On Saturday March 27, 2021, the Minister General, Friar Carlos A. TROVARELLI, and his Definitory, met online with the friars in initial formation from all over the world, along with their formators and Ministers Provincial.
The confreres in postulancy, novitiate and post-novitiate formation houses, their formators and Ministers Provincial gathered in their friaries around the world, awaiting the access link that would let them connect to this fraternal online meeting. At 2:45 p.m. [Rome time], once the connection was activated, all participants were allowed a brief moment to greet each other and to express the joy of being together, as the celebration of Holy Week and the Easter Triduum drew near.
At 3:00 p.m., the Minister General officially greeted all the participants and offered them his Easter message. The message was addressed in particular to all the Order’s young men in initial formation. After his message, each of the members of the General Definitory briefly presented himself. Finally, the Minister General once again greeted the friars from the various countries of each continent. The meeting concluded about 4:00 p.m.
It was a very special and emotional moment, one which encouraged everyone to keep the hope that comes from our faith, and to be able to witness to it with every brother and sister we meet on our journey.
May The Most High God continue to bless our Order with many holy vocations, with formators and Superiors who are always ready to be hopeful and faithful guides for our confreres beginning their journey of religious life, so that the world may be infused with the joy of the Risen One.
Below, is a transcription of the message delivered by the Minister General, Friar Carlos.
Message to Our Young Men in Formation
Technology is helping us realize a desire that all Franciscans share at heart: finding each other. Our approach may be virtual, but our joy is real. Images may just be images, but spiritual communion is very concrete. For us Conventuals, then, everything that is associated with the “fraternal” is a “fundamental message.” This is a fraternal meeting, which is meant, as a small sign but one with deep symbolic meaning, to prompt us to strengthen our Conventual identity.
Since we are taking this opportunity to see each other and communicate, and since Holy Week is drawing near, I shall give you an Easter message. Fill your hearts with the Lord! Live his passion as extreme generosity: give of yourselves totally! Take strength from his Resurrection in order to have great inner vitality. “Stand up. I appoint you as a witness of what you have seen” (cf. Acts 26:16). These are the words Jesus addressed to St. Paul after the apostle had been dazzled by his experience of God. They are also the words Pope Francis addresses to young people this year (the motto for World Youth Day, 2021).
Again, let me propose that you “root yourselves…in Jesus…transform yourselves into him, to enter into his passion for the Kingdom” (Presentation of the Six-Year Plan of the Order). Let yourselves be touched by the power of the risen Lord and reclaim “your inner vitality, your dreams, your enthusiasm, your optimism and your generosity” which is so characteristic of youth (Christus vivit no. 20).
You might tell me that this time of Covid-19 is not characterized by hope. But it is! Because hope does not arise out of the situation, it comes as a gift from God, a gift that we generously offer to the world. Therefore, this time of Covid-19 is a time of hope: a time of generously sharing our heartfelt hope with others!
Brothers, let us be formed as men and fraternities who are passionate about the Gospel of the Lord so that we might bring to the world “the human being who is in God” (Paolo MARTINELLI, OFM Cap.), and thus be missionaries.
In the Earlier Rule, St. Francis tried to compile the intuitions that guided his passionate life for the Lord. “After eight hundred years we are still here, trying to respond in tune with those intuitions, because we are “convinced” that it is worth it” (“To Live and Follow” Letter of the Franciscan Ministers General).
I wish you all the best!
Friar Carlos A. TROVARELLI
Minister General
