Chapter Two:
The Way of Life
4. The rule and life of the Secular Franciscans is this: to
observe the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ by following the example of St.
Francis of Assisi who made Christ the inspiration and
the center of his life with God and people.
After reflecting upon St. Francis’ Letter and the
establishment clauses of this Rule, we move on to the important, one might even
say, the “meat and potatoes’ of this guide to our lives as Franciscans. Chapter Two instructs us how to live this way
of life in sixteen seemingly simple statements on various aspects of our
Franciscan life; but as we’ll see, these simple statements hold immense value
and impact on the changes that we will make daily as we endeavor to follow the
Franciscan path to holiness.
Following the Gospel is the first in the Way of Life just because it is the root
of our being as Franciscans. We will see
Gospel mentioned many times in both the Rule and the Constitutions, because,
when we follow in St. Francis’ footsteps, we must inexorably follow the Gospel
of “our Most Holy Lord Jesus Christ.”
The General Constitutions have much to inform us
about living this Gospel Way of Life. Notably,
this Rule 4 is specifically covered in Articles 8 and 9 of the General
Constitutions:
They seek to deepen, in the light of faith, the values and
choices of the evangelical life according to the Rule of the OFS:
§ Rule 7 in a
continually renewed journey of conversion and of formation;
§ Rule 4.3 open to
the challenges that come from society and from the Church’s life situation,
“going from Gospel to life and from life to Gospel;”
§ In the personal
and communal dimensions of this journey” (GC 8.2)
Rule 4.3 The Secular Franciscan, committed to following the
example and the teachings of Christ, must personally
and assiduously study the Gospel and Sacred Scripture. The fraternity and its leaders should foster
love for the word of the Gospel and help the brothers and sister to know and
understand it as it is proclaimed by the Church with the assistance of the
Spirit. (GC 9.2)
These are all pleasant words that sound good in a
church setting. What could possibly be
wrong with wanting to follow the Gospel message. That’s what we all do as Christians, isn’t
it? Well, as I mentioned, these simple
phrases hold much deeper meaning and have a profound impact on how we live our lives. Let’s just see how these simple words can make
a momentous change in our daily lives.
In the first paragraph, we read that we are to
“observe the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Does this just mean “look at it”?
That is the fourth definition of “observe” in the Merriam-Webster
dictionary. Number 1 is “to conform
one's action or practice to (something, such as a law, rite, or condition):
comply with.” “To conform” means that we
must be “obedient or compliant” with the Word of God. We must change ourselves to become “…a new
creation.” (2 Cor 5:17). Paul further
tells us, “…the old things have passed away; behold, new things have
come.” So, when we become Franciscan we
profess that we will completely change our lives, turning aside from all of our
old habits and ways and become a new person who desires to become just like
Christ. That’s exactly what St. Francis
did with his life! We probably should be asking ourselves at this juncture, “How
have I changed my life to conform to the Gospel?” or, “How do I evaluate my
daily actions, prior to making them, and then conform my life to the
Gospel?” By taking this approach to our
daily lives we would always consider before acting or saying, just like Jesus
did when confronted with the mob and the woman caught in adultery (John 8: 1 –
11). If we all “wrote in the dirt”
before speaking and acting, we would have far fewer apologies to make, wouldn’t
we?
“…by following the example of Saint Francis of
Assisi…” is the next phrase we consider as we reflect on what we promised to do
in our profession. Like most of us,
Francesco Bernadone lived a normal life as the son of a “prosperous silk
merchant” (Wikipedia) and did pretty well for himself. He enjoyed life and was the center of the
party in his younger days. Then, he joined the army and went off to war to
achieve fame and glory, just as we go off to work to achieve prosperity. But then, he met Jesus! He gave up everything
to follow he Lord. He shows us how to
completely give over our lives to Jesus and make Him, the Word of God, the
center of our lives. Now, we don’t have
to stand in the town square and return everything to our fathers like Francis
did, but we must turn our lives completely over to Jesus and give him
everything. This action reminds me of
the contemporary song whose lyrics state,
All that we have and all that we offer
Comes from a heart both frightened and free
Take what we bring now and give what we need
All done in His name.
(All that we have, Gary Ault)
This is what happens when we turn our lives over
to Jesus; when we follow St. Francis’ example.
Yes, it is scary to offer everything over to Christ, to give up complete
and total control over our lives; but, that is exactly what St. Francis did. If we pledge to do this, how can we chose any
other way? When we live this way, we are on the way to becoming saints.
