L
Luigi_Daniele
Guest
Mass attendance as a fraternity was very rare out here.
- Status
J
Julia_Mae
Guest
Here ya go: franciscanspirit.blogspot.com/p/admonitions.htmlI really enjoy the Admonitions.
I wish I could find a cheap, pocket sized, large typecopy…
Copy/paste/print/fold/staple!! (Resize to your eyes needs!)
L
Luigi_Daniele
Guest
WOW. Thanks so very much!!!
I
iloveangels
Guest
That’s really great. You must belong to a large fraternity.
M
Marauder
Guest
Like I said we just switched over to weekend meetings so there is no way if things will be as popular “forever”, but attendance has been pretty good at the Masses. It helps that it is a public Mass and a healing Mass. Not all members of the fraternity attend the Mass because some have obligations in their home parish but they usually arrive during the lunch/social time. The number of people doing that right now is pretty small.Mass attendance as a fraternity was very rare out here.
M
Marauder
Guest
About 30 active members with several more on the excused list.
I
iloveangels
Guest
That’s not too terribly large. I know some are much larger-something like 80-90 members or something like that. My local fraternity is very small.
Sounds like you have worked your meetings around a public healing mass. Is the usual celebrant a Franciscan or diocesan? That’s a good idea so that many of you can attend together.
M
Marauder
Guest
The celebrant is always an OFM Conv. priest. Usually one of the priests in residence at the friary but occasionally visiting OFM Conv. priests will celebrate the Mass.
If we need a special Mass (i.e. profession, annual Mass for the dead, etc.) where it is just the SFO fraternity and visitors the OFM Conv priest will celebrate the Mass and there are a couple of diocesan deacons among our fraternity and if they are present they will assist with the Mass. Sometimes some of the people making their promises will invite their local priest and he will also concelebrate.
I
iloveangels
Guest
Nice. We don’t have anything like that here. But it’s still a good idea to work the fraternity meetings around an already pre-existing Mass so SFOs can attend together once in a while. Good idea.
J
JReducation
Guest
Wow! I’m really excited to see such a lively discussion on Franciscan life. 
I can’t post too much these days, as my health is not well. I can’t go into a lot of details, because I’d have to write a book and other people have beaten me to it.
I cut it short and sweet. There are three Franciscan Orders. To name then as Francis did probably gives us best insight to the vision that he had for each.
Anyone whose initials are OFM or OFM+ is a Friar Minor.
Any PC or variation of PC (Poor Clare) is a Poor Sister
And now comes the big one. The Third Order. It’s the largest of the three Franciscan orders, because it has many branches of religious. There is only one Secular Franciscan Order. When it was founded, there was one. When the friars underwent reform, the Secular Franciscans followed the different reforms and there were four groups of Secular Franciscans, OFM, OFM Cap, OFM Conv, and TOSF (TOR). As you can see, each group was associated with one of the big groups of friars. There were no Secular Franciscans associated with any of the smaller groups of Friars and Sisters.
I believe that it was in 1978 that the Holy See reunited the entire Third Order Secular into what it called the Secular Franciscan Order, with only one General Minister, General Council, rule and constitution. There are no longer OFM, Capuchin and Conventual Tertiaries. They are back to one order. This contributed a little to the glitches in the writing of the constitutions. These men and women were coming from different histories and traditions. MY GUESS is that they tried to make the constitutions as generic as possible to include everyone, which was almost 500,000 men and women from around the world.
The fact that you can bring that many people into one fraternity is a gift of God in itself. They have done a good job as working together since the late 70s forward to discover their charism. They had a great general chapter in 2008, with delegates form around the world and agree on a number of things, including a the need for a formation program that is common to all future members of the order. That’s another miracle. I wish the US Congress could be that efficient. They agreed to this in 2008 and they have it ready to go today.
Let’s talk about other Franciscans. Over the centuries there have been very specific needs in the Church, which the Friars Minor, TORs and the SFO were unable to meet for different reasons. Men and women rose to the occasion and new communities came into existence. These communities wanted to meet these needs (teaching, nursing, caring for the poor, elderly, etc) while living the Gospel in the manner of St. Francis. They adopted either the Rule of the Friars Minor or the Rule of the Brothers and Sisters of Penance (TOR). Remember, the TOR are part of the Brothers and Sisters of Penance. They are the religious branch of the Third Order.
