TITLE I

THE SPIRIT AND LIFE OF PRAYER

63- §1. By their religious profession the brothers are totally subject to God who is loved above all else, so as to be related to his service and honor by a new and special title. Therefore, contemplation of things divine and assiduous union with God in prayer is to be the first and foremost duty of the brothers (can. 663, §1).

§2. Taking to heart the words of St. Francis to desire persevering prayer above all else, the brothers should gratefully fulfill the command of the Lord who by word and example taught his disciples to pray always.

§3. Throughout their life and work the brothers should continually persevere in the spirit of prayer and devotion after the example of St. Francis who seemed rather than as one praying to have been transformed into prayer itself.

64- §1. The brothers should always endeavor to have the spirit of the Lord and his holy manner of working, so that linking prayer with work they may foster throughout their entire lives a deep communion with their heavenly Father by sharing in the mysteries of Christ.

§2. Since the brothers must maintain in their lives and conduct what they have received by sharing the mysteries of Christ in the Spirit, each one, after entering more deeply into union with God in prayer, should diligently preserve that union with God the Father in his daily life and perfect it through the practice of virtue.

§3. The brothers should endeavor to discern all things in the light of faith, to overcome difficulties on the strength of hope while awaiting the future glory, and to become more and more united to God in the love of Christ, so that in all their actions they may glorify the Father.

TITLE II

LITURGICAL PRAYER

65- §1. The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is the source and summit of the entire liturgy and life of the Church. Its celebration, therefore, should be the center of the spiritual and apostolic life of each friary.

§2. Striving to ponder the full magnitude of these sacred mysteries, with the Immaculate Mother as guide, the brothers should meditate on the Eucharist as a sacrifice-sacrament, communion-sacrament and presence-sacrament (Lumen Gentium 11; Redemptor Hominis 20).
§3. Following the example of the Seraphic Patriarch the brothers have chosen to live in a special way with Christ crucified. As the brothers partake in the paschal mystery of the Eucharist, they are drawn into intimate communion with Jesus and in him with each other. The Mass is the source of fraternal communion.

§4. The brothers, therefore, should participate daily in the Eucharistic Sacrifice, learn to offer themselves in union with the divine Victim, be nourished at the table of the Lord’s body and blood, and through Christ, the Mediator, be drawn day by day into that ever more perfect union with God and each other so that at last God may be all in all.

§5. The brothers should strive to assist at the Eucharistic liturgy in common, so that the participation of the brotherhood in the unity of the same Eucharistic Sacrifice may be more evident.

§6. Concelebration by the priests, as circumstances permit, should be encouraged. All the liturgical laws of the Church to ensure the validity and fruitfulness of the sacramental celebration are to be observed.

66- §1. The brothers are bound by love to worship Jesus substantially present in the sacred species of the Eucharist. They are to revere above all else the most holy body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, showing all possible reverence to the Son of the living God present on the altar.

§2. The richness of the Eucharist in its eternal hymn of praise and thanksgiving, its commemoration of the mysteries of salvation, its intercessory prayer and its foretaste of heavenly glory are extended to the various hours of our day by the Divine Office (cf. Sacrosanctum Concilium 83). This prayer known as the Liturgy of the Hours calls forth in a special way the worship of the Blessed Sacrament. The brothers, therefore, should esteem greatly this prayer because therein the universal Church, united and present in her appointed ministers together with all her members praying with them, continues the praise which Christ the High Priest introduced into the world and which with the sacrifice of his life he offered to his heavenly Father.

§3. In each friary all the brothers unless legitimately impeded shall celebrate the Liturgy of the Hours in common daily and whenever possible celebrate them before the exposed Blessed Sacrament.

§4. The brothers are to celebrate the Liturgy of the Hours according to the prescriptions of the General Introduction, using the Franciscan ordo and supplement to the Liturgy of the Hours. The Franciscan Sacramentary and Lectionary for the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is to be used as well.

§5. The brothers should strive to celebrate especially lauds and vespers with greater solemnity and song, whenever this is possible, and circumstances permitting, encourage the participation of the faithful.

§6. At the request of the friary chapter the Minister General with the consent of his Council can determine which canonical hours are to be celebrated in common by a community which, for serious reason, is unable to recite the full Liturgy of the Hours in common.

67- §1. Perpetually professed brother-clerics are obliged to recite privately those hours which they did not fulfill in common.

§2. Perpetually professed brothers who are not clerics and who do not celebrate the Liturgy of the Hours in common are obliged to recite the canonical hours privately or the Our Fathers as prescribed in the Rule.

§3. Temporarily professed brothers are urged to recite lauds and vespers privately, either from the Liturgy of the Hours or the Our Fathers as prescribed in the Rule, should they not have prayed these in common.

§4. Unless excused by the superior or for some other excusing cause, all the brothers are to celebrate the entire Liturgy of the Hours in common daily.

§5. In sacred liturgical actions the rite of the Church should be carefully followed. Since liturgical actions in particular begin and perfect union with God, the brothers should strive to prepare themselves for these through frequent study of the liturgical texts and to participate in them as fully as required by their state in life and by the nature of the liturgy itself.

§6. Diligent care should be taken of the chapel, church, the relics of the saints, furnishings, and whatever else is set apart for liturgical worship.