As the Franciscan family celebrates the 800th anniversary of the Rule of St. Francis on 29 November, Fr. Luke Gregory of the Custody of the Holy Land reflects on the evangelical creativity and freshness that the ‘Regula Bullata’ represents for the entire Church.
In their essentiality, the Chapters of the Regula Bullata of Saint Francis of Assisi contain an abundant wealth of indications and stimuli for the Christian life, which for 800 years has raised, oriented, and supported hosts of simple men and women, determined to follow Jesus and the Gospel: the Friars Minor — “The Franciscans”.
We are able to “read” the best commentary on this Holy Rule in the lives of our Franciscan brothers and sisters, who throughout history have distinguished themselves for virtue and holiness.
Allow me to limit myself to underlining some traits that always fascinate me for the wisdom and concreteness wherewith they are imbued, and which have the strength to restore impetus and meaning to my own vocation.
Radical adherence to the Gospel
Saint Francis cares that his brothers observe “the Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, living in obedience, without anything of their own and in chastity” (cf. chapter i), radically, without discounts, with every fiber of their being and in perfect communion with the Church and in obedience to the Holy Father, the Pope, which was absolutely essential to Francis’ vision of renewing and building up the Kingdom of God.
Even the criterion for verifying the seriousness of intention of the new brothers is profoundly ecclesial: “The ministers must then diligently examine them regarding the Catholic faith and the sacraments of the Church. And if they believe all these things and are willing to faithfully profess them and observe them steadfastly to the end” (cf. chapter ii, 2).
There are very clear and essential requests: the path of evangelical perfection is open to all, but only those who choose it with freedom and awareness adhere to it.
Our Seraphic and much beloved Father Saint Francis has imprinted an exemplary balance in the Holy Rule: everyone is called to develop firm radicalism towards themselves, but, at the same time, to exercise great mercy towards their brothers and sisters.
The radical nature of adhering to the Gospel must be experienced as a stimulus and support for one’s conversion but must never translate into contemptuous and demeaning judgment of other men (and women) (cf. chapter ii, 14).
Freshness of the truth
Saint Francis identified for himself and proposed to his brothers a sure way to adhere to the Gospel: poverty!
“The friars do not appropriate anything, neither house, nor place, or anything else. And as pilgrims and strangers in this world, serving the Lord in poverty and humility, let them go for alms with confidence” (cf. chapter vi, 1-2).
In the mind of Saint Francis, poverty has the flavour of a privilege, an honour, a grace; it is certainly not a reason for shame!
The profound reason for this choice, in fact, is not primarily of an ascetic or penitential nature, but is Christological.
“Nor should they be ashamed, because the Lord became poor for us in this world” (cf. chapter vi, 3).
Everything contributes to following Jesus, to becoming conformed to Him, to sharing the same life as Him: “This is the sublimity of the highest poverty!” (cf. chapter vi, 4).
The charm of the holiness of Francis of Assisi lies entirely in his surprising resemblance to Jesus, which he developed with an authentically evangelical life.
In his rule he has traced a path for us that is safe and not subject to the wear and tear of time, because both he as a figure and his Holy Rule enjoy the freshness of the simple and wholesome truth.
As the Franciscan Family marks the 8th Centenary of the confirmation of the Rule of St. Francis, on 29 November 1223, Pope Francis invites Franciscan friars and sisters to renew their vocation of bringing the Gospel of poverty and fraternity to today’s world.
Pope Francis has urged members of the Franciscan Family to hold true to the charism of fraternity, humility and poverty of their Founder by going out to the world to share the Gospel.
The Regula Bullata of 1223
For Franciscan friars and sisters going around the world means realizing their “itinerant vocation in a style of fraternity and peaceful life” and is in line with the call on all Christians “to be an ‘outgoing Church’”, the Pope said in a letter he addressed to the Ministers General of the Order on the occasion of the 8th Centenary of the formal confirmation of the Rule of St. Francis of Assisi by Pope Honorius III.
The Rule (Regula Bullata) was formally recognized in the Bull “Solere Annuere” issued on November 29 1223, 800 years ago today.
Pope Francis’ letter was read out during a solemn liturgy presided over on Wednesday afternoon at the Papal Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran in Rome by Cardinal Angelo De Donatis, the Pope’s Vicar for the Diocese.
The celebration was attended by friars, nuns, and lay people belonging to the three Orders founded by St. Francis.
Rooted in the Gospel
In his message, the Pope noted that the centenary is “a propitious occasion” not only to remember an important historical event, but above all, “to revive the same spirit that inspired St. Francis of Assisi to strip himself of everything, and give birth to a unique and fascinating form of life rooted in the Gospel”.
“May this jubilee be for everyone the time (…) for a renewed missionary mandate of the Church which calls us to go out to meet the world where many brothers and sisters await to be consoled, loved and cared for.”
Drawing from St. Francis’ Rule, Pope Francis, therefore, exhorted the members of the Franciscan Order first of all to “observe poverty, humility and the Gospel”, living “in obedience, without anything of their own and in chastity.”
