving presence, the strength and conviction of the proclamation that creates communion with God and with the Church will also spring forth for the Friars Minor, as the Apostle John reminds us: «What we have seen and heard, we announce to you, so that you you too may be in communion with us. And we are in communion with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ» (1 Jn 1,3).
7. Most Reverend Father, by encouraging this Fraternity to face the work of the chapter with the evangelical style that encouraged Saint Francis, I pray that the Lord pour out his Holy Spirit abundantly on each one of the capitulants. I entrust to Mary Immaculate the reflection of these days, asking her, Mother and Queen of Minors, to help each one of the brothers to proclaim the wonders that the Lord does in the world, and encourage all your Order to respond with renewed surrender to the call of Christ.
I accompany these sentiments with a special Apostolic Blessing, which I cordially impart to you, to the Chapter Fathers, and to all the Friars Minor throughout the world.
Vatican, May 5, 1997.
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