When my Mom’s health really began to plummet after the death of her younger son, I needed to take her to her wonderful and wise General Practitioner, Doctor Leibowitz. I remember his asking her to the effect: “Jackie, do you know the number one positive thing you can do to maintain a high quality of life? I mean you know the negative things: Don’t smoke. Don’t drink or eat too much. Avoid stress. But I’m talking number one positive. Do you know?

Neither Mom nor I had a quick answer.

He said in essence: “Be active! Get up! Show signs that you’re still alive and kicking. Don’t stay in bed all day. Don’t lock yourself in the house. Get up and go out! Be seen! Don’t mope around. Be joyful!”

And he added, “Check yourself at the end of each day, and ask yourself if you have done these things.”

It was good advice for Mom and good advice for our fraternities.

Be-Attitude Number One for the Vitality of our Fraternities: Be active Spiritually, Formationally, Socially and Apostolically!

Examination of Conscience: If a stranger were to walk in off the street to attend your next fraternity meeting, how would he know that your fraternity was “alive and kicking”? What signs of life has your fraternity evidenced recently? When was the last time that your fraternity actually DID SOMETHING other than attend a dry business meeting? What did it do?

The number one sign of life in a Secular Franciscan fraternity is spiritual vitality. How is the vitality of your fraternity’s prayer life manifested? For example, do a variety of members share a variety of modes of prayer? Do you go to Mass as a fraternity? When you pray as a fraternity, are you truly praying as one or just repeating the words out of the Ritual?

Formationally, do ALL the members participate in Formation as is specified in the General Constitutions (GC)? “The journey of formation, which should develop throughout life, begins with entrance into the fraternity.  Mindful that the Holy Spirit is the principal agent of formation and always attentive to collaboration with Him, those responsible for formation are: the candidate, the entire fraternity, the council with the minister, the master of formation, and the assistant” (GC Article 37.2).

Please note that the entire fraternity is third only after the Holy Spirit and the candidate, and before the council, master of formation and spiritual assistant. Also note that Formation “should develop throughout life.” At no time is an active fraternity excused from Formation.

Socially, do ALL the members take turns bringing snacks? Do you ever go to one another’s homes for a change of scenery? Is there some form of active social sharing at each meeting?

Finally, does your fraternity AS FRATERNITY have an apostolic action? This Apostolic Action could be 30 minutes writing letters at the meeting to missing homebound or hospitalized members. Each member could bring one item of food or clothing at an announced meeting to take to a local shelter. Have you ever gone as the entire fraternity, for example, to sing Christmas Carols at a local nursing home or to a homebound member’s home?

Be-Attitude Number Two for the Vitality of our Fraternities: Be visible Spiritually, Formationally, Socially and Apostolically!

Examination of Conscience: Does anybody in your local parish, community or diocese, your local pastor, other local priests, the Bishop, know your fraternity exists or know when and where you meet or what you do? How many know? Who are they? How would they know? When was the last time public mention was made of your fraternity in the local media?

Spiritually, has your fraternity ever been seen OUT IN PUBLIC in prayer to God? Ever? For example, has your fraternity, as a fraternity, gone on a retreat together or made a pilgrimage together with the local parish or other fraternities? Has your fraternity ever not only attended Mass together, but actually sponsored a Mass with a local pastor or Franciscan friar on a Franciscan saint’s day or feast day AND invited the whole parish or local Catholic community to attend? Has your fraternity ever organized a pilgrimage to Assisi, Rome or a local site? Has your fraternity ever organized a Greccio service, a Transitus or a Blessing of the Animals for your parish or community? Even once? Every year?

Formationally, has your fraternity ever invited a Franciscan speaker, like, say, Friar Kevin Queally TOR or Anne Mulqueen OFS, to your area AND invited the whole parish or local community to learn with you? Has your local fraternity leadership ever held a “public” sharing on any aspect of Franciscan life?

Finally, does your fraternity, as a fraternity, have an active, visible apostolate in the parish or out in the community? For example, do you march as a fraternity, with a banner, in the March for Life or a Corpus Christi Procession? Do you work as a fraternity at the local soup kitchen or nursing home? Why not? How often?

Be-Attitude Number Three for the Vitality of our Fraternities: Be joyful Spiritually, Formationally, Socially and Apostolically!

Examination of Conscience: If a young person were invited to your next fraternity gathering, would she or he feel enough joy in your fraternity’s walk with Sts. Francis and Clare in the footsteps of Christ to want to come back and share that joy permanently?

