02172001 SJPII General Chapter OFM conv
Rome, Saturday February 17, 2001
The Order of Minor Conventual Brothers celebrated its 198th General Chapter in Ariccia (Italy), from January 30 to February 28, 2001, and at it Fr. Joachim Anthony Giermek was elected Minister General. On Saturday, February 17, the capitulars went to St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, where they concelebrated the Eucharist and renewed their fidelity to the Vicar of Christ, as well as their love and obedience to the Church, following the spirit of the "Poverello" of Assisi. Then, they were received by Saint John Paul II, who gave the following speech:
Cimabue, San Francis Dear Conventual Friars!
1. It is a great joy for me to meet you today, on the occasion of your General Chapter. I address a special greeting to Br. Joachim Anthony Giermek, new Minister General, 118 successor of Saint Francis, and I thank him for the words he wanted to address to me on behalf of all of you. I extend my cordial greeting to the new general council, as well as to Br. Agostino Gardin, who has guided the Order in the past six years: I express my appreciation and gratitude for everything he has done during these years at the service of the Church, not only as Minister general of his religious family, but also as president of the Union of Superiors General... (continue reading after the following advertisment)
Dear brothers, through you I would like to send a greeting full of esteem and affection to all your communities spread across the various continents. I wholeheartedly wish the new Minister General and his council a generous and fruitful service in guiding your entire religious community during this beginning of the third Christian millennium.
A look into the future. 2. The General Chapter, celebrated a few weeks after the conclusion of the great Jubilee, reflects in a significant way the current historical moment. In the life of a religious institute, the chapter assembly constitutes an important occasion for reflection and programming, which encourages its members to look especially to the future. As I meet you, I wish to repeat to you the invitation that I addressed to all ecclesial communities in the apostolic letter Novo Millenio Ineunte: "It is therefore time for each Church, reflecting on what the Spirit has said to the people of God in this special year of grace, moreover, in the broader period of time that goes from the Second Vatican Council to the great Jubilee, analyze your fervor and recover a new impetus for your spiritual and pastoral commitment” (n. 3).
Fidelity to personal and community prayer
3. “Beginning again from Christ” (Novo millenio ineunte, c. III) must be your first commitment, dear Friars Minor Conventuals. Only by firmly relying on Christ will it be possible for you to put into practice the various operational indications that you have identified during the chapter work to respond to urgent challenges and apostolic priorities. This love for Christ must be expressed, first of all, with fidelity to personal and community prayer, especially liturgical prayer, which has characterized your Order from the beginning. Saint Francis, addressing the General Chapter and all the friars, wrote: «Therefore, because of all these things, I pray as best I can to Brother H., my Lord Minister General, to ensure that the Rule is inviolably observed by all; and that the clergy pray the office with devotion in the presence of God, not paying attention to the melody of the voice, but to the consonance of the mind, so that the voice agrees with the mind, and the mind agrees with God, in order to that they may appease God by the purity of their heart” (LtO 40-42). Your fraternal life and your evangelizing mission will bear abundant fruit if they spring from a "praying community", which in the encounter with God finds the meaning and interior energies for daily fidelity to its commitments.
fraternal life
4. The intense relationship with the Lord will give you spiritual vigor to cultivate fraternal life. In this regard, you must be faithful to your specific conventual Franciscan charism, which has always considered sharing the community journey as its peculiar characteristic within the vast Franciscan movement. May you be encouraged by what I wrote, for this purpose, in the post-synodal apostolic exhortation Vita consecrata, underlining the theological dimension of fraternal life lived in a spirit of authentic communion: "Fraternal communion, before being an instrument for a specific mission, is a theological space." in which the mystical presence of the risen Lord can be experienced (cf. Mt 18:20)” (n. 42).