These communities, such as my own,were founded independently, such as the FSE or they came from one of the larger communities. My own community, which goes by OSF (Order of St. Francis) was originally two Capuchins and three Secular Franciscans. The CFR were originally 6 Caps. The MFVA at EWTN were founded by Mother Angelican and a Cap. In one way or another, all of these communities have Franciscan succession. Either the founders came from one of the orders that Francis founded or the first members came from one of those orders.
I don’t know anything about the history of the FI. I know about the charism and mission. I do know that they take their inspiration from St. Maximilian Kolbe, who was an OFM Conv, again, you have a succession. They didn’t pull their Franciscan identity out of the air. I know that in the USA there is a huge family of Franciscan Sisters, most of whom came from the Neumann Foundation. St. John Neumann founded them. They too have a Franciscan heritage. Their early sisters were Secular Franciscans.
Many communities have come out of this wonderful family. This being Christmas, I’d like to think of this family like one of those snowflakes that you see used for Christmas decorations. This is the family that goes back to one man, Francis of Assisi.
The reason that this family is so huge and diverse, is precisely because it’s father is a very difficult man to pigeon hole. There is nothing in Francis that you won’t find in Vincent de Paul, Francis de Sales, Teresa of Avila, Dominic, Mother Teresa, Benedict or Augustine.
What makes Francis such a remarkable man is his embodiment of the Gospel, not to say that these other holy men and women did not embody the Gospel. That would be an insult to them. It’s really admirable quality of our Holy Father Francis. If you want obedience and contemplation, Francis is obedient and contemplative. If you want the preacher and teacher, Francis that too. If you want the theologian, he’s a theologian. If you’re looking for the servant of the poor, you got it.
If I were to try to narrow down what makes Francis so unique, I would have to say that he is unique because he takes the Gospel at its word. He heard the message, “sell what you have, take up your cross and follow me” and he did not sit around looking for an exegetical explanation. He is the man who takes Christ as face value and allows Christ to teach him what he wants as he goes along the journey.
I can’t post too much these days, as my health is not well. I can’t go into a lot of details, because I’d have to write a book and other people have beaten me to it.
I cut it short and sweet. There are three Franciscan Orders. To name then as Francis did probably gives us best insight to the vision that he had for each.
- Friars Minor
- Poor Sisters
- Brothers and Sisters of Penance.
Anyone whose initials are OFM or OFM+ is a Friar Minor.
Any PC or variation of PC (Poor Clare) is a Poor Sister
And now comes the big one. The Third Order. It’s the largest of the three Franciscan orders, because it has many branches of religious. There is only one Secular Franciscan Order. When it was founded, there was one. When the friars underwent reform, the Secular Franciscans followed the different reforms and there were four groups of Secular Franciscans, OFM, OFM Cap, OFM Conv, and TOSF (TOR). As you can see, each group was associated with one of the big groups of friars. There were no Secular Franciscans associated with any of the smaller groups of Friars and Sisters.
I believe that it was in 1978 that the Holy See reunited the entire Third Order Secular into what it called the Secular Franciscan Order, with only one General Minister, General Council, rule and constitution. There are no longer OFM, Capuchin and Conventual Tertiaries. They are back to one order. This contributed a little to the glitches in the writing of the constitutions. These men and women were coming from different histories and traditions. MY GUESS is that they tried to make the constitutions as generic as possible to include everyone, which was almost 500,000 men and women from around the world.
The fact that you can bring that many people into one fraternity is a gift of God in itself. They have done a good job as working together since the late 70s forward to discover their charism. They had a great general chapter in 2008, with delegates form around the world and agree on a number of things, including a the need for a formation program that is common to all future members of the order. That’s another miracle. I wish the US Congress could be that efficient. They agreed to this in 2008 and they have it ready to go today.
Let’s talk about other Franciscans. Over the centuries there have been very specific needs in the Church, which the Friars Minor, TORs and the SFO were unable to meet for different reasons. Men and women rose to the occasion and new communities came into existence. These communities wanted to meet these needs (teaching, nursing, caring for the poor, elderly, etc) while living the Gospel in the manner of St. Francis. They adopted either the Rule of the Friars Minor or the Rule of the Brothers and Sisters of Penance (TOR). Remember, the TOR are part of the Brothers and Sisters of Penance. They are the religious branch of the Third Order.
