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Fred Schaeffer, SFO This is a spotlight on a special presentation, given at the SFO General Chapter, which I attended, from 15-22 November, 2008, in Hungary. The presentation was given by Fr. Felice Cangelosi, OFM Cap., and the full text can be found by clicking on the link given below. In this spotlight, I will take several key sentences and try to explain them to you. I will be able to do this only with the help and grace of the Holy Spirit.
Vocations to any religious or lay group, duly considered an Order of the Church, such as the Secular Franciscan Order (SFO) is always a gift of God. The candidate, prior to profession, seeks to discern what God wishes of him or her. This discernment, if seriously carried out in prayer and in humility, will allow the candidate to know if God is asking for this person to consider asking for profession. Just because the natural progressing is from candidacy to profession, it is never a given that we are ready to make this step without God's express calling, and therefore "since the Lord has given me this grace" in Fr. Cangelosi's teaching is totally appropriate.
The "local fraternity" is, according to the Rule of St. Francis (Rule 22), "...the basic unit of the whole Order and the visible sign of the Church, the community of love. This should be the privileged place for developing a sense of Church and the Franciscan vocation and for enlivening the apostolic life of its members." Bearing Rule 22 in mind, would explain Fr. Cangelosi's words, above. For SFO professed who become lax as time wears on, might I say that the local fraternity is where great graces are received, and this source of grace, given by the Father, should not be demeaned by an improper attitude. You are there because God wishes for you to be there. Be grateful and participate fully and enthusiastically.
Profession is a gift not only given to the individual but to the entire local fraternity, and indeed, to the Order.
This statement, further exemplifies the above comment that profession of one of our sisters or brothers gives all of us in the fraternity great hope and joy. Profession is not to be taken lightly. It is a life's choice and should only be undertaken if you are very, very sure the Lord is calling you to make this step.
The paragraph of which the above sentence forms a part is equally important, as is the point that follows, so please do not take this out of contexts but read the whole document. It is important to note that Profession is a sacred bond, and that the commitment is perpetual and established with God. It is a "sworn pact" with God. Many people fail to fully understand that.
Again, as above, the explanation given in subpara. 2 of the document which precedes the quoted text above, is very important and leads us to this relationship established by Profession being spiritual and ecclesial. Ecclesial is reference to the Church. And, in the rest of the subpara 2, please note the underlined words speak for themselves: "one becomes part of a living body, merged into a single organism, making a single reality. Incorporation entails the transformation of several realities into a single reality, through a process of absorption and assimilation.¹"
Through our Baptism, we are made in the image of Christ, priest, prophet and king. In that sense, profession is a priestly action. And this action, willed by Christ (Vocation is a spiritual gift) by virtue of our Baptism is a priestly act.
Since the local Fraternity is a juridical body, through its Canonical Approbation, it is similar to a local Church or Parish, and the minister of this local fraternity or his or her delegate is able to accept professions in the name of the entire Church and of the SFO. When you make your profession, a "sworn pact" with our Lord, the Fraternity Minister accepts this profession in the name of the Church, and the priest who is present, is the "guarantor" who vouches for the validity of the profession, as indicated here:
And since the priest is the only one who can act in persona Christi, --
So every effort should be made to have the profession rite as part of Holy Mass, preferably in the home parish of the candidate making profession. So far, it seems that this has become the norm.
An "epiphany of the Spirit" - anyone of us who has made profession in the SFO can tell you that an intense "Spiritual high" follows the day of profession, that is the grace of the Holy Spirit, helping us to see life in a different light, and I am specifically referring to the need for daily conversion. It is imperative that daily conversion or metanoia be a part of every Franciscan through your consecrated life. That action will eventually make us holy, not the fact that we are Franciscans. It is the daily effort required to live this life as our Seraphic Father had in mind.
The above quoted paragraph bears this out. That, profession is not an instantaneous act, but something we have to work at, day in and day out, in our lives. And, I cannot stress enough the fact that profession is permanent! We all know people who have been professed and then after a year or two, they stop coming to meetings. They will give us all sorts of excuses but what they apparently do not realize and assimilate is the permanency of SFO Profession. While there is a tendency to say "well, all marriages aren't made in Heaven," or something like that - there is simply no excuse in the case of SFO profession, because proper formation should have made this abundantly clear that SFO profession is permanent. There are fraternities, especially of elderly people who have been Franciscans for quite a while, who balk at "ongoing formation." Ongoing formation is especially important to ALL Franciscans, so that newcomers, Candidates, are properly educated for their professions, not just for the Formation Director, but for all the professed fraternity members.
