The Awareness Of Belonging To The SFO

The Awareness – Of Whom? Of What?

Attention – To Whom? Towards What?

The Sense Of Responsibility – How? When?

The theme that concerns us is the awareness, the attention, the care and the sense of responsibility with which we live our secular Franciscan vocation for ourselves, before God, in the Fraternity, in the Church and in the world just because of being professed members of the Secular Franciscan Order. Recognizing ourselves as such, let’s see what this entails:

The Awareness – Of whom? Of what?

• of ourselves;
• of our Lord, Jesus Christ;
• of our brothers and sisters in the Fraternity, of the documents that support the SFO, the Youthfra and the Franciscan Family: its national and regional priorities, the Franciscan and Clarian sources and the literature relative to the Franciscan charisma within our possibility;
• of the doctrine of the Catholic Church and of our mission in it;
• of the world in which we live, with its beauty, its conflicts and its current events.

Attention – To whom? Towards what?

Towards our interior and exterior life, that is, equilibrium;

To show Our Lord our love, even though it is not perfect, looking for it constantly in the Eucharist, in the adoration of the Holy Sacrament and in the life of prayer and contemplation;

In attending to the spiritual and temporal needs of our brothers and sisters in the Fraternity and in the world according to our possibility and constantly preparing ourselves for this:

• being credible, that is, behaving in such a way that those who come to us may confide in us what they feel in their hearts;
• showing ourselves and those who are close to us that we really love the poor as St. Francis did;
• being pacific and cheerful in all circumstances, abandoning ourselves in faith in the Lord in the continual effort to remain united in him;
• desiring to grow in the practice of virtue with the knowledge of our own frailty and of the graces that the Lord freely concedes to us in our daily life;
• trying to listen attentively to what is said to us so that others leave us feeling happy to have conversed with us;
• visiting the sick and the invalid, and also those who are lonely being interested in their lives;
• finding out what your brother or sister really needs even from a material point of view and take care of them preferably together with the other members of the Fraternity so that they may be comforted;
• recognizing our imperfections, ready to ask pardon with humility, and on the other hand, knowing how to pardon with generosity.

The sense of responsibility – How? When?

After the Profession in the SFO we are Christians ready to live the Gospel in the way that St. Francis of Assisi did.

Being aware of this, we are messengers of Peace and Good Will in all circumstances.

As a consequence of identifying ourselves as Secular Franciscans, we should:

• faithfully live the SFO Rule in the family, at work, in the Fraternity, in the Church and in the world;
• give priority to taking part in the meetings and activities of the Fraternity, keeping in contact with the brothers and sisters;
• be people who testify a living faith, that is, coherent with one’s own life;
• try to show to members of the family and to others who do not know the Fraternity to be a person who lives serenely, equitably with docility, humility and simplicity and with spiritual wisdom so that they are interested in knowing what it means to be a Secular Franciscan;
• show great respect for all brothers and sisters in the Fraternity, in the family and everywhere even in the most difficult situations, with rebelling youth, with stubborn invalids trying to exercise charity and patience remembering always how much Our Lord is patient with us;
• convert ourselves continually in Christ, living in “penance” which in the Evangelic sense means change of direction and listening to God;
• evangelize with a presence the Word of God experienced in life, the witness of one who lives in the world but abandons its vanity and its vices to dedicate oneself to the things of God;
• show above all to young people the great grace we receive when we say YES to the vocation to which the Lord has called us growing in knowledge, in love and in serving God and our brethren;
• live with joy and gratitude this belonging making oneself , the Fraternity, the whole SFO, and the Church worthy, in this way glorifying Our Lord Jesus Christ;
• do everything with love, dedication and enthusiasm glorifying God with our life;
• testifying with an open mind and heart “true freedom as God’s children”:
• make charity the prime objective of each day.