6. They have been made living members of the Church by being
buried and raised with Christ in baptism; they have been united more intimately
with the Church by profession.
Therefore, they should go forth as witnesses and instruments of her
mission among all people, proclaiming Christ by their life and words. Called like Saint Francis to rebuild the
Church and inspired by his example, let them devote themselves energetically to
living in full communion with the pope, bishops, and priests, fostering an open
and trusting dialog of apostolic effectiveness and creativity.
As we continue to consider our Way of Life, we
recognize that we are part of the Church because of our Baptism. When we Professed to live as Franciscans, we
accepted a “more intimate” relationship with the Church, that is, we committed
to be more faithful to the Church and its teachings. Part of our responsibility, then, is to more
fully understand what the Church says and what it teaches about the conditions
of life and what our response as faithful Christians is supposed to be.
How are we to reach this understanding? It’s simply called ongoing formation. Ongoing
formation is not just about the old stories of St. Francis and St. Clare and
adoring their wonderful examples.
Ongoing formation includes further study of the Holy Scriptures, the
documents of the Church (most especially the Vatican Documents & all of the
Encyclicals written since then), the teachings of our Pope, the Bishops, and
our Pastors, and delving more deeply into the Franciscan Rule, General Constitutions,
and various Statutes. With our serious
study and understanding of these teachings (the Magisterium), we become more
knowledgeable about what the Church teaches and more capable of explaining the
teachings and the reasons for them to all of those outside the Church who may
be more inclined to accept the secular view of today’s world.
As we gain knowledge, we can begin to “…go forth as witnesses and instruments of [the
Church’s] mission among all people, proclaiming Christ by [our] life and words.
Article 17 of the OFS Constitutions reminds us,
1. Rule 6 Called to work together in building up
the Church as the sacrament of salvation for all and, through their baptism and
profession, made "witnesses and instruments of her mission," Secular
Franciscans proclaim Christ by their life and words.
We are not just a prayer group! We study the Magisterium of the Church and we
live what we have learned so that we can bring a strong, positive witness of
the true mission of Christ to the world.
We are instruments of the mission when we accept the challenge to not only
live a good life, but to help the poor, give a drink to the thirsty, welcome
strangers, feed the hungry, cloth the naked, visit the imprisoned & sick
and effectively care for “…one of these least
brothers of mine.” (Matt 25: 40) We study, and then we act!
In so doing, we provide a living witness of the mission of the Church,
which is Christ’s mission. The Church
reminds us of this obligation when it states:
For lay people, "this
evangelization . . . acquires a specific property and peculiar efficacy because
it is accomplished in the ordinary circumstances of the world." (CCC 905).
Well, that is why we are called Secular
Franciscans after all. We live and work
in the world—today’s secular world. We
live out the OFS Motto, “From Gospel to Life and Life to Gospel.”
Now, before you get all flustered and shout,
“Well, I can’t do it all by myself!”, let’s take a quick look at the last
sentence of 17.1 in the Constitutions:
Their preferred apostolate is personal
witness[1] in the
environment in which they live and service for building up the Kingdom of God
within the situations of this world.
It becomes quite clear that each of us selects
the areas of our own strength to perform these apostolates. In other words, we simply ask the question,
“What am I good at?”, and then develop ourselves in that strength and offer it
up to the Church as a service and witness.
Maybe you really enjoy cooking—so, go volunteer at a soup kitchen. Maybe you’re an expert carpenter—volunteer
with the Habitat for Humanity. Maybe
you’re retired, but enjoy reading—volunteer as one of the reading helpers at
the public library or schools. This list
is only exhausted by your own imagination and abilities. The point is that we find something that
we’re good at, learn about it, and then do it.
Importantly, you are not alone in this
effort. Look at 17.2 of the General
Constitutions:
2. The
preparation of the brothers and sisters for spreading the Gospel message "in
the ordinary circumstances of the world"[2] and for collaborating in the catechesis within the ecclesial
communities should be promoted in the fraternities.
The fraternity should be encouraging and helping
you, not only determine what to do, but how to find the opportunities to
accomplish your goals.
In addition to these apostolate activities, we
are always aware of opportunities to reach out to the unchurched and the “left
the church” populations to explain and witness to them of the wonderful life
that we can live when we follow Christ.
Lay people also fulfill their prophetic
mission by evangelization, "that is, the proclamation of Christ by word
and the testimony of life
This witness of life, however, is not
the sole element in the apostolate; the true apostle is on the lookout for
occasions of announcing Christ by word, either to unbelievers . . . or to the
faithful. (CCC 905)
When we encounter a situation with others like
this, we share directly with them of the great goodness of Christ and to
demonstrate the joy of living that we have as a professed Secular
Franciscan. So, our role of evangelizing
is twofold: witness through service and witness through dialogue and example.
"The witness of a Christian life
and good works done in a supernatural spirit have great power to draw men to
the faith and to God." (CCC 2044)
The last part of Article 6 explains,
Called like Saint Francis to rebuild the Church and inspired
by his example, let them devote themselves energetically to living in full
communion with the pope, bishops, and priests, fostering an open and trusting
dialog of apostolic effectiveness and creativity.
Our Perpetual Profession links us even closer to
the Church and its structure.
[We] are joined in the visible structure
of the Church of Christ, who rules her through the Supreme Pontiff and the
bishops. Even though incorporated into the Church, one who does not however
persevere in charity is not saved. He remains indeed in the bosom of the
Church, but 'in body' not 'in heart.'" (CCC 837)
Because of our study, we understand what the
Church believes and teaches about all the great and important issues of our
times. Because of our faithfulness, we
offer our loyalty to the Church, its Pope and Bishops, and have the courage to
defend it against those who would tear it down.
We do not do this blindly, but with the knowledge of the Magisterium and
how it relates to modern life. We
understand what Jesus taught and how St. Francis modeled that teaching. So, we follow in Francis’ footsteps to follow
more closely the Risen Lord!
The Church is essentially both human and
divine, visible but endowed with invisible realities, zealous in action and
dedicated to contemplation, present in the world, but as a pilgrim, so
constituted that in her the human is directed toward and subordinated to the
divine, the visible to the invisible, action to contemplation, and this present
world to that city yet to come, the object of our quest. (CCC 771)
Our Perpetual Profession allows us, instructs us,
and invites us to serve the Church in a more meaningful way beyond our
Baptism. We live out this lofty goal
through our continued faithfulness to our Profession and in light of the simple
phrase mentioned earlier, “From Gospel to Life; From Life to Gospel.” In this way, we more fully become the
follower of St. Francis that we want to be and that he wants us to be.
[1] See Rule
1221, 17,3; Legend of the Three
Companions 36; Second Letter to All
the Faithful 53.
[2] Lumen Gentium 35.
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