To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who have
been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling, with all who in every place
call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours… (1 Cor 1:2)
There he is again, good old Paul urging us onward
to the final goal. The Church, as well, recommending
Paul’s wise words in both Lumen Gentium
(#11) and the Catechism of the Catholic
Church(#2013) gently leads us toward saintly perfection.
“…who made Christ the inspiration and the center of his life
with God and people.”The remainder of the first paragraph of Rule 4
reminds us that St. Francis accomplished this transformation by making Christ
the “inspiration and the center of his life” in everything that he did. Not job. Not family. Not money. Not car. Not
iPhone. Not iPad. Not tennis, nor golf, nor basketball, nor football, nor
baseball. JESUS!!!!!!!! You will recall that some of St. Francis’
major decisions about how to proceed were make after consulting the
Gospel. That is why Pope Francis
encourages everyone to carry a pocket version of the Gospels with them, just so
that when we are confronted with any challenge, we can refer to the Gospels,
just like St. Francis did, for the answer.
We ask ourselves, “How am I making Christ the center of every action,
relationship, decision, and exchange that I do?” “What is keeping me from placing Christ at
the center of my life?” “If Christ is
not the center of my life, how do I change?”
The second paragraph of Rule 4 says,
These words sound strongly familiar to our ears,
and, well they should, for we find them in the Gospel of John, Chapter 14,
verse 6:
Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the
life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.
The authors of our Rule have added a little extra
punch, if you will, to Jesus truthful words.
Christ is the “gift of the Father’s love.” Franciscan theology recognizes (thank you
Blessed John Duns Scotus) that “God became
one of his creatures” (Christian Board) because of love,
not sin. So, Christ truly is the special
“gift of the Father’s love.” Now, that
may be a little redundant, but the belief behind this simple statement is critical
to understanding why St. Francis followed Jesus so closely. Francis understood that God loved us so much
as his creation that he could do nothing else but come to earth to show us the full
extent of his love for us.
According to Scotus, God’s first intention—from all
eternity—was that human nature be glorified by being united to the divine Word.
And this was to happen regardless of the first humans’ innocence or sinfulness.
To say that the Incarnation of Christ was an afterthought of God, dependent on
Adam’s fall, would be to base the rich Christian theology of incarnation on sin!
Theologians could come up with something better than that, and Duns Scotus did. (A Franciscan perspective on the Incarnation;
Christian Board)
Having that knowledge should dramatically change
our entire view of who Jesus is and why we follow him: LOVE. Just
knowing this important truth should completely transform our lives into loving,
caring, sensitive, compassionate, and grateful creatures.
Christ…is the way to [God], the truth into which the Holy
Spirit leads us, and the life which he has come to give abundantly.
We find our way to God by following Christ as we
pattern our lives after St. Francis. As
we imitate St. Francis more closely we draw nearer to God turning our backs on
the enticements of this world. As we do
that, we find the Holy Spirit out in front of us on our journey leading us to
the truth – the knowledge of the unchanging natural law that God established as
he created the universe. We encounter this truth in our lives as we pattern
them on St. Francis. The ultimate reward
for this persistent encounter with God and His Truth is the abundant life with
Christ – “My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so
prove to be My disciples.” (John 15: 8)
The third paragraph of Rule 4 reminds us,
Secular Franciscans should devote themselves especially to
careful reading of the gospel, going from gospel to life and life to gospel.
You will remember that the General Constitutions
instruct us that we “…must personally and assiduously study the Gospel and
Sacred Scripture.” (9.2) How else are we to figure out how to go from “Gospel to
Life and Life to Gospel?” We need to
know what the Gospels and Holy Scripture say and mean before we can live this
challenging life of becoming Franciscan.
As we study the scriptures and
apply their meaning to our lives, we can change our outlook and thus our
interactions. As we reflect on the
message of God’s love for His creation, we can emulate St. Francis example of
following Jesus and his extreme care and concern for all of creation. As we live this life, we bring back to the
Gospel our experience; then, we can evaluate what we have done and make the
necessary corrections. After this
re-evaluation, we return
to life with a refreshed perspective about how much God really loves all of his
creation and we can treat it all accordingly.
To put it simply, we learn about Gospel living, we try doing it, we come
back to measure what we have done against what we have learned, make
corrections, and then, repeat the cycle.
So, you see how these “simple words” challenge us
to transform our lives completely and conform ourselves to a life of constant
evaluation against the measuring stick of St. Francis, which is a measure
against the life of Christ. Rule 4 is
the general overview of our Life as Franciscans. The remaining fifteen rules delve into the
details of our Franciscan life as we will see in subsequent “Reflections on the
Rule.”
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