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Report to the Chapter: Presentation second part
Br Giacomo Bini, ofm
Minister general
Vision of the Order
Introduction
I have tried, in this part of the presentation, to describe the general picture of the Order in the different Entities with the aim of:
* having our Family loved, by pointing out the many riches and possibilities of renewal that exist, even if they often are not adequately expressed and appreciated in the different Entities;
* projecting us towards the future, with living hope, by correcting and transforming right now our present style of life, our way of thinking and acting. The future will only have meaning if we believe in ourselves and if we now prepare the basis of renewal that are present now.
This vision of the Order (which I have discussed more than once in the Definitory) may seem to some to be limited and not without gaps, especially if each one thinks that the Report should be a more or less accurate mirror of the situation in his own Entity. But this is not the case. I have tried to draw a global vision of the Order, one which invites us to open up to the horizons of this great Family in order to be able to discover unexpected wealth, but also occasions for a revision of life and a stimulus for new paths.
With regards to the method, I have followed the scheme and the instrument that we gave ourselves as a Definitory at the beginning of our mandate for animating the vocation and mission of the Friars: the Priorities for the six-year period 1997-2003. It is a methodology that we have requested all the Entities to share during these six years, which was done with great responsibility.
I The spirit of prayer (nn. 54-70)
And if we were to begin again to believe…
Believing in God: I think that faith is not only a datum of fact, a gift that comes from on high once and for all. It is a dynamism of seeking, a journey of ever deeper adhesion to the Lord Jesus, of progressive purification from the various idols and the various dependencies, a journey that requires the overcoming of the various forms of egocentricity, of possession, of social climbing, of dominion over others… In this way our being and our acting are transformed and we ourselves are transformed into prophets of and witness to the Absolute. Only by accepting and living this tension can we "re-order" our life, centring it on the Essential, bringing it back to the free, joyful and theocentric Franciscan simplicity.
The historic moment in which we live invites us to this global revision of our existence: it is no longer the time for marginal retouching, for temporary patching… Our relationships, what we are and do, our vocation and our mission, should be restructured.
Our charity needs more faith, greater hope…
All our apostolic and social activities need to find their reason for being in a faith that is more lively, more incarnate, more nourished by the spirit of prayer and capable of bringing back to God all the experiences that mark our existence. "We are guests and pilgrims", Francis and Clare continually remind us; we are seekers of the Absolute. Giving witness to this tension towards the future is essential for a consecrated person, because when the eschatological God, awaited and desired, disappears from history, faith loses its soul and our vocation is emptied of its prophetic and critical potential. Perhaps it is precisely from this perspective that we can again find and repossess our prophetic role in the Church and the world.
The context of secularisation in which we live does not facilitate this personal relationship with the Lord of time and history, who seems instead to make himself more absent from the complex events of our life. The vocational choice does not automatically guarantee this preferential relationship or a "theological" reading of personal and social existence.
Even within the Church we have need to discern and redefine better our "place and space" of giving witness, our function that remains nevertheless always "prophetic" because it is, "paradoxically", gospel. If we are a "gift of the Lord to the Church" it is important to give priority once more, in the very heart of the Church, to the intuitive and spiritual dimension that knows how to grasp the signs of new life that lie beyond the noisy, devastating and deviant appearances; the germs of life in a culture of death. With consistency, audacity and creativity, we should discern new and significant forms of missionary dialogue in a world that is thirsty for values that transcend it.
In order to globally re-situate our existence in the times in which we live, we must, therefore, have the courage to stop, to listen to God, to each other fraternally and to the world in order to find again the reasons for our hope and the passion for our Franciscan vocation. No pastoral commitment is more urgent than this. No temptation for efficiency should distract us from this search that has always distinguished our form of life. Only in this way will our word be able to re-acquire credibility, since we ourselves will have become a living word.
During these six years of visits, meetings and experiences of sharing, we have seen that this deep desire for renewal exists in the great majority of the Friars. Many Ministers have asked of their Friars long periods to rethink and re-orientate their vocation. The lectio divina is progressively coming into our Fraternities as an instrument of personal prayer and community sharing of its faith. Different Ministers are assuming their role in accordance with that asked for by our legislation, committing themselves to the animation of the spiritual life of each individual Friar entrusted to them. In other Entities the places of prayer are becoming the reference point for the everyday life of the Fraternities. Naturally, some hesitancy and difficulties are noted, described in the Report, which could lead to very grave crises of truth and vocational fidelity.
