GREETINGS TO ALL THE FRIARS OF THE ORDER
Dear Brothers:

I am still living in my heart the astonishment over that which the Lord has worked in me in these days in which the confidence of the General Chapter has asked me to be "minister and servant" of our whole fraternity. Truly the Lord never ceases to surprise us, but how difficult it is to allow oneself to be surprised!

Today, I would like to welcome this call, with a response to the Lord's loving invitation. It is, indeed, God's love that asks this service of me; and my response in love cannot be other than to be joyfully available for such a service.

With this spirit of interior, total acceptance, I set out once again on the journey with all of you, brothers of the world, towards a new stage in our pilgrimage.

I would like to carry out this service in the manner which the apostle Peter asks of pastors: "Shepherd the flock which God has entrusted to you [...] not in a grudging manner but willingly, for God's sake; [...] with a generous heart; [...] being an example to your flock" (1Pt 5:2-3). This is my desire and my resolution and my humble intention.

I know full well that the true Minister General of the Order is the Holy Spirit. I also know that He gives Himself to the poor who entrust themselves to Him. Totally dependent on Him, I feel at peace and yet full of fear and trepidation.

Dear brothers I feel that the trust, which the Chapter has put in me, will sustain me in my work. My desire is that it should translate on the part of all the brothers into an intense fraternal communion and generous collaboration, since the Spirit, from whom come all of our many and varied gifts, desires us all to be united. This union is our strength and the heart of our charism as friars of St. Francis.

On the eve of the third millenium, the world expects from us a word of peace:

• nurtured primarily within our hearts, through the daily dialogue of the Lectio Divina;
• built through the brothers practicing heartfelt and serene acceptance of each other;
• defended from every form of individualism in all the Fraternities dispersed throughout the world;
• witnessed through fraternal solidarity with the least of our brothers and sisters and open, in service, to whoever comes to us or meets on our way.

To you all, my brothers, I wish this peace:

• fruit of the Spirit;
• substance of our journey towards the clarity and purity of our Evangelical and Franciscan identity;
• missionary witness which reaches every corner of the world;
• embrace of boundless mercy.

The Lord bless and keep each and every one of you!

And, I myself fraternally bless you as much as I can and more than I can.

Friar Giacomo Bini, ofm
Your minister and servant