July – August - Franciscan Province – MALTA

Minister General, Br. José Rodríguez Carballo, OFM
Porziuncola, 19 th June 2007
LET US DARE TO LIVE THE
GOSPEL
Your Eminences,
Excellencies, dear Brothers
in the Seraphic Father,
“May the Lord give you
peace!” (Test 13). With
these words of greeting,
revealed to Francis by the
Most High, I also greet you,
my dear Brother Cardinals
and Bishops of the Order of
Friars Minor and I
fraternally welcome you
with them in the name of
the Poverello of Assisi and
of the Friars Minor of the
Franciscan Province of
Umbria, the custodians of
this holy place. You are all
welcome to this place, loved
above all others by Francis,
a true “lover and imitator”
of the Lord (TestCl 5), for
being the place privileged
and blessed by the presence
of the Mother, “the full of
grace” (Lk 1, 28), the
“servant of the Most High
and supreme King and of
our Father in heaven, the
Mother of our Most Holy
Lord Jesus Christ, spouse
of the Holy
Spirit” (Antiphon, Of. Prs.),
the “Virgin made
Church” (SalBVM 1).
“I rejoiced when I
heard them say: ‘Let us go
to God’s house’” (Ps 121, 1).
Overflowing joy was the
sentiment which animated
the pilgrimage he
undertook in “going up” to
Jerusalem, sure of finding
in the Holy City the peace
for which his heart yearned
and the good which he
ardently desired. It is that
same joy which we
Franciscans feel on coming
to this holy place, restored
by the hands of Francis
(1Cel 21), where he
established his abode
during the third year of his
conversion, and where the
Order of Friars Minor
began. To return to the
Porziuncola is, for us
Franciscans, like returning
home: here we were born
and here we return every
time we wish to recall our
origins and to refresh the
memory of our vocation and
mission.
The Porziuncola could
well be called, among other
titles, the sanctuary of the
Gospel and of the
evangelical response to it by
Francis. Here there
continues to echo strongly
the radical invitation which
Jesus made to His first
disciples one day and which
the young Francis heard as
if addressed to himself:
“Provide yourselves with no
gold or silver, not even a
few coppers for your
purses, with no haversack
for the journey or spare
tunic or footwear or a
staff…” (Mt 10, 9-10). Here
there continues to echo the
joyful and ever young
response of Francis to the
Gospel text heard on the
feast of St. Matthias: “This
is what I want, this is what
I seek, this is what I desire
with all my heart” (1Cel 22).
Dear Brothers: In the
light of this response which
Francis made 800 years
ago, and in the light of what
we promised on the day of
our profession on assuming
the Gospel as our “Rule and
life” and, as such, to follow
it more closely by observing
it faithfully (Cf. GGCC 5,2),
it is urgent that we ask
ourselves: What have we
done with the Gospel? Is it
really the source of life in
our life as it was in the life
of Francis and of many
Friars of the past and
present? Are its demands
the fundamental criteria for
us at the time of making
concrete options in our life?
L-A{BAR LULJU - AWISSU 2007 17
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