The principal challenge will be that of harmonising the values of our personal and community life, focusing them on the spirit of prayer in order to unify our existence in God.
II Community of life in Fraternity: towards a new face (nn. 71-88)
"Every friar is a gift of God to the fraternity… (which) becomes a privileged place of meeting with God" (GGCC 40).
"The life of fraternal fellowship demands the following from the friars:
* a single-minded observance of the Rule and Constitutions;
* a similar lifestyle;
* sharing in the activity of the life of the fraternity,
* especially in common prayer (The Fraternity as a theological place of encounter with God),
* evangelisation and domestic duties;
* and the handing over of all financial gains for the use of the fraternity, whatever their source" (GGCC 42,2).
This is an article from our Constitutions that does not need comment and could serve as a check-list for our everyday existence from the first day of profession until the last day of our life. This fraternal dimension is an essential part of our charism and must, therefore, structure our style of life, our mode of being, serving, evangelising, managing time, etc. Fraternal relationship tells us the quality of other relationships: with God, with ourselves, with the world. It is certainly a matter of a slow journey, but also of a constant commitment that progressively transforms our existence: "(The Friars) are to seek to build up the fraternity as a family united in Christ" (GGCC 45,1).
The new face of our Fraternities
There is no doubt that during recent years many of our Fraternities have assumed a new face. A spirit of trust and mutual respect that facilitates dialogue and creates a climate of active corresponsibility in the building of provincial and local Fraternities is maturing. The "destroyers" of fraternal unity are diminishing more and more, thanks to the more assiduous and familiar relationships of the Ministers (Guardians, formators…) with the other Friars. This communion of life is founded on dialogue, on sharing the Word of God, on community life projects worked out together and on the local Chapter that is becoming ever more an occasion for the revision of life. All of this is carried out more easily when the Minister Provincials are especially convinced that the fraternal dimension constitutes an essential component of our identity and they commit themselves, together with the Definitory, the Guardians and the formators, to encouraging this new spirit that, little by little, will change the face of the Order.
Relational conversion
The challenge that could ultimately improve the quality of life of our Fraternities, a decisive stage in the future, could be a relational conversion. This is to place once more at the centre of our preoccupations and commitments, not so much the administrative management or therapeutic tenacity to keep certain external structures of the Entities alive, but rather the spiritual-relational life of each Friar. It will be necessary to increase the unconditional openness of the individual to the needs and urgencies of the Fraternity, which will, in this way, become the centre of every project and mission. St. Francis began a new journey when "he began to consider himself of little value" (3Comp 8) in order to open up to God and others. For us also there is a new period opening up when we will be capable of overcoming our "egocentricity", the block that impedes us from opening up to our brother in truth and cordiality.
This relational conversion is also valid for the Province itself. All the potentialities of an Entity can be made the most of when they are decentralised towards the worldwide Fraternity, towards the world. We know well that at Pentecost we were called to go "beyond" the local environment, beyond all fear. A "centrifugal" movement was begun. The gospel message crossed out of the initial limited dimension (Jerusalem and Palestine) in order to open up to the horizons of the world. We also know that the original experience of the Order and of the Provinces was itinerant, open to the world. Today, because of the crisis, I seem to see a risk of closure. In our Provinces I see so many (too many) riches (structures and personnel) that are not made the most of because they are not open to the signs of the times and are, therefore, "suffocated" by the local realities that are evermore turned in on and preoccupied with themselves. Only by opening up to collaboration, to reciprocal exchange, will the journey of the worldwide Fraternity take on vigour and the Provinces themselves be less "blocked" by the logic of pure survival. The Friars will also find once more the necessary trust to commit themselves to a vocational and missionary renewal.
