SFO International Council - Weekly edition
Volume: 6 - N. 30 - 2000 - July - IV
From: CIOFS Secretariat
Brother Hermann Schalück, OFM.
Dear sisters and dear brothers, I thank you wholeheartedly for having invited me to your General Chapter. I am particularly grateful to join in the conclusion of the celebration for the ventennial anniversary of the Rule approved by Paul VI. My wish to you is that this event may generate much fruit in your personal and fraternity life. I thank you for this opportunity as it offers a possibility of mutual enrichment and growth.
At a personal level, I have to recognize that the experiences shared on the common road with the I, II and III Orders are among the most beautiful and encouraging in my whole life.
We have grown increasingly aware of the fact that in the Church and in the world we are part of a great all, of whose richness of colours, beauty and spiritual promise we have not yet sufficiently taken advantage. If we consider the challenges and the problems calling upon us for adequate evangelical responses, we see that our common road towards the future still requires us to take new initiatives.
I begin with words that are probably familiar to you: “The renewing strength of the Spirit, which called Francis to penance and asked him to rebuild the Church, is also calling us to a continuous conversion and to serve our brethren by works of mercy and by bearing witness to the Gospel in today’s world with all its problems and hopes.” Fr. J. A. Quilis, the former Minister General of the TOR, delivered this message to you with your new General Constitutions during the Fatima General Chapter. From his statement I would like to single out some elements to develop our common reflection, keeping in mind a precise goal. I wish to contribute to the revitalising and strengthening awareness of the gift of the Spirit that we have received as Franciscans and in particular you as Secular Franciscans.
In this period of grace granted to us by the Lord, a time which “is the best time and the worst time, the hour of wisdom and the hour of folly, the era of believers and the era of non believers, the season of light and the season of darkness, a spring of hope and a winter of despair” (Dokens), we wish to capture the unique and novel contribution that Secular Franciscans are called to offer today, to tackle in an original and evangelical way 'the problems and hopes’ of the Church and the world. In fact, “we, each one according to his own way, have to implement what is novel in the light of the teaching and of the service of God, and not to redo the already done, but to do what remains to be done.” (Martin Buber).
Therefore, full of enthusiasm for the words of the Gospel that continues to speak to us today, we want our entire being to burst like Francis and exclaim with him: “This is what I want, this is what I seek, this is what I desire with all my heart." (1Cel 22, FF 356).
Wherever we are we are able to become a more authentic evangelising and prophetic presence responding to the call of the Spirit and to convert to the Gospel of Jesus. By living in a “mutual life-giving union” we can present the charism of our common Seraphic Father in the life and mission of the Church. (SFO Rule 1).
In his Testament Saint Francis remembers the most important moments of his life with the expressions such as the Lord granted me, he told me, he gave to me, etc. “The Lord granted me to begin to do penance, He gave me and gives me still a great faith in the priests, He gave me brothers, He revealed that I had to live according to the holy Gospel." He gave Francis the greeting "the Lord give you peace." The Lord is the origin of everything that Francis discovers and experiences. Francis celebrates his life and every heartbeat as a gift of the Lord. In the Regula non bullata he enthusiastically declares that all good comes from God, everything belongs to Him, and therefore, we are bound to return everything to Him.
The fundamental gift for each of us is our life, to exist in a given space and time. As Franciscans we understand that the gift of our life is our "talent" that can multiply in the footsteps of Jesus, in the lifestyle of Francis and Clare.
In the first part of our meditation, let us linger, first of all, on God’s gift of this day, of this hour of God. This moment is a time of grace. We are entrusted with this particular time and space. Now is always the time when we experience ourselves as “gift.” Eventually in our meditation, we shall return with our heart's eyes to look at some specific traits of the gift that the Spirit has given to his Church in Francis and Clare and that become for us precious indications for our life's direction.
First, it is necessary to open to the action of the Spirit and focus on the present historical moment, closely attending to the signs of times so that we can understand how our daily existence is intended to combine with the experiences of other men and women. Our Holy Father in the apostolic exhortation Christifideles Laici states that “it is necessary to look straight at our world, with all its values and problems, its worries and hopes, its conquests and defeats” (CfL 3). We must look straight ahead with realism, sympathy and hope, while fully trusting that God’s unconditional love continues to animate this world and our time.
We are living in a time marked with clear signs of transition that promote a feeling of emptiness, a lack of direction and rules, of uncertainty and permanent crisis.