PRIORITIES FOR THE SEXENNIUM 1997-2003
A "GUIDE" FOR APPLYING THE DOCUMENT OF THE GENERAL CHAPTER

The present moment is one in which we find ourselves face to face with the third millennium with its particular challenges and questions which in the end will also involve our life, our mission and our future. To avoid the risk of being tied up in the web of a thousand things "that have to be done" or of being afraid of the future, the General Chapter has wisely invited us to concentrate on the truly essential: who we are and what we want to be as Friars Minor, so as to guide our passage and that of the whole of humanity into the new millennium. According to the Christi vivendi forma, made his own by Saint Francis and by his first companions, it is the quality of our life which gives significance and visibility to our Gospel witness, fans the fire of prophecy lit in the Church and in the society of his time by Saint Francis, and energizes every choice of action.

In fact the key-moments of history - and the times in which we live are such - need secure points of reference if they are to be surmounted with confidence notwithstanding all their difficulties and problems. In harmony with the final document of the recent General Chapter, we believe that the recovery of what we are, a Fraternity in mission, constitutes without any doubt for us a secure way forward towards writing new and significant pages in our history, transmitting in this way to the generations of the third millennium the spiritual heritage which we have received. And as the General Constitutions say, the heritage we have received consists in "living a radically evangelical life, in a spirit of prayer and devotion and in fraternal communion; giving witness of penance and minority; bearing to the whole world the Gospel message".

On the basis of this inspirational text the priorities which qualify our munus in the Church and our Franciscan vocation at the present moment are:
1. the spirit of prayer and devotion;
2. communion of life in fraternity;
3. the life of minority, poverty and solidarity;
4. evangelization - mission.

These priorities, however, all have need of the indispensable support of (5) formation if they are to be living, if they are, that is, to be faithful to our heritage and capable of responding to the invitations and to the challenges of the present time in such a way as to open it to a future filled with hope.

Almost on the threshold of the third millennium, then, here are the priorities which the Minister General and Definitorium are indicating to the friars, Provinces and Conferences as the "memoria of the gift granted by God to the Church and the world in the person of the Poverello, and of the path trodden by the Order; as a key to reading and understanding the situation of our time in a new way, in a way to make us remain open to the expectations and challenges of the present; as a stimulus to being as followers of the crucified and risen Christ sowers of joy and prophets of hope in the world".

1. The Spirit of Prayer and Devotion
From Memory to Prophecy: Orientations and Proposals (=MP), 1-6; 11, 1-2; Other Questions Voted 3

Our Franciscan vocation in its various manifestations finds its raison d'être not in anything we do, but in what we are: following in the foot-steps and teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ, we are called to build a Fraternity in which God is sought and loved above all things. So what is fundamental for every friar and for the entire Fraternity "is to have the Spirit of the Lord and his holy operation". What is demanded of the friars is that "having taken their leave of every impediment and having laid aside every preoccupation and concern, they serve, love, honour and adore the Lord God with a clean heart and a pure mind". It is evident from these texts without any doubt that the contemplative dimension must be that priority which orientates and animates our whole life: the manner in which we seek and live the presence of God in the everyday also determines our concrete style of life and our manner of pastoral action in the Fraternity.

There is, however, a constant need to revitalize our spiritual experience, as the first expression of the following of Christ, by paying attention to the density which some places and moments have in our daily life. That the spirit of prayer and devotion may truly be the basic element in our life and mission as Friars Minor, we ask the friars and the Fraternities to work out respectively a Project of Personal Life and a Project of Fraternal Life, and everyone according to their various responsibilities to create the ambience which will allow such projects the necessary time, adequate content and possibility of being put into practice.

1) The Project of Fraternal Life, building on what is prescribed in the General Constitutions, should indicate the rhythm and forms of the prayer of the Fraternity, with special attention to listening to the Word of God and the community celebration of the Eucharist, so that these may be the centre of the friars' life and the well from which brotherly love draws its nourishment.

2) The Project of Personal Life, keeping in mind the Project of Fraternal Life, should mark the rhythm and forms of personal prayer which are intended as a means of giving priority to the contemplative dimension in each one's life.

3) The friars and the Fraternities should evaluate at least once a year their own fidelity to what is laid down in these Projects, so as to prevent hyperactivity, superficiality and carelessness from compromising our future and rendering vain the whole meaning of our Fraternity.

4) The Conferences, Provinces and individual friars, letting themselves be guided by the documents The Heart Turned to the Lord and The Spirit of Prayer and Devotion, should promote the spirit of prayer and devotion with tangible gestures: new forms of common prayer, frequent meetings around the Word of God, experiences of contemplation in Retreat Houses and hermitages, prayer shared with the people.

5) Let the Ministers promote the contemplative dimension of the life and mission of the friars by recovering the rich Franciscan contemplative tradition and building up new forms corresponding with the sensitivities of the men and women of today. In this way the contemplative dimension will become the source of life and action, the root from which our activities in favour of humanity and the Church draw their nourishment.

6) The Ministers, Fraternities and friars should give of their best to make sure that our Fraternities really become places where everyone can experience the liberating presence of the Risen Lord.

7) The Ministers and friars should ensure that individual activities and commitments and local and provincial structures are at the service of our life, that they make visible the values of our charism and never extinguish the spirit of prayer and devotion.

_________
listening

• Lk 10:38-42; 11:1,13; Mt 6:9-13; Ac 2:42-46.

• Rnb XXII, 27-55; XXIII, 1-10; Rb V, 1-2; X, 8-9; Adm XVI; Letter to all the Faithful (=LF), 2nd redaction, 19-21; Letter to the Whole Order (or Letter to a General Chapter, =LOrd); 1Cel 45; 2Cel 163; LM 10,3.

• General Constitutions (=GGCC), 19-31; Ratio Formationis Franciscanae (=RFF), 12-16; The Order and Evangelization Today 1991 (=OET), 8-9; The Heart Turned to the Lord (1994); Ongoing Formation in the Order of Friars Minor (=OF), 1995, 29; The Spirit of Prayer and Devotion, 1996; To Fill the Earth with the Gospel of Christ (=FE), 1996, 58-59, 75-78, 111-115; Report to the General Chapter of Assisi 4.10.1996 (=RGC), 60-61, 110-117.

• Fraternal Life in Community 1994 (=FLC), 8.12-20.50; Consecrated Life 1996 (=CL), 17ss., 25, 33, 38, 42, 45, 74, 93, 95.

1. In what way are our projects, our manner of thinking and our style of life determined by our relationship with God? How do we live and "express" the vows we have professed?

2. What is the relationship in the concrete between Franciscan vocation, experience of prayer and pastoral activity?

3. In our community project are there spaces and times provided which are dedicated to listening to the Word of God? How is the Eucharist celebrated and lived in our Fraternity?