The Order, down through history, was always renewed thanks to groups of impassioned Friars capable of "dreaming". Belonging to different Provinces, they united and put together their efforts, giving life to new gospel and formative structures. It is enough to think of the Observance. To construct an authentic Fraternity, that to which we were entrusted ourselves on the day of profession, we must feel ourselves more responsible, "in solidarity", in the face of the expectancy of the world, the expectations of the Church and of our broader Family. The lack of openness to these "global" horizons leads to the grave difficulties that I have indicated:
* the disintegration of the Order;
* self-referential individualism of comfort that destroys every Franciscan value;
* discriminating clericalism that wounds some Entities;
* inequality between Friars that is in sharp contradiction with our Rule and Constitutions;
* prejudices and the lack of trust that paralyse relationships.
"Try hard to be as good as everyone says you are" (2Cel 142). This is exactly what the people of the whole world are repeating to us with great confidence. We cannot disillusion them, nullifying our energies by squandering them or employing them in projects that are too personal, too local, too interested…
III Life in minority, poverty and solidarity (nn. 89-108)
"The Son of God has become our way" (TestC 5)
"The utopia of freedom purified by poverty is the typical and charismatic challenge to which we Franciscans must respond for the good of the Church and the world" (Acta CPO 2001, p.112). It is a question of the Franciscan revolution of yesterday, today and always: believing in the Gospel that categorically asks us to leave all in order to follow Jesus and to continue his mission along the highways of the world. Believing and trying…
Forming us for radical expropriation
A quick path to the following of Christ requires two conditions: an attraction that warms the heart and puts vigour into our step and freedom from all forms of possession, from all idolatry in order to make our march forward easier. In biblical language we would say: conquered by Christ, we joyfully set out on an impassioned search for treasure (cf. Mt 13,44) progressively freeing ourselves from every hitch and impediment. Right from the very beginning of our Rule it is clear: the Friars should live "without property" so as not to be "distracted" and hold back the course of the following. "Let the brothers not make anything their own, neither house, nor place, nor anything at all" (Rb 6,1). It is a non-optional aspiration in the life of every Friar.
This attitude of radical expropriation, of the convinced and unrepentant gift of self, requires constant conversion. It asks to be continually renewed on the basis of the amazed contemplation of God, who loves us and draws us to himself. Only then is it possible to experience with joy the "relativity" of so many things that seemed indispensable. It is a process of formation, theoretical and practical, that never ends.
* Forming oneself for itinerancy, that is, for availability, obedience to the Spirit that is made concrete in fidelity to the forma vitae to which we have adhered since the novitiate, especially through the profession of our Rule.
* Forming oneself for the "risk" of allowing oneself be re-invented periodically by the Spirit, making the most of one’s gifts: we cannot leave them unused and buried within us. We are often convinced that the structures that surround us, just like the services entrusted to us, do not need to be modified and that they are impossible without our irreplaceable presence even… Such routine, such repetition; such hibernation of gifts, such waste!
* Forming oneself for minority, for the acceptance of the poor and especially the encounter with them: being disposed to go out to them and not just wait for them to come to us; sharing and allowing ourselves to be evangelised in order to construct together an open and worldwide Fraternity.
* Forming oneself for a definite and personal responsibility for justice, peace and reconciliation.
Daring to trust in God
Material and spiritual poverty become, basically, the measure of our faith. It is a sign that our hope and absolute trust are founded in God rather than in material goods, in our resources and in our capacities to obtain results, in appearing…
Daring to trust in God means opening soul and heart to fraternal sharing, overcoming every form of self-referential and satisfied individualism. Only in this way can we learn to open up to the urgency of a world that is questioning us through so many forms of poverty that (or at least should) submit to discussion our security, our "undisturbed" life in common, which is too "bourgeois" and marked by a consumerist and resigned mentality.
Daring to trust in God means committing ourselves to a way that is evangelically alternative to that of the world, creating trust, fraternity and sharing first of all in our Houses as well as with all. We often continue to be preoccupied with accumulating, whether personally or in community, creating at times situations of injustice among ourselves and around us.
Today, Franciscan theocentric simplicity is not simply a "value", but is the testimony par excellence and the true path of liberation!
