Pentecost Letter
2003 to the Entire Order
LETTER OF THE TOR MINISTER GENERAL
AND GENERAL COUNCIL
ON THE OCCASION OF
THE SOLEMNITY OF PENTECOST 2003
Prot. N� 64-2003
THE SPIRIT WHO GIVES LIFE
"Conforming themselves totally to the Holy Gospel,
the Brothers and the Sisters meditate in their own mind and conserve the words of Our Lord
Jesus Christ, the Word of the Father, and the words of the Holy Spirit, which
are spirit and life" (TOR Rule 11).
Dearest Brothers and Sisters,
On the twentieth anniversary of the promulgation of the updated
text of the TOR Rule, we continue to offer you some exhortations and indications designed
to orientate us on our personal and communal journey.
On the occasion of the Solemnity of Pentecost 2003, we desire to
nourish in us hope for the future and love for our Order and for the Church.
THE CHURCH: A BRIDE IN WEDDING GARMENTS
To watch the Church today is like admiring a bride on her
wedding day. She shines with light and gold.
With the Second Vatican Council the Church appears truly renewed
"in capite et in membris." After centuries, love for the Word of
God has returned strong and gushes forth new spiritual life.
Comparing the Church to a garden, we see a great variety of
flowers and trees that are bearing fruit.
On Pentecost 1998, in the large audience that the Pope had given
to all the ecclesial movements in Saint Peter's Square in Rome, one could rightly argue
that the renewed spring for the Church desired by John XXIII had begun.
This renewal, even if it is more apparent in certain
ecclesiastical realities, does not leave the Orders and Congregations of long standing
indifferent.
Even our Third Order Regular, at the conclusion of a one
reflection and return to the sources, had an updating of the text of the Rule, nourished
by the Word of God reechoed in the words of our father Saint Francis.
Our rule is an inspired text, a point of reference for the
entire galaxy of institutions of the Third Order Regular, the most ancient truck of
which--ours--is a part.
Especially for this we are called, in the Spirit, to appreciate,
to study, to love and to give the "Franciscanum vitae propositum" spirit
and life, dated 8 December 1982 by John Paul II and promulgated some months later.
A TIME OF HOPE
Ours is a time of great hope and rich with the promise of the
future. We are witnesses that God works. The Holy Spirit continues to give life to the
Church, to us.
Each person is called to open his eyes and to be filled with
spiritual joy.
Pentecost in this Year 2003 comes to recall this to us, and the
gift of the Holy Spirit comes to heal the open wounds of our incapacity to love and to
hope.
We TOR Friars need that which today is commonly called
self-esteem, appropriating again to ourselves strong interior motivations.
The traditional religious Orders and Congregations, mostly due
to slighter numbers, are victims of this lack of self-esteem. The work always increases,
as does the age of the members, and the presence of vigorous youth is insufficient: all
seems to push us towards discouragement.
It is the moment of a strong discernment. We must do it in such
a way so that the Holy Spirit will guide our minds.
If we continue to cultivate in ourselves the same attitudes of
vainglory, of undue defense of material goods, of excessive trust in money and efficiency,
then we will encounter dejection.
If however we return to search first of all for the Kingdom of
God and His justice (Matthew 6,33), if we preoccupy ourselves with living every Word that
comes from His mouth . . . If we return to being that which we are, men and women called
to continual conversion in the reprogramming of our life on the Gospel, then all is able
to change for the better.
As our Rule indicates to us: "The Brothers and the Sisters
must desire to have above every thing the Spirit of the Lord and His holy work . . .
" (TOR Rule 32).
Even if we will not increase the number of the desired measure,
it will come given to us to live "in love, joy, peace, patience, goodness,
benevolence, trust, meekness, self-control" (Galatians 5,22).
The Holy Spirit guides us, pointing out the direction in which
we are to journey.
TIME OF DISCERNMENT
With the gift of wisdom, the Holy Spirit makes us capable
of discerning the signs of the times. We are called to follow humbly the indications of
this interior Master.
The scarcity of vocations to the religious life and to the
priesthood is without doubt a sign of the times. Until now the lay faithful were not
adequately valued in the Church. A mentality, rather diffused, brought about the
concentration in the priesthood of many responsibilities that can very well be performed
by the lay faithful.
Our Third Order Regular of Saint Francis, which has in its
genetic code a strong secular component, is called to be particularly attentive to the lay
and secular dimension of the Church, promoting lay involvement.
