SFO International Council - Weekly edition
Volume: 2 - N. 48 - 1996 - November - V
From: Letter to the Assistants, 1996, N. 4
The Law
The Law of the "Child" is:
1. I love God my Father.
2. I love all the children of God my Father.
The child needs a norm that dominates everything and everyone
and that is at the same time "his", covering his group, his
activities, his games, his relations with others. He needs it to be
also a simple norm, but not banal; "his", that is, perceived as a
fact that it belongs to him from the moment that he has chosen to
be part of the group which observes it, but not his alone. The
proposed Law aims to satisfy these needs.
One must appeal to this continually, because the entire group
depends on it and is guided by it. Its text will have a place of
honour. Whoever asks to become a Franciscan Child and to make the
Promise must be questioned on his understanding and observance of
this Law, naturally in a way proportionate to his capacities. Here
the sensitivity and balance of the Animator are called upon.
The Animator will have to show that he or she lives the Law at his
level, and so with a much stronger consistency.
The Promise
The Promise is the act with which the "Children" commit
themselves to observe the Law. So, with this they enter the group
as members. [The group of the "Children" may have a special name.
The candidate makes the Promise after a suitable time of
preparation, during which, through playing, praying and taking part
in all the activities of the group, he will show that he has
understood, at his level naturally, what is being asked of him. The
preparation for the Promise should not be longer than three months,
but it should not be shorter than the time necessary to participate
in at least five or six meetings.
The contents of the Promise, which can be formulated by each group,
thus making the Law concrete, should contain the following elements
of commitment: following Jesus with Francis; friendship with
everyone; the daily Good Deed.
It should be personalized, with regard to the preparation, which
must take account of the capacity and effective preparation of each
person, and therefore also with regard to the date. The "Child"
must feel that the Promise is his personal commitment to live with
the help of the group, a tiny cell of the Church.
The Good Deed
The love that Christ gave witness to and to which we want to
initiate the "Children" has as its essential component the spirit
of service. A service that can be carried out also with great acts
but which above all is made of daily acts and so of small
attentions, acts of sensitivity, occasional helps, etc. Through
these small things, they can be habituated to an attitude of
availability to their brothers. We cannot ask more of a child than
this start. However, it will contribute to creating a new
mentality, that of Christ. This gesture is called [in Italian "Pace
e Bene", because it is a gesture of peace and a gift of good, and
because in this way the Franciscan greeting and best wishes takes
on substance.
The "Children" must be continually stimulated along these lines,
with imagination and creativity. They will respond very well
because they are still "limpid"!
Our Motto
The "Children" also have a motto of their own: a word that sums up their commitment and becomes part of their jargon, which they need psychologically. They can use this motto in a thousand ways: as a shout to begin their games, as a motto to display on their notebooks and drawing pads, as a word of recognition among themselves, etc. It is simply,Always better! . It indicates a commitment not to grow tired of improving and growing. It is along the lines of the reference that Luke's gospel makes to Jesus, who "increased in wisdom, in stature, and in favour with God and men" (Lk 2,52).
Poverty
Franciscan poverty is not flight but a loving choice: Christ
chose it to be near us and Francis made it also his choice out of
love for him. Through gospel poverty everything is evaluated in
relation to God, the only Lord of all. So, through evangelical
poverty we understand better the value of well-being itself and of
wealth because we understand that we are stewards of things and not
owners of what belongs to God, which God provides for
everyone.
If the heart is not stripped of power and possession, it does not
know how to love. If it loves to possess, it is not free from
material conditioning, from consumerism, from conformism (the alibi
of calling necessary what everyone runs after even without needing
it).
We seek to help the "Children" to appreciate and actuate the
essential (a significant aspect of poverty) in what is needed, and
in the use and choice of things.
Also, knowing how to provide for oneself so as not to be a burden
to others, but rather to have an extra opportunity to serve others,
is an expression of poverty that should enter into our educational
concerns.
The acquisition of a certain manual ability also enters into the
same picture. It also favours creativity and is a means of
approaching material things correctly.
Exercise of responsibility
Duties towards God, one's neighbour and creation call for
responsible participation, which is conscious, motivated,
constructive and competent.
The initiation into responsibility is brought about through the
exercise of simple functions, proportional to the capacity of
children. Simple, but not fictitious, but rather real and accepting
all the consequences.
The tasks can be formative such as those of: messenger (to spread
news); caretaker of some or all of the gear for the activities; to
check whether the youngest ones (or one in particular) have what is
needed for an outing, activity, etc.
It will be formative also not to remedy too much, with last-minute
rescues, the unfulfilment of responsibility. Each one should
develop the habit of considering the discomforts to others that he
inflicts through his negligence.
Relations with others
The relations with others - with individual persons but especially with other groups and institutions - should be considered from the formative point of view as important moments. So they must be prepared in good time, either specifically, one at a time, or in general, so that they may be occasions for checking and for dialogue.