IV Formation and Studies (nn. 124-138; Att. 4)
In recent years the documents of the Order, taking up the preoccupations of the Church, continues to repeat that the future of an Institute, and therefore of our Order, will depend on the quality of both ongoing and initial formation, closely linked between themselves and with life. To be able to understand and, therefore, to speak about and give witness in mind and heart to the fact that initial formation must be prolonged until the end of life and that ongoing formation should always be initial again, means grasping the real significance of vocational growth, of the growth of our faith.
Why form ourselves
We are "in formation" because we are on a journey, untiring seekers of God and of His will; because we change, as the world about us changes, so that we are continually asked to adapt our gospel response to new situations. It is important to have our eyes fixed on God, to be impassioned with following. But every vocation is also a sending on mission and therefore we must also be devoured by a passion for the man living at our side, in the concrete cultural and social situation.
We are "in formation" because our vocation only grows and develops at a very high temperature. We must, that is, always keep alive our listening to the Lord, nourish ourselves with Him in the Eucharist and continue to seek suitable, always new, responses to His surprising invitations. All of this is only possible if "we watch and pray", if we know how to overcome deviations, distractions and temptations. It is an obligation that does not recognise age, times or cultures. It is of all times and for all and for that reason requires formation.
We are "in formation" because the dynamic of fraternal life, which is constantly in "reform", requires it. It must continually find a new balance in internal and external relationships without taking from the forma vitae, from the essential data of our identity. It is enough to remember some changes during recent years to show how our consecrated life has been transformed, by comparing it with:
* the different identity of the consecrated life outlined by the II Vatican Council;
* the need for a global restructuring of our everyday existence because of the new vision of mankind and, therefore, of the new cultural, social and religious demands;
* the impotence before the needs and growing pastoral and social requests, evermore demanding, on the part of the Church and the world, while the number of consecrated people is diminishing and their age is increasing;
* the cold and indifferent secularism that is advancing in the globalised world;
* the divisions, discords and wars that are increasing and seem to nullify our efforts at reconciliation and peace;
* the apparent incapacity of our older Friars to transmit to the younger generations that which they still live with fidelity.
We form ourselves because we wish to live our vocation and mission in joy and fulness. If this awareness is missing, destructive situations within the vocational journey can occur.
How to form ourselves
It is not easy to answer this. Every person has his own "sacred history", personal and irreplaceable. Each person has his own vocation, even when sharing the service of the Lord with others in an identical life project.
To be real and living, formation must be, at the same time, the work of God and of man. All begins from God, who submits Himself to our searching. Man responds, motivating his heart, mind and life by trying to accept the wish of God in order to make it his own, periodically renewing himself. We form ourselves by progressively allowing ourselves to be involved in the plans of God, who, obstinately, comes to meet us and loves us as we are.
Formation, then, should integrate and put into relationship, within the common Franciscan identity, the following elements:
* a living experience in following Jesus;
* according to the form of life, the "style", of Francis
* in the present world.
It is of utmost importance to integrate and correlate these elements in order not to make formation into an extra "structure" that is unmotivated, poorly received, borne as an undesired obligation. In order to influence everyday existence, formation must simultaneously become a human, Christian and Franciscan experience, all of it within one progressive dynamic that takes account of the vocational journey of each person and Fraternity in its present-day existence.
The ambience of formation
The first, the fundamental and basic one, is that of the person taken individually in his uniqueness before God, with his particular history, affections and capacity for serene relations with himself, with others and with God. To continually build and strengthen the "structure-base" of each Friar is the most important challenge and duty that will accompany the person called during his religious adventure.
Another "natural" ambience of formation is that of Fraternity: a dialoguing and theocentric Fraternity, marked by the gospel characteristics of acceptance, mercy and pardon without limits and conditions.
It should be a Fraternity that does not succumb to the temptation to turn in on self, to "close up". It should be capable of missionary effort, without fear of facing the problems of the world and always inclined towards the "frontier" areas, those of break-down, in order to give witness to reconciliation, mercy and love. It should be a Fraternity in the world without being of the world.