We have not yet fully understood the vocation and mission of the
Secular Franciscan Order, of which this year is the Twenty-fifth anniversary of the text
of the Rule updated by Pope Paul VI. A renewed life of the SFO will bear new life even for
the other consecrated Franciscans.
The gift of the intellect must lead us to specify well
the orientation to give our Order. We must not have fear to confront the challenge of a
"refoundation" of our consecrated life.
The word "refoundation" resounded also in the context
of the last TOR General Chapter (Acta TOR 38 [2001] 153). In one of the programmatic
interventions, there is the indication to replace at the foundation of our life the
experience of God, to reconstruct the fraternal life and to invest means and
time into continuing formation.
So, if the grace of prophecy does not come granted to us, we
will not lack for a good program in the field of formation. We exhort the Provinces to
commit themselves in this direction, from the moment in which the General Government does
not have the means to do it.
An emphasis on these themes emerged in the Chapters of some
Provinces. It is a good sign. Heaven wants that these proposals be translated into
programs of life.
Concerning the gift of wisdom and intellect, we ask therefore
the Divine Spirit for the strength to realize with courage the indications that
come to us from the General Chapter, at the cost even of redesigning activities or closing
houses.
The next Plenary Council of the Order will return to this theme,
in the context of a reflection never sufficient on our identity as Franciscans of the
Third Order Regular.
FATHER OF THE POOR
The title "Father of the Poor" which the Sequence of
Pentecost ascribes to the Holy Spirit seems particularly indicated for us, in this
historic period.
We perceive our poverty in view of the Church's appeal for a
radical renewal of our life. It is not a thing that one is able to claim or obtain by
gritting his teeth, by his own efforts. It is a gift; and as such it is to be asked
insistently. It is the hour in which to place ourselves on our knees or to continue to do
it as it was understood in the past.
"If you who are evil know how to give good things to
your sons, how much more the Father in Heaven will give the Holy Spirit to those who ask
Him!" (Luke 11,13)
We are so involved in doing (apostolic and social
activities, pastoral ministries, etc.) that we need a conversion to the nth
degree to being whole for a true experience of God and for a freeing fraternal
life.
Who is that Minister who does not have fear to close a house in
order to ensure that there may not be isolated Friars? Which is that Fraternity that is
available to place in discussion its own way of celebrating or of praying the Liturgy?
Many have not yet noticed the urgency of continuing formation.
It is our poverty, our spiritual and culture illiteracy, that we are called to remember
and to make a place for the presence of the Holy Spirit Who instructs and renews us. He
comes to encounter our weakness since we do not know even what to ask.
Thanks, Holy Spirit,
for the Church that you gather
from every part of the world.
Thanks for our Third Order Regular of Saint Francis,
that Family where You allowed us to
grow and learn.
Thanks for our local Fraternity, little Church of Brothers and
Sisters, where the Word reaches our existential reality and dresses us in a habit that is
measured to fit each person.
Creator Spirit, new breath of our Fraternity, making places of
pardon and celebration.
Spirit of the unity of the Church help us to enter into
communion.
We always have need to make as a family.
Spirit of discernment, may You be the true Guide of our
Chapters, Councils, meetings.
Wind that carries to everywhere the seed of the Word. The
charity of Christ compels us to give hope.
You, infinite Charity, You see that we are surrounded by many
miseries: psychological and nervous fragility, the facility to fall into dependence on
alcohol and drugs; easy deception by television and media that cheapen emotions, sex and
food.
You entrusted a treasure to us poor vessels of clay.
Give to our Fraternity a lively recognition of faith in order to
bear the fruits of conversion.
Help us, Holy Spirit.
Give equilibrium and health again to our minds.
Consoler Spirit, we Your consecrated desire to be free from fear
and dejection.
You are Strength. Give us hope and courage.
Spirit of wisdom and of intellect, make rise from Your people
youth who consecrate themselves to the service of Your Word.
Give us the holy Path on which we journey serenely: Jesus
Christ, the New Man, the Son of
Mary, the New Eve, Virgin made church, Mother of all of us
living through grace.
Amen.
From the Saints Cosmas and Damian Convent in Rome
Pentecost 2003
Fr. Ilija Zivkovic, TOR - Minister General
Fr. Michael Higgins, TOR - Vicar General
Fr. Corpus Izquierdo Barrero, TOR
Fr. Mathew Puthenparambil, TOR
Fr. Fernando Scocca, TOR
Fr. Mark Fernando, TOR
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