Vocation in the light of fraternity

Monday, July 6, during the Under Ten OFM Chapter of Mats, the friars were led along an itinerary of listening, discernment, and living remembrance in the Franciscan places. After the prayer of Lauds and the lectio divina on the theme "You are all brothers. Franciscan identity", the participants entered into a time of personal reflection, of dialogue about the difficulties, hopes, and challenges faced by the Under Ten friars in light of the 2026 survey and the syntheses of the pre-chapters, and of spiritual conversation in groups aimed at understanding one’s vocation in the light of fraternity.
The morning reflection, entrusted to Fr. Giuseppe Buffon, placed once again at the center, the heart of Franciscan identity, starting from the Gospel words: "You are all brothers." The speaker recalled that, for Francis, fraternity is not simply a community ideal, but the concrete form of evangelical life: a path without careerism, without claims to superiority, always open to learning and conversion. Minority, he stressed, is not a static idea, but a relationship to be lived each day.
Fr. Buffon further pointed to fraternity as a force capable of crossing history and speaking to today’s challenges as well. To be Friars Minor means to be with others, not only to do something for others; it means to safeguard relationships that are true, close, and mutual, because fraternity is not an abstract idea but a concrete mediation of humanity and of the Gospel. Afterwards, the group continued with reflections in groups.
In the afternoon, the friars set out toward various Franciscan places: the Porziuncola, San Damiano, and the Hermitage of the Carceri. Each linguistic group followed its own itinerary, with reflections, dialogue, a guided visit, personal prayer, the celebration of the Eucharist, and Vespers. In this pilgrimage, the places were not merely a memory of the past, but spaces of listening in order to recognize today the shape of Franciscan vocation today.
The English-language group visited the Porziuncola on the theme "The Paschal Mystery of Saint Francis of Assisi." In the place that safeguards the origin of the fraternity, the meditation invited them to understand and deepen together Francis’s birth and transitus: the Porziuncola is both the cradle of the Order and the place of Francis’s passage from life to death. Here Francis was born spiritually; here he welcomed his evangelical vocation; and here, on the night of  October 3, 1226, he entrusted his life to the Lord.
The reflection, guided by the Minister General, Fr. Massimo Fusarelli, highlighted the logic of gift. Like Jesus, who "loved his own to the end", Francis too, as he drew near to death, did not close in on himself in fear, but shared bread with the brothers. His passing is not the end of a story, but the fulfillment of a life given as gift. "Take courage, brothers: for me it will be the harbor of life", Francis would say to his friars. From this, springs a word of hope for the young friars: the last word is not death; the last word is gift.
At the Porziuncola, the friars were also able to contemplate the Marian face of our vocation: Saint Mary of the Angels becomes the model of a life that receives in order to give, that welcomes the Word and lets it become flesh in history. In the context of the Franciscan Jubilee of 2026, this place presents itself once again as a space of forgiveness, reconciliation, and renewal, where each person can rediscover the center of their call.
The dialogue following the meditation addressed some concrete challenges of the Order: the decline of vocations, the need for stronger interprovincial collaboration, the possibility of new international fraternities, the urgent need to develop deeper formation on the Franciscan identity of lay brothers, and the risk of a clerical mentality that impoverishes our vocation call to fraternity. Amid these questions, the testimony of Fr. Joaquin Echeverry, with fifty years of religious life, resounded; with simplicity he recalled: "We are all brothers; there is no distinction."
The day concluded with dinner together with the fraternity of Saint Mary of the Angels and a time of recreation. After an intense day, marked by the Word, the memory of the places, and fraternal dialogue, the Under Ten friars carried with them a renewed conviction: Franciscan identity is not safeguarded by repeating formulas, but by living evangelical relationships. From Assisi, fraternity continues to speak as promise and task, so that the world may recognize in the Friars Minor men called to be brothers to all.

See all the photos of the meeting