CHAPTER IV

THE COMMUNITY LIFE OF THE BROTHERS

“In the name of the Most High Trinity and the Holy Unity: the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit . . .” (A Letter to the Entire Order, 1).

Our Seraphic Father, St. Francis, clearly perceived his fraternity patterned after the image of both the community of the apostles called by the Lord “to be his companions and to be sent out to preach” (Mk. 3:14) and also of the entire Church wherein believers are made members of Christ in the communion of faith and charity as in the early Church, where the multitude of the faithful was of one heart and one mind. Hence he insistently begged all the brothers, both ministers and the others, namely, the whole community: “‘Stay awake praying at all times for the strength to . . . stand with confidence before the Son of Man.’ And let us have recourse to him as to the shepherd and guardian of our souls, who says: ‘I am the good shepherd. . . . You are all brothers . . . since you have only one Father, and he is in heaven. . . . You have only one Teacher, the Christ. . . . For where two or three meet in my name, I shall be there with them.’ Therefore, let us adhere to the words, examples, and teaching of him who deigned to pray for us: ‘Holy Father, keep those You have given me true to Your Name so that they may be one like us’” (Regula non bullata 22).

From the very first statement of his Rule, St. Francis indicates the intimate bond and reciprocal influence between the Gospel life, expressed by the vows and the apostolate, and the common life, when he prescribes them jointly as necessary for the forming of the integral way of life of the Lesser Brethren. The brothers, therefore, are bound to profess this life “by living in obedience, without anything of their own, and in chastity,” persevering in fraternal and obedient communion with St. Francis and his successors. For this reason blessed Francis exhorts them, saying: “persevere in the instruction received and in holy obedience, and what you have promised him fulfill with good and firm resolve. The Lord presents himself to us as to sons” (Letter to all the Brothers), namely, as the reward for the profession of vows and common discipline.

St. Francis was accustomed to assemble his brothers to speak with them of the kingdom of God. The brothers themselves yearned to gather together with St. Francis for a mutual exchange of sentiments and to inspire each other to a renewal of life (1 Celano 30). “And indeed, since they despised all earthly things and never loved one another selfishly, but rather directed all their affection toward the common good, they sought to offer their very selves to meet any fraternal need. They assembled willingly; living alone was hard for all, separation sad, and departure bitter” (1 Celano 39).

The brothers manifest these same reasons for being united when they assemble in any kind of chapter. Blessed Francis frequently commanded the brothers and ministers to gather together with their Minister General in chapters in which he always greeted “his very beloved brothers . . . in him who has redeemed and washed us in his blood” (Letter to all the Brothers) with all his heart and gave them salutary exhortations. In the Friary Chapter, however, “wherever the brothers may be . . . let them show that they are members of one family” (Regula bullata 6).
“Instructed by a revelation from on high,” St. Francis “understood that he had been sent by the Lord to win souls for Christ. . . . And so the man of God with his companions repaired to an abandoned hut. . .” and then “having become a herald of the Gospel, went about the cities and towns proclaiming the kingdom of God” (Legenda Major IV, 2,3,5). The following general apostolic exhortation of St. Francis confirms and expresses well this common apostolic effort of the whole community recommended by St. Francis to all of his brothers: “. . . All of us Lesser Brethren, useless servants, humbly beg and entreat all on earth, who are and who will be; that we all persevere in the true faith and in repentance, because otherwise none of us can be saved” (Regula non bullata 23).

Once the blessed Francis had founded the brotherhood of the Friars Minor, “. . . very many, inspired by the ardor of his preaching, bound themselves to observe the new obligations to do penance according to the way adopted by the man of God, which he decided to call the Order of ‘The Brothers of Penance’ . . . . Virgins too were converted to perpetual celibacy, among whom was Clare, most beloved of God, of these virgins the first ‘little plant’ . . . . She was a daughter in Christ of our holy Father Francis, the little poor man, and mother of the Poor Ladies” (Legenda major, IV, 6).

Thereafter, his community of brotherhood, like a luxuriant tree, brought forth the various families of Franciscans. Hence it is most fitting that all who consider Francis their Seraphic Father constantly cultivate fraternal communion, so that always and everywhere the fullness of the Franciscan charism may flourish.