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Stephen, and, earlier, Tom at Disputations, both posted about different aspects of vocation as it pertains to being a member of one of the so-called “secular� orders. Stephen writes about being a Third Order Carmelite and Tom, a Dominican. It seems fitting to post a few notes about the Secular Franciscan.

I’ve written here that the distinctive spirituality of being a Franciscan is that there is little distinctive about it; being Franciscan means being Catholic. Being Franciscan means being loyal to the Holy Father and the Magisterium, and trying to live the Gospel. Even the Tau we wear is not unique to the order, but was designated, I think at the Council of Trent, as the universal sign of the Christian in the Church. However, there is a distinctive way in which that vocation is lived out and it comes from Francis himself.

Francis founded the first of the great “mendicant� orders. Prior to Francis, religious were exclusively cloistered. This means that they lived out their lives within a particular monastic setting and had little to do with “the world.� It was Francis’ dream to live the Gospel in the world and to carry the Gospel message to the four corners. Franciscans were meant to have no home and to have to beg even for bread. There are few Franciscan monasteries and even today it is possible to find a “friary�, that is, a house where Franciscan priests live, in a neighborhood near you. Franciscans continue to live that vocation preaching the Gospel in the world. For example, the Capuchins from Kansas came to Colorado Springs a few years back and opened shop in one of the two major malls here. The Catholic Center offers the Sacrament of Reconciliation six days a week during regular mall hours, and a priest is always on hand to chat even with those who are not Catholic. That’s taking the Gospel to the heart of secular society.

This vocation is especially significant and more difficult for the Secular Franciscan. I have known SFOs who come close to rejecting the “Secular� label, wishing they could be more like religious, even to the point of wanting to wear the habit of a friar. They forget that the Franciscan vocation, whether religious or secular, is to be in the world, not in the cloister or the friary. Like the other two third orders, the Carmelites and Dominicans, our vocation is to take the Gospel into the world, to be leaven to the world. We are to do it by showing that the Gospel life can be lived by ordinary human beings who simply desire to follow in the footsteps of St. Francis. The vocation is more difficult for the SFO because there is nothing, at least on the surface, that sets us apart. Everyone knows a friar by his brown (or grey) habit, the SFO is known only by the way he or she lives the Gospel life. Francis said we should use words, if necessary, but first we try to preach by example; the words come later.

Being a member of a secular order is not a mark of distinction or a sign of special spiritual achievement. It is, I think, a vocation, or one aspect of the vocation of being a lay person in the Church. It helps us go deeper in the faith, it supports us when finding that faith is difficult, but mostly, it calls us to a greater sense of how we might take our faith into the world. It gives us, a greater sense of the true meaning of the vocation of the layman, and that is something sorely needed in the world today.

Steven had a post today about wanting to get closer to the proper (is that the right word?) practice of his Carmelite Spirituality and it got me thinking about Franciscan spirituality and how that might best be understood. Actually, his post caused me to experience a pang of jealousy because my first reaction to it was, gee, I wish I could do that.

When most people think of Franciscan spirituality, they picture the statues of St. Francis with the bird on his shoulder and the bunny at his feet. While it’s true that love of creation and all God’s creatures is an element of the Franciscan ideal, it is certainly not the key idea. Nor, strictly speaking is poverty, probably the next most common idea of Franciscan spirituality.

I’ve often said, and I’ve read this in some Franciscan resources, that there is no distinctive Franciscan spirituality as such. My favorite way to say it is that to be Franciscan is simply to be Catholic, really Catholic, nothing more, nothing less.

I’ll explain. You see, Francis wanted, above all else, to live the Gospel life as Christ lived it; he wanted to be the perfect follower of Christ. In order to do that, poverty was necessary, but he believed that it was even more necessary to follow Christ within the Church. Francis loved the Church and everything he did was done in obedience to the Church. To be Franciscan is, essentially, to live as a Catholic, and that idea should not be distinctive to any one of us.

But there’s more: Francis also loved the Scripture because it is through reading and meditating on Scripture that he came to know what it meant to follow Christ. He read Scripture assiduously, but it was always as a Catholic. This is part of Franciscan spirituality to this day. The Rule of the Secular Franciscan Order, in Chapter 2, reads:

The rule and life of the Secular Franciscans is this: to observe the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ by following the example of Saint Francis of Assisi, who made Christ the inspiration and the center of his life with God and people.

Christ, the gift of the Father's love, is the way to him, the truth into which the Holy Spirit leads us, and the life which he has come to give abundantly.

Secular Franciscans should devote themselves especially to careful reading of the gospel, going from gospel to life and life to the gospel.

I read this over again today, and then it hit me – this ties in pretty closely with something I have written about several times over the last week or so, i.e., that in order to have a living faith, you must have some clear idea of what that faith means. In order to go “from the gospel to life and life to the gospel� you have to engage in “a careful reading of the gospel.� That’s where all of this has been coming from. I have been drawing on my Franciscan spirituality all this time and wasn’t even really aware of it.

I feel better.

Today is the anniversary of the day in 1208 when St. Francis attended Mass in at Saint Mary of the Angels and heard the priest read the following passage from Matthew’s Gospel, chapter 10: Jesus sent out the twelve apostles with these instructions: You received without paying, now give without being paid. Don’t take along any gold, silver, or copper coins. And don’t carry a traveling bag or an extra shirt or sandals.

This experience is what led Francis to embrace Lady Poverty and to found the Franciscan Order. Pax et bonum.

Please pray for our Holy Father as he endures more and apparently graver health problems.

Today is the feast day of St. Joseph of Cupertino.

The following is from a brief biography published by the Daily E-pistle:

"As a Franciscan novice, he soon gained renown throughout the
order for his holiness, acts of penance, and zeal for God. In 1625,
steps were taken by the order to allow Joseph to qualify for holy
orders despite his lack of education. Joseph was ordained in 1628
and set out to serve God's people. He continued his personal
penances and fasting and was held up by many to be the model of
holiness and austerity. These two tools of his enabled him to convert
many hearts to Catholicism and encourage many to repent from
sinful lives. He was also known to perform many miracles and make
accurate predictions of the future.

Joseph died in 1663 and he was buried in the chapel of the
Conception. Joseph was beatified in 1753 and canonized in 1767.
He is the patron of aviators."

I never knew a Franciscan was also the patron saint of aviators!