The first biographer of the Poverello of Assisi, Br. Thomas of Celano, presents the reference picture, in a certain sense ideal, of the Order, describing the group of the first companions of Saint Francis as overflowing with a love that is not only joyful, but also animated by true brotherly affection (1 Cel 38). Do not forget that “the Church urgently needs such fraternal communities. Its very existence represents a contribution to the new evangelization, since it shows in a reliable and concrete way the fruits of the new commandment" (Vita consecrata, 45; cf. Novo millenio ineunte, 43-45).
Witnesses and teachers of authentic spirituality
5. In your Chapter the call to a simple and intense spirituality has often been expressed; in a word, Franciscan. If you are men of deep dialogue with God, you will also be witnesses and teachers of authentic spirituality. Therefore, safeguard and promote spiritual life, showing yourselves willing to guide the faithful along this path for whom you are a point of reference. Our time shows increasingly evident signs of a deep thirst for values, itineraries and goals of the spirit. In the aforementioned apostolic letter Novo millenio ineunte I wrote: «Is it not a sign of the times that today, despite the vast processes of secularization, a widespread demand for spirituality is detected, which is largely manifested precisely in a renewed need for prayer? (no. 33)
This renewed longing for the world of the spirit should find a valid and fruitful response in your Franciscan communities. Through docile listening to the word of God, welcomed personally and shared in the traditional practice of lectio divina, and through the exercise of personal and community prayer, you will become valuable traveling companions for many people eager to follow Christ and his Gospel sine glossa. In this way you will respond to the requests that, in various ways, come to you from the men and women of our time, and you will be able to effectively attract souls towards paths of spiritual growth and new inner vitality.
Make the love of God palpable
6. There are multiple opportunities that providence offers you. It is enough to remember the ministry of welcome in the various sanctuaries entrusted to your Order. I think, for example, of the Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi, which I have had the joy of visiting many times, where it is proven that the Poverello also knows how to fascinate and lead multitudes of devotees towards God today.
I also think of the Basilica of Saint Anthony of Padua, great spiritual son of Saint Francis of Assisi. I cannot forget the valuable pastoral service of the penitentiary merits of the Vatican Basilica who, especially during the Jubilee, gave themselves with commendable commitment and dedication to welcoming countless penitents from all over the world. I know that many religious of the Order came to Rome from different countries to collaborate with their brothers, who ordinarily carry out this ministry as hidden as it is necessary for the good of souls.
Dear Friars Minor Conventuals, continue your action with the popular style that distinguishes you. The people, to whose service God sends you, address you the same request that the Greeks who came to Jerusalem for Easter made to the apostle Philip: "We want to see Jesus" (Jn 12:21). It is up to you to make visible and, I would say, almost palpable the merciful love of God: love that welcomes and reconciles, that forgives and renews the hearts of believers, embracing each man and each woman, all children of the one Father, in a consoling embrace. heavenly.
The heroic example of your martyrs
7. The indications that have emerged from the reflections of these days will certainly help the Order to continue on the path outlined by the founder, faithfully supporting his evangelical intuitions. With prophetic discernment you will know how to adopt, in the light of the Spirit, "the appropriate way of maintaining and updating your own charism and your own spiritual heritage in the various historical and cultural situations" (Vita consecrata, 42), without ever failing to comply with the Rule of life that Saint Francis bequeathed to you.
You have before you the heroic example of several of your brothers, who in the last century gave their lives for Christ and his Church. I am referring to the seven Polish brothers, some of whom were collaborators of Saint Maximilian Maria Kolbe, victims of Nazi ideology. I had the joy of proclaiming them blessed during the last six years. As you contemplate the luminous multitude of saints and blesseds of your Order, do not be afraid to follow the Lord with total dedication. May the Virgin Mary, “Lady, holy Queen, holy Mother of God” (SalVM 1), protect you and help you fulfill the purposes of your General Chapter.
With these wishes I willingly impart to each of you present here, to your communities of origin and to all the Minor Conventual Brothers scattered throughout the world, as well as to the lay people who collaborate with you in your different activities, a special apostolic blessing .
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