SFO International Council - Weekly edition
Volume: 5 - N. 5 - 1999 - January - V
From: CIOFS Secretariat
(Part III)
Fatherhood, filiation and fraternity
17. The Father has an only-begotten, beloved Son. But this unheard-of gift of being a son or daughter is communicated to all people. "Think of the love the Father has shown us, by letting us be called God's children, and that is what we are" (1 Jn 3, 1). In one of the most significant passages of the letter Francis wrote to all Christians, he stands in amazement at such a gift as he describes its effects(1). When we live Christ's Gospel and persevere in it despite the wear and tear of life, the Spirit of the Lord rests on us and dwells in us. We thereby become sons and daughters of the heavenly Father who act as He does, like true sons and daughters. As for Jesus, the only Son, we then become His brothers and sisters, even more, his spouses and his mothers. Once again, Francis bases the human values of filiation and brotherhood not on biological and psychological relationships alone, but on those that exist in the very depths of God. In the only Son, and with Him," we are all God's children" in the truest sense (cf.Ac 17,28), and all human sonship and daughterhood points us to that fact. The same goes for fraternity, which is not only a sense of belonging to the same human race, but a conviction that all of us "were born not from human stock, or human desire or human will, but from God himself" ( Jn 1-13).
18. Fraternity, brothers, sisters: in every circumstance we are challenged not just to proclaim, but to live these words, so dear to our Franciscan tradition. The realities they refer to are rooted in the mystery of the One Father. Since we have one Father, Jesus Christ is our first brother, but every human being - man or woman, small or great, poor or rich, wicked or good, healthy or sick, marginalized or in the main stream, is our brother and sister who will always be received kindly(2) and treated properly(3). Other living beings - animal and vegetable, and the cosmic realities themselves - share in this mysterious brotherhood, since they too have no other source and origin than the heart of the Father overflowing with being and life, which He alone possesses in their fullness.
19. Encouraged by Pope John Paul II, we members of the Franciscan Family, together with our Catholic Church and Christians all over the world, have embarked upon the journey of preparation for the year 2000. In that year we shall celebrate the unique event, the entry of God into our world and our history, when "the Word became flesh and dwelt among us" ( Jn 1,14). At each stage of that journey we have been brought face to face with the love of our God. Jesus, our saviour and our God, as well as our brother in human flesh, after showing us the Father, leads us back to Him by the movement and impulse of the divine Breath, the Holy Spirit the Paraclete. This profound gaze of faith, centered on essential realities, gives us inner identity and solidity and impels us to concrete acts of commitment in the service of the Church and the world.
20. As Francis invites us to do, let us "give praise to God, for He is good, and exalt Him by your deeds.This is the very reason he has sent you all over the world, so that by word and deed you may bear witness to His message, and convince everyone that there is no other almighty God besides Him".(4)
1. The Father is at the heart of the experience of the Church and of St Francis: everything starts from the Father and returns to Him through Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Is our individual and communal spirituality directed to the Father? Can we give to our prayer a more filial, trustful tone?
2. The mystery of the Father's love for the Son in the Holy Spirit gives us a glimpse of how, in God, absolute communion is lived in the fullest possible distinction.
In our relationships within the family, our religious community, our parish etc., are we able to harmonise the need for unity of purpose and action with respect for the individual and acceptance of differences?
3. All fatherhood (motherhood) has its origin in our heavenly Father, is named after Him (cf. Eph 3,15) and should in some sense reflect Him.
In our families, religious communities, etc. is fatherhood /
motherhood exercised in the spirit of love, gift and service, as
these are resplendent in the relationship of God the Father to the
Son? Or are there forms of authoritarianism, dominion or
possessiveness?
Do we know how to be "merciful, as our heavenly father is
merciful"? (cf. Lk 6, 36), and how to be full of tender mercy
towards the needy, the suffering, and those who have erred?
How do we, brothers and sisters and disciples of Francis, fulfil
the task of revealing the humility, lowliness and mercy of God the
Father?
4. St. Francis understood that God is the Father of all people, poor and rich, near and far, saints and sinners.
Are our hearts open enough to recognize all people as sons
and daughters of the one Father, and therefore also as our brothers
and sisters? How can we be messengers of this fatherhood in our
society?
Are there concrete signs we could give as families, as religious
communities, as a Franciscan movement: e.g. take a stand on behalf
of immigrants in our countries, or on behalf of the nations in debt
to the IMF?...
What initiatives could we suggest or support in defense of human
life in this year dedicated to the Father, who is the source of all
life?
5. St. Francis contemplated the fatherhood of God also in animate and inanimate creatures, which he called "brother" or "sister".
How can we foster respect for nature and the struggle against waste and consumerism, against the selfish use by the few of goods which the Father created for the joy of all His children?
Notes:
1) Second Letter to the Faithful, 48-53.2) 7
Rnb 7,14.
2) Rnb 7,14.
3) Rb 3, 11.
4) Letter to the Order 8, 9.
Rome, 1 January 1999
Fr. Giacomo Bini
Minister General OFM
Fr. John Corriveau
Minister General OFM.Cap
Fr. Agostino Gardin
Minister General OFM.Conv
Fr. Bonaventure Midili
Minister General TOR
Sr. Carola Thomann
President FIC-TOR
Emanuela De Nunzio
General Minister SFO
Sr. M. Giacinta Ibba
Secretary of the CFF