ORDER of SECULAR FRANCISCANS

The Secular Franciscans commit themselves to live the Gospel according to
Franciscan spirituality in their secular condition. The Secular Franciscan must
personally and assiduously study the Gospel and Sacred Scripture to foster love
for the word of the Gospel and help the brothers and sisters to know and
understand it as it is proclaimed by the Church with the assistance of the
Spirit. Secular Franciscans, called in earlier times "the brothers and sisters of
penance", propose to live in the spirit of continual conversion. Some means to
cultivate this characteristic of the Franciscan vocation, individually and in
fraternity, are: listening to and celebrating the Word of God; review of life; spiritual
retreats; the help of a spiritual adviser, and penitential celebrations. Secular Franciscans
should pledge themselves to live the spirit of the Beatitudes and, in a special way,
the spirit of poverty. Evangelical poverty demonstrates confidence in the Father, a
ffects interior freedom, and disposes them to promote a more just distribution of wealth.
They must provide for their own families and serve society by means of their work a
nd material goods, have a particular manner of living evangelical poverty. To
understand and achieve it requires a strong personal commitment and the stimulation
of the fraternity in prayer and dialogue, communal review of life, and attentiveness
to the instructions of the Church, and the demands of society. They pledge
themselves to reduce their own personal needs so as to be better able to share s
piritual and material goods with their brothers and sisters, especially those most
in need. They should give thanks to God for the goods they have received,
using them as good stewards and not as owners. They should take a firm
position against consumerism and against ideologies and practices which prefer riches
over human and religious values and which permit the exploitation of the human person.
They should love and practice purity of heart, the source of true fraternity .


 

The Lady of All Nations Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Father, send now Your Spirit over the earth; let the Holy Spirit live in the Hearts of All Nations, that they may be preserved from degeneration, disaster, and war; may the Lady of All Nations, the Blessed Virgin Mary, be our Advocate. Amen Follow this link to the full Novena on Jean's Blog

Novena to

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Franciscans "Free The Kids", click on their logo.


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