These communities, such as my own,were founded independently, such as the FSE or they came from one of the larger communities. My own community, which goes by OSF (Order of St. Francis) was originally two Capuchins and three Secular Franciscans. The CFR were originally 6 Caps. The MFVA at EWTN were founded by Mother Angelican and a Cap. In one way or another, all of these communities have Franciscan succession. Either the founders came from one of the orders that Francis founded or the first members came from one of those orders.
I don’t know anything about the history of the FI. I know about the charism and mission. I do know that they take their inspiration from St. Maximilian Kolbe, who was an OFM Conv, again, you have a succession. They didn’t pull their Franciscan identity out of the air. I know that in the USA there is a huge family of Franciscan Sisters, most of whom came from the Neumann Foundation. St. John Neumann founded them. They too have a Franciscan heritage. Their early sisters were Secular Franciscans.
Many communities have come out of this wonderful family. This being Christmas, I’d like to think of this family like one of those snowflakes that you see used for Christmas decorations. This is the family that goes back to one man, Francis of Assisi.
The reason that this family is so huge and diverse, is precisely because it’s father is a very difficult man to pigeon hole. There is nothing in Francis that you won’t find in Vincent de Paul, Francis de Sales, Teresa of Avila, Dominic, Mother Teresa, Benedict or Augustine.
What makes Francis such a remarkable man is his embodiment of the Gospel, not to say that these other holy men and women did not embody the Gospel. That would be an insult to them. It’s really admirable quality of our Holy Father Francis. If you want obedience and contemplation, Francis is obedient and contemplative. If you want the preacher and teacher, Francis that too. If you want the theologian, he’s a theologian. If you’re looking for the servant of the poor, you got it.
If I were to try to narrow down what makes Francis so unique, I would have to say that he is unique because he takes the Gospel at its word. He heard the message, “sell what you have, take up your cross and follow me” and he did not sit around looking for an exegetical explanation. He is the man who takes Christ as face value and allows Christ to teach him what he wants as he goes along the journey.
J
JReducation
Guest
This leads me to the observable qualities that I believe a uniquely Franciscan, but they are Franciscan in combination, not by themselves. When you put them together, they take on a flavor. It’s almost like cooking. Take different spices, put them into one meal and it tastes different. I guess that’s why there are so many ways to cook chicken. 
Let’s get away from chicken and back to Francis.
I think that those spices that create the Franciscan flavor are:
I hope this helps at least a little bit.
Fraternally,
Br. JR, OSF
Let’s get away from chicken and back to Francis.
I think that those spices that create the Franciscan flavor are:- unquestioning obedience to the Gospel and the Church: The Franciscan hears the Gospel, looks to the Church to confirm his understanding and believes. The Franciscan understands that the Church has much holiness and a lot of warts too, but he does not stand in judgement of the Church. He obeys and he understands that anything that is sinful, does not come from the Church, but from individuals. He does not comply with sin.
- prayer and penance: Franciscan men and women are people of great prayer and on-going conversion. We never stop living in the presence of God, be it in front of the tabernacle, at mass, during the LOTH, at Lectio Divina or just walking or driving alone. Franciscan never allows a moment to go to waste. Every moment of his day is spent in charity and in prayer.
- detachment: This is a little tricky. You can live in a grass hut with dirt floors and not be poor. Apostolic poverty is something that Francis mastered at all of its levels. There is material detachment. This is detachment from what I do not need. But Francis’ detachment does not stop there. His obedience is a form of detachment. He puts his thoughts, feelings and free will aside when the Church commands him to walk down a path that he had not anticipated. He can do this, because he is not in love with his own thoughts, opinions or wishes. This is not an easy thing for most of us to do. Most of us like our opinion and we live in a world that says that you must have an opinion on everything and that you should never do anything that is contrary to your opinion or your way of thinking. Francis, learns from Christ, to act and think withe the Father. The Franciscan’s question is, “What is the will of God?” In addition, the Franciscan is part of the poor. He not only served the poor, but he spent his life with them. In other words, he is not the benefactor who threw his leftovers at those who had less. He was the brother who shared what he had. This lead to my other observation.
