Thoughts from your Regional Formation Director
November 2017
Greetings to you my sisters and brothers in Christ and Saint Francis of Assisi.
I pray that the peace and joy of our Lord Jesus Christ and our spiritual father Saint Francis of Assisi are with you and, in you, overflowing in life-giving abundance to others. For it is this peace, joy and life-giving union that is truly the external sign of our Franciscan charism. As Walbert Buhlmann, OFM Cap puts it. “We must radiate!” It is the love of God traveling in both directions that make us radiate. When I say both directions I mean first and foremost from God to us, then, in response to his love for us, we love him back. In this reciprocal love affair, we can become what Buhlmann said: “we can be a question mark, an exclamation mark…”[1].
It was in great humility and a bit of good old fashioned “Who, Me?” that I accepted appointment to the position as Regional Formation Director a few months ago. I ask that you pray for me as I seek, with your help, the Holy Spirit’s guidance. Over the next year or so, I plan to attend your regular Fraternity gatherings in order to get to know you and you to know me. I will also be listening to your Initial and Ongoing formation questions.
In the meantime, I do have some thoughts to share concerning Initial Formation. These thoughts come from the study of what we have come to know as “The Cangelosi letter”. Let’s take a look at one part of the letter, a part that I am sure we all have read before but may not have embraced it fully into our lives.
Father Cangelosi said, “Indeed, most people have foggy ideas on the value of Profession in the Secular Franciscan Order and because of this many Secular Franciscans do not live the “grace” of Profession for what it really is. A true nuptial alliance with Jesus Christ[2] aimed at a further consecration to God and at accomplishing a closer bond to the Church to reach the perfection of love andthe realization of Saint Francis mission.[3]”
I assume we have all heard this talk of Nuptial Alliance and realization of the mission, but have we really taken a deep look at it and grasped what the words are saying? If we had, it would be life changing! By virtue of our profession, we are in a nuptial relationship with Jesus. What does that mean? We are also called to the realization of Francis’s mission… We are called to be Jesus’s helpmates, building and rebuilding the church in love and fraternal perfection, to radiate the spirit of Francis and of Jesus!
This nuptial relationship with Jesus makes our profession sacred and our fraternity sacred. We need to protect both our profession and our fraternity, always making sure that they remain sacred. In my mind, the best way to do this is to secure our foundation and have the basics down. And that means initial and ongoing formation! I am asking each and every one of you to make sure that you are following the FUN manual, the Regional Formation Guidelines and the Pathway to Profession so that we may truly accomplish our mission to rebuild His church.
[1] Excerpts from Walbert Buhlmann OFM Cap – Address to European Capuchins, May 5, 2005
2 Emphasis mine
3 Emphasis mine
Peace and Good