Recalling that St. Francis put “the Gospel at the center of his existence”, the letter stressed the importance of returning “to the foundation of a Christian and baptismal commitment, capable of being inspired, in every choice, by the Word of the Lord.”
Obedience to the Church
Pope Francis then highlighted the Franciscans’ duty of obedience to the Church enshrined in St. Francis’ Rule. “In that bond of obedience and reverence to the Pope and the Church of Rome,” said the Pope, “he recognized an essential feature of the fidelity to his vocation and of receiving Christ in the Eucharist and this is why he declared, with no hesitation, his compelling belonging to the Church.”
“Be tenacious in supporting the Church, repairing it with example and testimony, even when it seems to cost more!”
Going out to the world
Finally, the letter called on the Franciscan friars and sisters “not to hesitate” to go out to the world “sharing the bliss of poverty, becoming an eloquent evangelical sign, and showing our age, marked by wars and conflicts, by selfishness of every kind and logics of exploitation of the environment and the poor, that the Gospel is truly good news for man.”
Concluding, Pope Francis said he confides in the Order’s capacity to identify the right way to courageously and faithfully respond to the charism it has received and invoked the intercession of the Virgin Mary and Saints Francis and Clare of Assisi.
“Why did God become man?” This soul-searching question has occupied the hearts of many Christians through the ages, including saints such as Francis of Assisi.
God taking human flesh – the incarnation (carne = flesh)
– is a mystery calling us to deeper reflection, to plumb deeper into this mysterious love that God is and has for his creation, so much so that God the Creator becomes created. Blessed John Duns Scotus, a renowned Franciscan theologian, sees this humble movement of God as perfecting creation; that creation becomes new because with the Risen Christ whose body is now glorified, creation is glorified and renewed.
All this insight can be drawn from the night of Christmas Eve 1223, 800 years ago, when Francis enacted the Nativity Scene in the little town of Greccio, Italy. He had found that hearts were cold and people had forgotten the reason God had become man, and he desired to recreate in the manger of people’s hearts a space to embrace the Christ Child. God became a child so that we dare to go near to God, to hold, to play, to enjoy the presence of God. God is not far away; he is very near and that is why he became incarnate at the first Christmas.
This year (2023), the Franciscan family begins our Franciscan Centenary celebrations with the celebration of the event at Greccio and the approval of the Later Rule. Our Rule exhorts us friars to be near to God’s people, to continue to incarnate God’s humble love for all, to be missionaries of peace and brotherhood. To share our Rule with you, our Franciscan Calendar 2024 features our various ministries and missions in Singapore and Malaysia with captions from the Rule and various writings of Francis and about Francis.
Francis and Clare embraced poverty because they trusted in God’s providence through their many benefactors. We modern Franciscans continue to embrace this spirit of poverty trusting that when God calls, God provides, through the many discerning and generous hearts. Please pray for our missions and for us to be willing to go where God sends us.
World Youth Day may be an event for young people, but Pope Francis’ final message to the pilgrims at the closing mass on 6 August 2023 is one that all of us can take to heart.
“What will we take back with us as we resume our daily lives?” he asked the pilgrims. He drew his answer from the Gospel (of the Feast of the Transfiguration): to shine, to listen, and to be unafraid.
Shine: Jesus is transfigured; “his face shone like the sun” (Mt 17:2). We need something of this burst of light today, says the Holy Father. And we can be this light in the world. “We radiate light – we shine – by welcoming Jesus into our hearts and learning to love as he does. … whenever you do works of love, you become light. But the moment you stop loving others and become self-centered, you extinguish your light.”
Listen: From the bright cloud overshadowing the disciples, the Father said “This is my Son, the Beloved … listen to him!” (Mt 17:5). “To listen to Jesus, that is life’s secret. Listen to what Jesus is saying to you,” says Pope Francis. And if we feel we do not know what Jesus is saying to us, the Holy Father says to read the Prayer of St Francis before the Crucifix of San Damiano Gospels, and listen to what Jesus is saying to our hearts. “For he has the words of eternal life for us, he reveals that God is our Father, that God is love. He shows us the way of love,” he says. “Listen to Jesus; otherwise, even if we set out with good intentions along paths that seem to be of love, in the end those paths will be seen as selfishness disguised as love. Be careful of selfishness disguised as love! Listen to Jesus, for he will show you which paths are those of love. Listen to him.”
Be Unafraid: Jesus’ last words to the disciples at the Transfiguration were “Do not be afraid!” (Mt 17:7) – words to remember whenever we feel inadequate, lose heart or think we are falling short. Pope Francis reminds us that Jesus knows our hearts, our lives, our joys, our sorrows, our successes and failures, and he says to us, “Have no fear, take heart, do not be afraid!”.
As we go about our daily lives, let us remember the Holy Father’s exhortation to the pilgrims – and to all of us – shine, so be radiant; then, listen in order not to take the wrong path; and be unafraid. Do not be afraid.