- fraternity: Francis did not found an order. He founded a family. His brothers and sisters formed a cohesive family. They had all of the attributes and difficulties of a family. That explains the different reforms. Families agree and disagree. Families expand, with the younger members going out to new adventures, but always coming home to their roots. Every branch of the Franciscan family is exactly like any biological family where individuals become a couple, then a parents with children, then grandparents, when their children become couples and parents and then grandparents, if they live long enough. It’s like that snowflake analogy. Each household is different, yet each retains certain customs and values that can be traced to the root, in this case, the root is the patriarch, Francis of Assisi.
I hope this helps at least a little bit.
Fraternally,
Br. JR, OSF
I
iloveangels
Guest
OLD JOKE: There’s only 2 things in all of creation that not even God knows. They are: How to make a rock He can’t lift, and how many kinds of Franciscans there are.This leads me to the observable qualities that I believe a uniquely Franciscan, but they are Franciscan in combination, not by themselves. When you put them together, they take on a flavor. It’s almost like cooking. Take different spices, put them into one meal and it tastes different. I guess that’s why there are so many ways to cook chicken.
I hope this helps at least a little bit.
Fraternally,
Br. JR, OSF
About St. Francis being a patriarch, yes. Franciscans refer to him as our Seraphic Father, even though he was at most a deacon and did not view himself as living a clerical life. He is the father of a huge spiritual family, and indeed, a huge physical family. There are millions of Franciscans who all look up to him, and he points directly to Christ. In a way he was very great; in a way he was just a man; but in a way he was transparent.
J
JReducation
Guest
Bonaventure clarifies two points for us.OLD JOKE: There’s only 2 things in all of creation that not even God knows. They are: How to make a rock He can’t lift, and how many kinds of Franciscans there are.
About St. Francis being a patriarch, yes. Franciscans refer to him as our Seraphic Father, even though he was at most a deacon and did not view himself as living a clerical life. He is the father of a huge spiritual family, and indeed, a huge physical family. There are millions of Franciscans who all look up to him, and he points directly to Christ. In a way he was very great; in a way he was just a man; but in a way he was transparent.
First, Francis was ordained a deacon at the end of his life, about 1223 and died in 1226. The reason for ordaining him a deacon was because he has priests under his jurisdiction. If he was a cleric, he could grant and take away faculties. He didn’t have to go to the local bishop. Francis never served as a deacon, except when he read the Gospel at mass.
Second, Bonaventure points out that he is like a new Abraham. Hence, he is a patriarch. He is the father. His fatherhood has nothing to do with the clerical state. In fact, the clerics were not allowed to use the title Father. That was introduced later. Remember Brother Sylvester and Brother Elias were priests. The only one who was called Father, was Francis. Even Bonaventure who was a cardinal was always Brother Bonaventure.
Third, Bonaventure, in his sermons on St. Francis, explains that Francis is the perfect disciple. He uses the scriptures to drive home the point. He said that Francis had the right to say, “Learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart, because I have become the perfect disciple.” Bonaventure points out how God put his signature on Francis’ life with the stigmata.
There is something very interesting about Francis’ stigmata. There have been others with the stigmata, but Francis’ stigmata is the only one that ever received formal endorsement from the Church. The other cases are worthy of belief. The endorsement came in a rather subtle way that many people do not notice. The Church approved a feast day and liturgy to celebrate the stigmata of St. Francis. In many diocese and in every Franciscan chapel and parish, September 17 is the Feast of the Stigmata of St. Francis. Some people ask, “How is this an endorsement?” Well . . . here is where we have to apply the law of faith and the law of prayer. If the Church did not believe or left it up to the individual to believe that this was Christ’s signature on the life of St. Francis, she would not have approved it as a liturgical feast.
The point is that this is a man who is looked to, by millions throughout history, as a father, not just a founder. When you travel in Franciscan circles, there is a great love for this father, even today, almost 800 years later. Following the Gospel draws us into communion with the Trinity, but the man who teaches us to how follow the Gospel is loved as a father. Francis is not a law-giver, but one who gives life to a family. As St. Bonaventure rightly says, Francis does for his family what Abraham did for Israel. They both lead their family to God, not with law, but by example.