As Brother Bill Short has said, St. Francis in the Rule of 1221 as much as mandates the spiritual practice of showing joy to all without exception. The Rule of 1221, Chapter 7, reads: “And all the friars, no matter where they are or in whatever situation they find themselves, should like spiritually minded men, diligently show reverence and honor to one another without murmuring (1 Peter 4:9). They should let it be seen that they are happy in God, cheerful and courteous, as is expected of them, and be careful not to appear gloomy or depressed like hypocrites.”

“This may be the only Rule in the Catholic Church that has a positive command about being cheerful,” Brother Bill has said.

How are we going to attract any new life by being an active, visible group of grumpy, grouchy old folks? I agree we have no control over our ages, but we can control our attitude and demeanor. Sure, the world may indeed be going to hell in a hand basket, but most of us have good, safe lives lacking none of life’s necessities. We have so much to be thankful for. Show it! Smile. Actively, visibly evidence the Joy of the Gospel, the Joy of the Lord whenever we pray, teach, socialize or engage in apostolic action!

To recap:
Be active.
Be visible.
Be joyful.
As fraternity.
Spiritually, formationally, socially and apostolically.
As we live our lives.

In season and out of season.

Final Examination of Conscience: If I were to walk into your fraternity meeting, would I be able to share in any active visible joyful praying? Would I learn from any active visible joyful formation?  Would I enjoy any active visible joyful socializing? Would I be able to participate in any active visible joyful apostolic outreach? If not, why not? If yes, how often? Is it more planned or unplanned? Shared or dictated?

Let us pray to God in Jesus’ name that when we do what we can do, the Holy Spirit will do the rest.

Reflection Questions

1. What is the number one positive thing you can do for the vitality of your own life and the life of your fraternity?
2. What might your fraternity do to be more spiritually active, visible and joyful?
3. What might your fraternity do to be more active, visible and joyful in terms of formation?
4. What might your fraternity do to be more active, visible and joyful in terms of its social gatherings?
5. What might your fraternity do to be more active, visible and joyful in terms of its apostolic activities or acts of mercy?
6. In all honesty, what do you praise God most for in your fraternity?
7. In all honesty, what do you pray to God most for in your fraternity?

This is an excerpt from a series of articles by the late Deacon Tom Bello, OFS, former Minister of the National Secular Franciscan Order – USA.  “Many of these essays were originally published in TAU-USA, our national newsletter,” said Jan Parker, OFS, current National Minister. “They are excellent for reflection and ongoing formation.”  Jan helped Tom publish these  essays in book form.  It is called  For All The Saints:  St. Francis’s Five-Point Plan for Salvation and is available from Tau Publishing. These excerpts will appear several times a week on the Secular Franciscans website.

A “Trinity of Be-Attitudes” with an “Examination of Conscience” Concerning the Vitality of our Fraternities

 Beloved Brothers and Sisters of Penance,

In my last article, I listed and elaborated the four marks of a Franciscan Gathering: “Prayer, Formation, Fraternal Sharing and Necessary Business, and in this order!”(TAU-USA Winter 2011 Issue 69). In this article, please permit me to go back to the primary focus and expand forward to the four marks of a vibrant Secular Franciscan Fraternity at the local, Regional, National or International Level.

Not to be legalistic, but the last words of the last Canon of the Code of Canon Law offer the primary focus of a vibrant Secular Franciscan Fraternity. Those last words read: “the salvation of souls, which must always be the supreme law in the Church, is to be kept before one’s eyes” (Canon 1752, Code of Canon Law http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P70.HTM).

Thus, we should first pray at every fraternity gathering because the primary focus or reason for the existence of a fraternity is “the salvation of souls,” where we are working with the great grace of God to achieve our individual salvation AND, at the same time, the salvation of our families, our fraternity, our friends, indeed, all souls.

We pray first because spirituality is the first mark of a vibrant fraternity. When I come to visit a fraternity, when I look at my own local, Regional or National fraternity, I look first at its spiritual life. If we are not about salvation, we are wasting our time. If the Spirit is not alive and well in a fraternity, then no amount of efficient bookkeeping, bubbling agendas or dynamic speakers, however important and stimulating, will bring that life back.

Formation is our second mark, both in individual meetings and in the fraternity as a whole.  Of course, the grace of God can save souls not well-formed, but a well-formed mind and heart humble and open to that grace make the Spirit’s work a lot easier! Our fraternities need to pray for, work and focus on, true Secular Franciscan formation. We need to be attracting new people, forming them, forming ourselves.

