The Awareness Of Belonging To The SFO

Group Reflection:

To the local and regional Councillors: What should we add in relation to this “awareness of belonging to the SFO”?

We can say that the Council members are in a special position for referral for all the members of the fraternity and for everyone who recognizes them for what they are;

• in them is reflected everything that one would expect as an authentic Secular Franciscan: in them you see personal integrity, dedication to service, availability, readiness, practicing justice and charity and a life of penance, missionary zeal and above all love that they spread with their presence;
• in them should be reflected a civic conscience: their moral, political and social conscience in their living environment, their knowledge of the documents of the SFO and of the Franciscan family, the practice of virtues, etc...;
• the members of the Council should never forget that everywhere they are present with their qualification as representatives of the SFO in its entirety and not only the local or regional sector they represent. Therefore life witnessing is greater for the members of the Council.

Someone could think that if this is the way it is, he would feel even more incapable of working in the Council of the Fraternities at any level. Lets take a look at our condition as creatures, everyone imperfect and marvellous together who donate their gifts generously (that is, graces received) to their brothers and sisters because they declare that they are following our Lord Jesus Christ in the same way that St. Francis did.

We mustn’t be afraid because the Lord gives us a “state of Grace” when we are ready to serve Him. If we ask the Holy Spirit for assistance, He answers generously. We just should live in communion with the Most Holy Trinity. Our strength and graces come from God for any apostolate.

To live the SFO Rule is to be an apostle of Christ carrying out “the sacred mandate” received doing the best we can.

Everything in our lives is transitory; only one thing we must hold to with conviction and I would say with “stubbornness”: our faith. Yes, because faith is what impels us to push ahead to battle, to begin again each day. To confide in the presence and mercy of the Father, to hope beyond hope in adversity, to cheerfully carry the cross, to gain strength when we are weak because with Christ’s presence in us we receive the support to be able to be faithful to the vocation,

And it is from the opportunities that life offers us that we can profit from for the growth of our faith that we are building spiritually day by day taking care of our interior side to be able to give to someone in need and also to give back to the Father deeds in grace all the good that He gives us and permits us to do.

As animators and guides of our fraternities we must, in fact, “wear the habit” of the SFO showing everyone that our fragility and our errors reveal that everything good we do is God’s grace. Therefore we have the chance to begin again every day trying to better that which was not well done and to improve our relationship with those who share responsibility with us to carry forward the Fraternity not forgetting that the way we lead should be an invitation for others who want to join us.

The SFO is our place of sanctification, of brotherly love, of meeting God and St. Francis, St. Clare, St. Elizabeth of Hungary together with all our brothers and sisters who with us try to live the perfection of charity in the secular world. Therefore we should serve the SFO with great joy and enthusiasm. These moments in our life should be lived with great interest by us because they constitute what is best to be received in the dignity of children loved by God: our vocation.

Because of this we should return home happy after our fraternal meetings. Perhaps every now and then someone is ungrateful or made us suffer, but we should continue to do all we can for our brothers and sisters and for the Fraternity itself avoiding negative comments which could make us doubt about the validity and quality of the spiritual life which we constantly search for.

It is vitally important that beginning formation be accompanied well so that people do not come unprepared to the Profession or who do not really understand the identity of the vocation they intend to embrace. To live the Rule of the SFO is the incarnation of every moment of our life so that we are filled and transformed into Christian Secular Franciscans, strong and cheerful doing hard work in struggles and being authentic worshipers of the Father in spirit and truth in all circumstances. If we can prove this by our behaviour each one of us shall be a living manifestation that it is worth living the Franciscan vocation in the XXI century.

In conclusion, this awareness of belonging to the SFO is fundamental for all the professed members and also for those who are in formation so that they can reflect on the profile of the men and women who decide to renew themselves with the force of the Gospel following the example of St. Francis of Assisi.

With all the resources available to us today to work on vocational animation without a doubt that which speaks with greatest strength is and will always be life witnessing because he who lives in coherence with the Gospel is naturally a missionary in God’s Kingdom.

Group reflection:

1. What can we do for the growth of a sense of belonging for the members of our Fraternity?
2. What has changed in our personal life as a consequence of being aware of belonging to the SFO?