The quality of formation
In recent years we have invested a lot in initial formation, a little less in ongoing formation. However, the progress to be made is still great. In the Report to the Chapter I speak about the resistance to be overcome in some cases: a more deeply rooted Franciscan formation, the formation of Guardians and formators, the connection and continuity between the different stages of the formative journey and between initial and ongoing formation, personalised accompaniment, etc. However, the crucial points that can really change the face of a Province or of the entire Order are deeper still:
* We must convince ourselves that formation, faith and the seeking of God are correlated and constitute the absolute priority in order to protect and live our vocation at any moment of our life. It is the priority in which it is necessary to invest all our efforts.
* Formation is missionary right from the beginning, missionary in all the dimensions of the term, in all the forms of evangelisation. We are not formed principally or exclusively in view of the structures of a Province, but in order to strengthen one’s own vocation in a spirit of availability to every mission in view of the Kingdom. One is not formed "enclosed" in order, later on, in a second moment, to "go out".
* It is necessary to be formed (and to form) to freedom and to a new asceticism. In the social situation in which we live, under the burden of overwork, of often wounded or poorly integrated affections, of enslaving consumerism, of choice for one’s own use and consumption that the world proposes to us, the asceticism to which we are formed or form is not always that of "penance" or of the hair shirt. Rather is it liberation from all kind of idolatry, drugs (alcohol, speed, haste, noise, immediate and striking results, etc.) and dependencies (mass media, the superfluous, hedonism, etc). Truly formative asceticism today consists of knowing how and why we carry out apostolates, how to use time, finding spaces for rest, for silence, for interiority, for peace, for listening to the presence of God, for a true and profound fraternal relationship…
Studies
"The edifice of the Order is built on two pillars, that of holiness of life and of knowledge" (Thomas of Eccleston).
The commitment of all to the development of studies, during recent years, appears clear in my Report: The Conventions, Congresses, new teachers, strengthening of the PAA, the linking of the Study Centres between themselves and with the PAA, with the collaboration of all the Entities. Thanks!
I would now like to underline two events that constitute a challenge for the coming years: the publication of the Ratio Studiorum OFM, which is to be applied in the individual Entities, and the erection of the new Faculty of Biblical Sciences and Archaeology. They are two challenges presented by the Church and Order to all the Entities and all the Friars of our Family. We should evaluate our disposition to collaborate, support and accompany our Friars involved on the front line in these two realities. Basically it is a matter of the development and deepening of the intellectual dimension of our life that can really restore impulse and enthusiasm to the Order. The Church tells us that study "is an incentive to dialogue and cooperation, a training in the capacity for judgement, a stimulus to contemplation and prayer in the constant quest for the presence and activity of God in the complex reality of today's world" (VC 98). It is up to us to measure ourselves by these multiple aspects of cultural commitment!
For reflection
In order to globally restructure one’s existence, on the personal and fraternity levels, there is need of conversion, a general "revision". The proposal for a more or less long moratorium in our activities is certainly demanding, but it could give fruit… How can we carry it out?
The daily liturgical celebrations, as also the prayerful reading of the Word of God, personally, in community and even with others, can give new depth back to the life of prayer and better harmonise daily living. How can we conscientise the individual Friars and the Fraternities?
Mixed Institute: how can we make the identity of the Friar Minor as such, without clerical emphasis, grow in the Provinces right from vocational pastoral activity?
Taking seriously articles 38-54 of our GGCC, which we promised to observe at profession, means changing (sometimes radically) the fraternal, everyday style of life in the Provinces and in the entire Order. Is it really impossible?
How can we encourage the spirit of sobriety and frugality that the Church expects of us and especially the multitude of poor that ask for greater sharing expect?
Review the Franciscan meaning of our apostolic or social service, especially in the case where either the spirit of minority has been lost or has become an untouchable, self-referential occupation that isolates the Friar. It will be necessary to review the priorities on the local, provincial and Order levels.
We must continue to listen to and conscientise each individual Friar in solemn or temporary profession on the profound sense of formation. It is a priority in which to invest with urgency. How?
Suggestions
* Ongoing formation and the young solemnly professed (139)
* The formation of Guardians (140)
* The formation of Formators (141)
* Specifically Franciscan formation (142)
* The promotion of studies (143)
* The languages to be used during international meetings (144).
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