Propositum VitaeLife Project

the primitive inspiration

Where it all begins

Summer seminar June 2009

St. Francis of Assisi's prayer in praise of God

given to Brother Leo

Side 1 -- You are Three and One, Lord God, all Good.

You are holy, Lord, the only God, and Your deeds are wonderful. You are strong. You are great. You are the Most High.

You are Almighty. You, Holy Father are King of heaven and earth.

ALL: You are Three and One, Lord God, all Good.

Side 2 -- You are Three and One, Lord God, all Good.

You are Good, all Good, supreme Good, Lord God, living and true. You are love. You are wisdom. You are humility.

You are endurance. You are rest. You are peace. You are joy and gladness. You are justice and moderation.

All: You are Three and One, Lord God, all Good.

ALL --- You are Three and One, Lord God, all Good.

You are all our riches, and You suffice for us. You are beauty. You are gentleness. You are our protector. You are our guardian and defender. You are our courage. You are our haven and our hope. You are our faith, our great consolation.

You are our eternal life, Great and Wonderful Lord, God Almighty, Merciful Savior.

You are Three and One, Lord God, all Good.

How you journey =How you arrive

Why after you?

Bob Fitzsimmons SFO2009 SFO Summer SeminarSecular Franciscan Order - USA

Propositum Vitae1209 – approval of a new way of LifeThe “ oral rule” basically a few lines of Scripture: Jesus said to him, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what

you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” (Mt 19:21)

  Then Jesus told his disciples, “If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. (Mt 16:24)

  And he said to them, “Take nothing for your journey, no staff, nor bag, nor bread, nor money; and do not have two tunics. (Lk 9:3)

This is what I want!

• A major shift in the model of Church– Church based on Acts, “The Apostolic Life”

Monastic [communal] -- vs Canons Regular [communal & pastoral]

– Church based on Jesus - Gospel AdventureEvangelical, poverty, humility, vernacularLife based on an Image of God, relationship, and

a way of life

• A way of life based on Francis’ understanding of the Divine Economy.

Divine Economy to Human Economy Michael Crosby OFM Cap

1. All are equal, created in the divine image (Jesus) - The Blueprint

2. God has entered into mutual relationship with each one (as well as all creation) - God’s Poverty (Incarnation) & Humility (mutuality – desiring us)

3. Resources are to meet the needs of all so that all realize their dignity and have the fullest potential mutuality, & participation

Fraternity – Order ?• Francis vision -- classless structure, a fraternity

(brotherhood) of equals centered on Gospel/Christ , charged to meet the needs of each other without exercising authority over anyone.

• Poverty = doorway to peace and freedom (living w/o grasping –”sine proprio”)

• Gospel to Life , Life to Gospel “sine glossa” (without gloss)

• Reality --Order (clericalization - governance),

Brothers and Sisters of Penance• Letter to the Faithful 1209-1216 inspirational

form (prologue or proto-rule) – 2nd version 1220 (RnB)

• Memoriale Propositi 1221 juridical form (RnB)

• Surpa Montem August 1289 (RB) two Secular Franciscans: a judge Ugolino de’Medici di Ferrara and his brother Elias.

Supra MontemThe Approbation of the Third Rule of the Brothers and

Sisters of the Third Order instituted by Bl. Francis, for seculars living in their own homes, called Tertiaries,

Pope Nicholas IV, Rieti, August 17, 1289 A.D.

• . . . This is that, which prepares the path of salvation, and which promises the rewards and joys of eternal felicity. And for that reason the glorious confessor of Christ, Bl. Francis, the institutor of this order . . . .

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Francis of Assisivernacular theologian

Humility & Poverty of God

God as Trinity predominates his writings

God organically connected to all creation, Francis expresses this in the Canticle of the

CreaturesMost high & supreme Good, You alone are good

aside – God alone is worthy, we are not, but are by pure giftedness. Reason not to get caught up

in the worthiness/performance game

• Francis approach to God is fully Trinitarian“You, Holy Father are King of heaven and earth. You are

Three and One, Lord God, all Good”

– God is the Most Holy Father and Supreme Good – the Father is source and goal

– Beloved Son is the expression of the totality of God’s goodness, humility and poverty – is God and points us to the Father

– Spirit is the foundation of Christian Life, “to have the Spirit of the Lord and his holy way of working” it is the Spirit who enables us to live the Gospel with great JOY – imitate Jesus

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Poverty of God – Perfect love requires the lover to hold nothing back from the beloved! God freely, by choice empties Himself for the good of the other (self-communication -- kenosis)• 3- fold kenotic expression – I-P-E

Humility of God – God turns toward Jesus completely (God's full self-expression in one other then Himself) and through Jesus The Father turns toward us (finite self-expression of Jesus) and all creation.

Two Key beliefs as foundation of Franciscan Life

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“ 5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross”. Philippians 2:5-8The Revised Standard Version. 1971 (Php 2:5). Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.