Fraternally,
Br. JR, OSF
J
Julia_Mae
Guest
“Let it be our sole privilege to have no privilege calculated to swell our pride; to give ourselves confidence which shall be to the prejudice of others, and be the cause of contentions.”
(I just thought I’d post a Francisism I like as I come across them.)
(I read friars’ blogs!)
Saint Francis of Assisi
(I just thought I’d post a Francisism I like as I come across them.)
Oh, goody! My first Franciscan “in-joke.”OLD JOKE: There’s only 2 things in all of creation that not even God knows. They are: How to make a rock He can’t lift, and how many kinds of Franciscans there are.
Unless the Lakers are playing.
(I read friars’ blogs!)
J
JReducation
Guest
Oh yeah! You’ve read the blogs. Watch how fast those rosary beads go through those fingers when the Lakes are losing.Unless the Lakers are playing.
Fraternally,
Br. JR, OSF
M
Marauder
Guest
Sorry to hear about your health being bad again. I always fear something like that is happening when we don’t hear from you as often. I always value your insight and interpretation of posts on here. Get well quickly, it always is a pain to “not be well” during the Christmas season.I can’t post too much these days, as my health is not well. I can’t go into a lot of details, because I’d have to write a book and other people have beaten me to it.
Pax et bonum,
Jim
L
Luigi_Daniele
Guest
I was convinced that each branch had “their own” “SFO’s”. Thanks for making me happy to know that my brain still functions (albeit poorly)
I think it was as big a mistake to combine the different Franciscan Third Orders in 1978 as it was to make it a watered down “lay organization” as was done at the turn of the last century.
Slightly tongue in cheek: competition, even in things eclesiastical, is a good thing. It brings out the best in everyone.
I think it was as big a mistake to combine the different Franciscan Third Orders in 1978 as it was to make it a watered down “lay organization” as was done at the turn of the last century.
Slightly tongue in cheek: competition, even in things eclesiastical, is a good thing. It brings out the best in everyone.
M
Marauder
Guest
Actually the biggest complaint I have been hearing is that during the time before they were combined it was to diluted. Without a common authority most members of SFO had poor training. Many were treated as second-hand citizens (i.e. servants of the other Orders).
Many see this as a big revival and an opportunity where the Holy Spirit is guiding the Order to regain its original intent. Similar to the way the Brothers and Sisters of Penance were founded in the first place. Are there going to be growing pains and problems during the process? Yes it will happen with any human run organization, but with the help of St. Francis, St. Clare and other patron Saints those issues have been worked out and are still being worked out. Each SFO fraternity can still have its own feel and outreaches, but now there is better training, more communial feel and more support then ever before.
Instead of looking at the perceived “problems” of the past, look to how to embrace the future.
J
Julia_Mae
Guest
As we all know, I am very new to this and so my opinions are pretty much worthless, but from what I’ve read, I agree. In fact, learning about this has restored my hope and made me once again look forward to connecting with the local SFO when I am in a place where there is such in a few months. Maybe I’ll get to be part of the new formation program.
I
iloveangels
Guest
I think it’s true that the order was more diluted before the new rule of 1978 when we reported to friars. SFOs were treated like sodality or pious society before. We are still just coming out of that now in actuality.
However, I think we do have some growing pains to get through. There’s a tendency, and I’ve seen it written as well as vocalized even at fairly high levels, to look back at the era in the 13th/14th centuries when the secular Franciscans were responsible for a lot of social change, rather unwittingly maybe–and expect that we will be mostly “social change agents.” THAT is a complete misunderstanding of the vocation and purpose of the third order. It’s a consequence and if God wills it then so be it. But it’s not our main purpose for acting.
Honestly, I think we somehow have to get past the popular politics of the present moment which is a confusion for many people.
The rule itself says, in so many words, that we are instead to join ourselves to St. Francis in being completely faithful to the Holy Catholic Church and Scripture, wherever that takes us. And we are to be as faithful to Franciscan tradition as the OFMs and Poor Clares, but in our own way and in our own houses and neighborhoods and families, which means prayer and simplicity and faith that God is in charge no matter what and everything in creation gives Him praise if nothing else merely by the fact that it exists. And to recognize that strife is futile since we all have the same Father. The world needs that BADLY.
- Status