I skipped more than half of the document to get to the above paragraphs, not because they aren't important, but because they are best read as is without my attempt at explanation. That would be the entire section II. The Commitment of Profession. The comment that comes to mind is one often heard by modern people, who say that at the time of St. Francis 800+ years ago, things were different. The zeal of our St. Francis in fasting, and praying somehow is looked upon as other-worldly. To tell you the truth, nothing much has changed. We are still sinners, and as such we should still do penance. We will continue to be sinners until we're 6-feet under. And even then, when we stand before God, we will shudder with fright at our sinfulness in comparison with His Perfection. Our Franciscan life is never optional, it is part of us by profession. And our life as Franciscans is incomplete without the Holy Eucharist, that is Jesus Himself, in Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity as we seek to receive Him as often as we can. Then people will tell you (why they do so, I have no idea) that the Rule isn't binding under the pain of sin. That already smacks of a weakness... that thought shouldn't even enter our minds. It is not relevant to any serious Franciscan who makes this pact with Our Lord, our Profession.
The radical, light-filled and joyful style of St. Francis of Assisi is something we should adapt. St. Francis didn't stop and search his soul each time when our Lord called upon him to do something. He has enthusiasm, and thus he obeyed joyfully. Maybe this Franciscan enthusiasm is something the young have more of than the elderly, but our souls do not age as our bodies do. So age, as such, just isn't an excuse. Spiritual laziness is the "honest" excuse and when you feel that is the cause of your spiritual lethargy, then you know something has to be done. What to do? You pray and ask our Lord for His guidance and help. In fact, I have come to the conclusion that without prayer and a close relationship to Jesus, Mary, St. Francis and all the Saints, this ongoing daily metanoia is so much more difficult!
"To contemplate lovingly the "gift of the Father's love" constantly directing their gaze towards Jesus" (2nd para., of the above quoted passage) -- Much of a Secular Franciscan's life, as is the case with all Franciscans, consists of contemplating God's goodness, and joy in our daily lives. That fits right in with St. Francis' joyful enthusiasm, doesn't it? St. Francis was (toward the end) a very sick man, and Brother Body wasn't doing so well anymore. This is the case with many of us, too, to one extent or another. But inside, in our souls, we are alive and well. Franciscans with their joyful and radical, light-filled style of St. Francis, - those are soul qualities. And when we live this out each and every day, those Franciscan qualities become our way of living, no matter how much our knees hurt, or our hips are aching... right? Pain simply becomes secondary to what we have been placed here to do. Pain and disappointments become a gift of God, and a rich source of Grace, and you can offer these hurts for many worthy causes. And if you cannot think of any, offer those pains in reparation for unrepentant sinners.
The original charism of the Secular Franciscans was to commit themselves to live a penitential life. The original name of lay Franciscans was "Brothers and Sisters of Penance." That part of the charism remains. Hence the wording in Rule 7: "“United by their vocation as brothers and sisters of penance, and motivated by the dynamic power of the gospel, (should) conform their thoughts and deeds to those of Christ by means of that radical interior change which the gospel itself calls conversion. Human frailty makes it necessary that this conversion be carried out daily.” I have sought to somewhat clarify Fr. Cangelosi's text, knowing full well, that his talk is so theologically specific that I can add very little. It would be better if you would read his original text and then ask for clarification. It was the local fraternity, in this case, who suggested I report on the "formation" theme of the General Chapter, and in time, this information undoubtedly will filter down to the fraternities through further prayer and study, and instruction through the National and Regional fraternities. It is one thing to read the text over and over again, and assimilate its meaning within, but explaining it on short notice is quite another matter. Pax et Bonum!
Fred Schaeffer, SFO
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Profession
of the Secular Franciscan by Fr. Felice Cangelosi, Gen. Vicar OFM Cap. |
Profession in SFO - a
special Gift of God