God sends us companions on our spiritual journey, for us as individuals and for us as an organisation or ministry. For our Custody, St Anthony has been our patron saint from the beginning.
Why St Anthony you might ask? Well, it goes back to 1957 when Friar Vergil Mannion arrived in Singapore to establish a sociological centre to offer an alternative to communism. The centre was named Studium Sociologicum in Latin, but its name in Chinese – 安道社会学研究社 – translates to Anthony Sociological Research Centre. There is nothing that explains why the friars chose St Anthony as the centre’s patron though. Perhaps St Anthony, the patron of finding lost things, will help us find the answer to that one day!
In 1991, when our Custody, dependent upon the Australian Province, was established, the new entity chose to keep St Anthony as its intercessor, protector and guide. When our Custody became autonomous on 25 April 2023, we could have chosen to adopt a different saint as patron, but we wanted St Anthony to continue as our main patron. After all, he has helped us find our way all these years.
However, the Custody did adopt a co-patron, Friar Gabriele Allegra, for it was he who conceived the idea of setting up the sociological centre. Friar Gabriele Allegra was recognised for his holiness and great contribution to the church and hence beatified in 2012 as Blessed Gabriele Allegra.
We commissioned a painting of our co-patrons for our declaration of autonomy. In it, Blessed Allegra holds a book, and on the cover are the words 圣经, which translates to “holy scriptures”. This is because Blessed Allegra is well-known for his pioneering efforts to translate the bible into Chinese from the original Hebrew and Greek. Blessed Allegra is credited with the founding of two research centres – one on the bible, the other for sociology.
May the co-patrons of our Custody, St Anthony and Blessed Allegra, inspire all of us friars and all of you to work hard and pray even harder as you bring the Good News to the people, that they may find their way to God, who is always looking out for us, especially those of us who are lonely and lost.
Have you wondered why St Anthony is associated with bread? It is the power of his intercession. One legend is that when a boy drowned near the Basilica of St Anthony in Padua, his mother in her desperation called out to her beloved saint to restore her son’s life, promising a gift of grain to the poor equal to her son’s weight. We know how this story ends: restoration of life and the beginning of a beautiful tradition of giving to the poor because of graces received.
Blessings of God are everywhere if the eyes of our heart are open to them. We do not need dramatic stories to remind us that God is looking out for us and for those who are suffering and need a helping hand.
After the example of our father Francis, Franciscan Friars look out for those in the peripheries, and those who fall through the cracks. We have friars on the ground working with the people, knowing their pain and their desire for a better life.
When our Custody become autonomous on 25 April 2023, we wanted to underscore our commitment towards living out our mission and evangelisation, while promoting justice and peace among all.
So, we revived our Poor and Mission Fund which, remembering the origin story of St Anthony’s bread, we call “St Anthony’s Touch”. There is a new tick box in the tear-out slip that comes with this newsletter, and we hope you, our friends, donors and benefactors, will partner with us in reaching out to those in need and in bringing them the Gospel of love and hope. In addition to touching the lives of those in need within the Custody boundaries of Malaysia and Singapore, we hope to use this fund to respond directly to crisis needs on the ground via the Franciscan network.
We announced our first St Anthony’s Touch commitment during the Thanksgiving Mass for our new autonomous status. The Custody has pledged a sum of RM50,000 (SGD14,500) in support of Projek Sentuhan Murni, a project of our Franciscan parish of St Ann’s in Kuching to provide decent housing for the poor and marginalised in the kampungs in which we serve.
St Ann’s parish launched Projek Sentuhan Murni (which translates loosely to “A Touch of Blessing”) in 2021 as a direct response to the hardships faced by the people during the COVID-19 pandemic. During the lockdown, the parish provided food aid to more than 70 families.
Following feedback from the community, the parish began looking for a more permanent way of assisting the poor and marginalised. After much prayer and discernment, it decided that the project’s primary focus would be the building and renovating of homes. The permanence of a home would allow for the continual witness of God’s care and providence not only to the direct beneficiaries, but also to the community at large. Building homes would also provide jobs as village carpenters and workmen would be employed for the work.
In May 2022, the parish embarked on a pilot project to build two houses. The first house was for a family of seven living in a cramped wooden house perched on a precarious ledge. The head of the household had suffered an accident which had left him unable to work. The second house was for a destitute young man living in squalor.
Work began in mid-June, and six weeks later, the two single-storey houses were completed at a cost of RM58,000 (SGD16,800). A house blessing and simple handover ceremony took place on 6 August.
In 2023, the parish has allocated a budget of RM120,000 (SGD34,800) for Projek Sentuhan Murni. The commitment from St Anthony’s Touch will go towards this. Already, five applications have been received and more are likely.
The friars in our other parishes and ministries know to alert us of any dire and pressing needs that we can help alleviate through St Anthony’s Touch. I am certain more opportunities will present themselves as we open our hearts to those in need and collectively discern the voice of the Lord.
Please join us in praying that through this humble effort, the Lord’s presence and care may become more incarnate in the lives of the poor.
