Rule 6

They have been made living members of the Church by being buried and raised with Christ in baptism; they have been united more intimately with the Church by profession. Therefore, they should go forth as witnesses and instruments of her mission among all people, proclaiming Christ by their life and words.

Called like Saint Francis to rebuild the Church and inspired by his example, let them devote themselves energetically to living in full communion with the pope, bishops, and priests, fostering an open and trusting dialogue of apostolic effectiveness and creativity.

Christians are living members of the Body of Christ, the Church. That is the nature of being one of the Baptised. Secular Franciscans, professing to live the Rule of St. Francis, should be strong witnesses and instruments of the mission of the Church among all people. It is more important to proclaim Christ by our life, our actions than by our words. The best advertisement of our Order on the local level, the Fraternity, is by the life we are leading, rather than by pamphlets, and the written or spoken word. People will join us, subject to realizing a vocation to be a Franciscan, when the Fraternity or person they admire shows Christianity by example and love.

Rule 6 exhorts us to live in full communion with the pope, bishops, and priests, fostering an open and trusting dialogue of apostolic effectiveness and creativity. That is to say, as Secular Franciscans we are neither special or elite, we are subdued and humble in our approach and people will feel welcomed and will join us. Then there is prayer. If we consistently pray for vocations as well as attempt to rebuild the Church from within (where it is, perhaps, lacking), and one of the greatest causes here is praying for vocations to the priesthood, religious life, secular life as in SFO, and other lay institutes, our Church will be rebuilt. St. Francis gives us a rich example. We read in various texts that when our Lord commanded him to "Go and rebuild my Church," Francis initially mistook that to mean a physical rebuilding as with bricks and mortar. Our Lord gave him a bigger task, to rebuild the Church from within, rebuild with living stones. This rebuilding of the Church has a practical application now that our Church has just overcome the degrading experience of the past 20 years. We have the opportunity through prayer and action to help to Church back to normal.

As an individual Secular Franciscan, one wonders how to accomplish this. With the help of the Holy Spirit, He will let us know how and where we can be of help. Always follow the Holy Spirit. He will tell us where he wants us and when.

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5-10-2008