Poverty and humility of God

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Poverty and humility of God

Is expressed in 3 distinct act of God’s Choice:

I P E• Incarnation – not because of sin, but because of

Love. The Incarnation is the unrepeatable, unique and single defining act of God’s love

•Passion/crucifixion – not for the death or horror, but to show the depth of love’s sacrifice and what The Father was willing to hold back just for Himself

•Eucharist – abiding physical presence in the most insignificant form

• The Divine MigrationGOD

Us – Creation – Material world, sin

Our movement toward God

Ascending to spiritual union

By fleeing the world

Us - Creation

God’s movement toward all creation, esp us -- Descent

The IncarnationTransforms and unites material &

Spiritual

All is good

All is holy

Francis’ Spirituality• Spirituality is relational, a belief and the active or lived

expression of that belief – a spirituality that follows God’s action of descent

• God is experienced as Trinitarian communion entered through relationship and imitation of Jesus through the power of the Spirit. (Dance of Life/Trinity)

• Jesus reveals to us God’s name = ABBA• Francis’ movement

1. Hear the Gospel (finite words of the Eternal Word)

2. Do it – embrace it – live it

Admonition VII: Let good action follow knowledge

The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life [2 Cor 3:6]. To imitate Christ we have to know Christ and we learn of Christ from the Gospels. . .

For example, we can read the Gospels out of curiosity, out of a sense of duty, or simply to be able to tell others what the following of Jesus entails.

This gives us knowledge but knowledge of itself is of little value. Knowledge must flow over into what we do.

• Good – Only God is Good– Sin then:

• Appropriating for ourselves our own goodness• Gratitude – Love is not loved! – remember IPE

• How you journey = how you arrive!

• Joy is taken seriously [ADM 22, RnB C7, AsC 120]Spirituality is based in Joy, & joy is the source of the

Spirit’s energy to practice the Gospel Life!• Experience {sensory} not a purely intellectual exercise

– Fragrant, Delectable, Desirable Sweet

• The spirituality of Francis emphasizes

– Emptiness and receptivity – becoming little and free so to have room for the in-dwelling of the Trinity.

– Primacy of the Father – generatively – in his writings Francis speaks of the Father almost exclusively, or Trinity & Unity

– Imitation of the Beloved Son who Francis sees as our elder brother – God in human-being-ness

– Guided by the Holy Spirit as was Mary [Mary who offers hospitality to the Trinity and reveals what being human is about]

3 P’s of Francis1. Preaching – Penitential movement stresses

observing/doing the Gospel - transformation

2. Prayer – As a lay community this was more charismatic – Spirit filled spontaneous prayer

– Paramount is the Eucharist [ADM 1]

3. Poverty – to place one self on an equal footing with the little people of the world – to go and preach/live the Gospel where the Church cannot -- live without grasping

For Francis/Franciscan SpiritualityGod does it all for us:

• The Spirit leads us into prayer and joyfulness and presents us to Jesus

• Jesus as brother is the door into the Trinity, Francis imitates so Jesus can present him to the Father, so he too can be the beloved son

• The Father is our origin, source of being and ultimate goal

Will we choose to accept the grace Of a new Pentecost

Invoked by Pope John XXIII And embrace our Franciscan Heritage

By living the conviction that we have beenRaised up by the Holy Spirit

To renew the Church and keep alive in the worldThe flame of the New Pentecost

• How might we embrace the 3-P’s of Francis?

Comparing Spiritualities• For St. Benedict:

– GOD is the Almighty, the Transcendent.

– CHRIST is Our Redeemer and High Priest. – MAN is the Privileged Adorer, expressing the

praise of all creation.

– LITURGY is the principal "work" of the monastic community; it teaches and evangelizes.

• For St. Ignatius of Loyola: GOD is Creator, Lord, Owner of the Universe. CHRIST is the King. – MAN is his soldier in the battle against evil. – PLAN of Life discovered in the Spiritual Exercises,

the Examen of Conscience, – Personal Meditation.

• For St. Dominic: GOD is Truth. – CHRIST is the Word revealing the Father. – MAN is a Student seeking after Truth. – WAY of Life centered on Study, Science, and

Preaching the Truth.

Most Christian Spirituality

Points to the Passion

Death & Resurrection

Emphasis: redemptive suffering

Franciscan Spirituality• For St. Francis of Assisi: GOD is the Father who

does all out of love = God is personal.

– CHRIST, in His Humanity, is the Beloved Son who shows us the Father; and is our Brother.

– MAN has been reconciled by Jesus and shares in the life of God who is Good, All Good, the Highest Good.

– – CREATION is the reflection of God's goodness; all are

fellow creatures, our brothers and sisters.

Franciscan

– WAY TO GOD is in the freedom of "sons & daughters," in trustful poverty, humility, simplicity lived in fraternity, and are a gift of God as an affirmation of his vocation; peace and joy.

– PRAYER is simple, affective, centered on the humanity of Jesus as seen in the Gospels. God is everywhere and any formula is good if it is the trusting prayer of a "son & daughters.“

For Francis/Franciscan SpiritualityGod does it all for us:

• The Spirit leads us into prayer and joyfulness and presents us to Jesus

• Jesus as brother is the door into the Trinity, Francis imitates so Jesus can present him to the Father, so he too can be the beloved son

• The Father is our origin, source of being and ultimate goal

How you journey =

how you arrive!

Joyfully