This formation is a threefold process of information to effect formation in a process of continual transformation. We take pertinent information from the Gospels, from Holy Mother Church, from the lives of Francis and Clare and all the Franciscan saints, from our own SFO Rule and General Constitutions, to structure and effect formation. With the grace of God, this formation, if effective, achieves “that radical interior change which the gospel itself calls ‘conversion.’ Human frailty makes it necessary that this conversion be carried out daily” (Secular Franciscan Rule 7).

Formation must deepen and expand our understanding of our Catholic faith, our vocation within fraternity, our Franciscan charism and, finally, our Gospel witnessing out in the world. With the love and mercy of God, the example of Jesus Christ and the working of the Holy Spirit, the fruits of this Trinitarian process of information, formation and transformation should yield better Catholics, Franciscans, workers, spouses, parents, citizens; in short, better people. Thus, formation must lead to the salvation of souls.

Third, we are called to fraternal sharing, to social time together, because we are called to be family, the third mark of every vibrant Secular Franciscan Fraternity. With our Baptisms, we are already sisters and brothers of the same “Our Father.”  Our Professions summon us into fraternity, into a spiritual family.  One Secular Franciscan is never enough; there must be at least five of us to canonically establish a fraternity.  Our individual holiness must be built by service to that fraternity, service to our brothers and sisters in need, starting with “not turning your back on your own” (Isaiah, 58:7).

We cannot serve our brothers and sisters in need if we do not know what those needs are.  We cannot know those needs if we do not know who our brothers and sisters are.  We cannot know who our brothers and sisters are without true Secular Franciscan fellowship, spending time with one another, sharing with one another, breaking bread with one another, praying with one another. Salvation for all is salvation for each of us individually.

Fourth and finally, a fraternity must witness to Christ and to the Gospels. We are to be a “community of love” (Secular Franciscan Rule 22) to all in the world. As Saint John Paul II told us directly at the Xth General Chapter in 2002, “The church expects from you, Secular Franciscans, a courageous and consistent testimony of Christian and Franciscan life, leaning towards the construction of a more fraternal and gospel world for the realization of the Kingdom of God” (http://www.ciofs.org/per/2005/lca5en14.htm#b).

This witnessing may well involve some form of sacrifice or suffering because in its original meaning, a “martyr” was a “witness.” We witness to save the world and save ourselves; again, this is our fraternity’s primary “business,” but the witnessing itself may take many forms.

Some fraternities have apostolates – courageous initiatives — as the National Fraternity has taken with Catholic Relief Services.  Your Fraternity may adopt a family through the Franciscan Family Apostolate, run by a Secular Franciscan (http://www.openhearts.org/). You may adopt a missionary through the Franciscan Mission Service (http://franciscanmissionservice.org/default.aspx). If you are concerned with national issues, you might contact the Franciscan Action Network (http://www.franciscanaction.org/). If you want to work with international issues, you might contact Franciscan International (http://www.franciscansinternational.org/). You may get involved though your parish outreach or a local soup kitchen, hospital or detention center.

These and so many other apostolates are great as long as the fraternity realizes that the apostolate exists to build up the fraternity, not the fraternity to build up the apostolate.  Nor it is necessary that every fraternity have an external apostolate.  Witnessing may work best in our caring for our own – not losing anyone who can no longer attend meetings or even those who have fallen away, but still seek help, still seek conversion.

Spirituality, Formation, Family and Witnessing all for the sake of “the salvation of souls” offer us the Primary Focus and Four Marks of a vibrant Secular Franciscan Fraternity. May God give us the grace, the Living Presence of Christ and the Fellowship of the Holy Spirit when we gather to worship, to form, to share, to witness in Christ’s Name, always striving to keep our fraternities and our souls alive and focused on salvation.

We pray and live in the Peace and Love of our Risen Savior.

Reflection Questions

1. What are the last words of the last Canon of the Code of Canon Law?
2. What is the first mark of a vibrant Secular Franciscan fraternity?
3. What is the second mark of a vibrant Secular Franciscan fraternity?
4. With the grace of God, what is desired result of this second mark of a vibrant Secular Franciscan fraternity?
5. What is the third mark of a vibrant Secular Franciscan fraternity?
6. Why must this third mark absolutely not be slighted or minimalized?
7. What is the fourth mark of a vibrant Secular Franciscan fraternity? What are ways to accomplish this mark?

The Primary and the Four Marks of a Vibrant Secular Franciscan Fraternity