Prot. N. 0701/2024
September 17, 2024

“By his wounds we were healed” (Is 53:5)
“Behold, I make all things new” (Rev 21:5)

Dear Brothers,

Here I am, writing to offer you my warmest wishes on the feast of our Seraphic Father St. Francis of Assisi. I made the decision to write to you with some trepidation because a few months ago, when the other Ministers General and I prepared and sent out the guidelines for celebrating the Franciscan centenaries, I had resolved to hold off writing more letters to the Order; I didn’t want them to overlap with the abundant stimuli and initiatives connected with the aforementioned centenaries.
However, with the approach of the next ordinary General Chapter (June 2025), the importance of the Franciscan centenaries, and the imminent Jubilee of 2025 of the Universal Church, I realized I should not let those events speak for themselves, however relevant they may be. Instead, they prompted me to send you a message stemming from my desire to share a few impromptu reflections with you.

You Are Love: The Gift of the Stigmata
I am sure that every effort is being made in our friaries and churches to enhance the events commemorating the 800th anniversary of the seraphic appearance of Christ crucified to the prayerful St. Francis of Assisi.
The wounds imprinted on Francis’ body and soul are a physical representation of the spirituality to which the Lord has called us. Those wounds are, above all, the signs of a life lived entirely in Christ. They are the signs of His merciful charity and His redemptive passion, carved into Francis’ fragile body (as well as his soul, which was no less wounded).
This commemoration gives us an opportunity to rethink the very origin of our vocation: our conformity to Christ crucified. “For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified” (1 Cor 2:2). It encourages us to live, with greater fidelity, the personal and communal dimension of our vocation in order to know, accept, and integrate our personal and even institutional limits (see the guidelines for celebrating the eighth centenary of the stigmata).
However, this commemoration is not merely about remembering a remarkable event, but about being able to grasp its theological and spiritual dimension, making the mystery of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus our own.
All of this becomes a powerful antidote against the effects of the current cultural environment, which seeks to identify us with a false image of humanity: a model that is empty of love and full of self.
Looking at the Saint of Assisi, we recognize the right path for a spirituality that leads us to encounter Francis’ gaze, which was focused on the Most High (not on himself). It leads us to contemplate his flesh, which was pierced by the love of the Crucified (and not by the passions of the world); and it leads us to consider how Francis’ soul, also wounded by love, was profoundly healed and sanctified by the action of the Holy Spirit.
For Francis, climbing up Mount La Verna meant finding a silent and austere environment to pray and to hold out his heart to the Lord, which had been wounded by the crisis that took place when the primitive fraternity began to evolve into an “Order.” Indeed, that prayerful setting was the ideal place in which the Lord would fully meet the Poverello’s every expectation. The Lord’s presence was not only comforting but also confirming. The Lord manifested Himself in a “surprising” way by piercing Francis’ body and spirit with His love.
Such a mystical encounter was made possible by Francis’ ceaseless pursuit of the Most High Good Lord, who was always at the center of his desire. Ever since his conversion, that is, from the moment he stopped worshipping himself and forever renounced personal, pastoral, ecclesial, political or military success; he no longer sought to please himself, but always strove to conform his heart and mind to God.
Steadfastly resolved, Francis preferred to conceal himself from the sight of men, to take refuge in Him who is the fullness of all things and who eludes the eyes of the world. The authenticity of Francis’ life reveals what he himself expressed in his Admonitions: “For what a person is before God, that he is and no more” (Am xix, ff 169).

Towards the Ordinary General Chapter
Dear brothers, the General Chapter is approaching, which we will celebrate in Rome together with the Franciscan centenaries and the Jubilee of 2025 of the Universal Church. 2025 marks the 800th anniversary of Francis composing the Canticle of the Creatures. In 2026, we celebrate the 800th anniversary of the Easter of St. Francis. These festive events remind us of the spiritual horizon we want to enhance. The work of the Chapter, on the other hand, will help us examine and validate the concrete spirituality we live in our communities and in the Order itself. In this, we move from studying the “guiding principles” to evaluating the “work in progress.”
Therefore, as we prepare for the General Chapter, I invite you, dear brothers, to take a moment to examine together the degree of truth and sincerity that we experience in our daily lives.

Testimony that Challenges: The Spirit of the Early Days and the Current Charismatic Response
In recent months, I had the grace of celebrating the 800th anniversary of the arrival of the first friars (sent by Francis himself) in some cities of Europe.
Those celebrations filled me with joy, but more importantly, they made me feel the charismatic newness of the early days. Indeed, those days were founded upon the spirit of the Gospel and the example of the life of the Seraphic Father.
I am sure we are all happy to be Conventual Franciscans; we see ourselves embedded in this way of life. However, persevering in the fidelity and joy of one’s evangelical vocation is not something mechanical or something to be taken for granted. True fidelity must be preserved, nurtured, sought after, protected, and even “suffered” in the struggle against ourselves and against a cultural environment oriented towards self-gratification.
Back in 2018, we concluded the long process of revising our Constitutions. They are our primary legislation; they provide an authentic interpretation of the Rule. They are the musical staff, the “score” that helps us discern the proper harmony for the life of the Order in our times. They are the guidelines that define who we are. As you may recall, the reason we revised the Constitutions was solely to restore the charismatic life of the Order. The Constitutions regulate and inspire the life of our communities. It would be truly productive if we all strived to “perform” what the score indicates, each learning his own part in order to bring us all closer to the Conventual way of life. It takes little effort to make significant improvement, yet we are not always able to do so.
Communities, nurtured according to the spirit of our constitutions, are immediately recognized as places where the charism shines, and thus are communities where everyone walks the sure path to encounter the Lord and to propose Him to the world through Franciscan witness.
We cannot neglect our call to pray together, to frequently conduct House Chapters, to have a deep spiritual life, to take time to discern together, to evaluate the quality of our discipleship, to practice fraternal correction, and to introduce new ideas to our mission.
Following the Lord remains the priority. If we have other priorities, then something must be amiss, and our fidelity to the charism is distorted.
If our life and our communities pursue “other” contexts—whether through personal or pastoral hedonism—it will lead to “other” outcomes. The essence of our lives will be “other” and we will risk falling into a state of meaninglessness or spiritual worldliness (Pope Francis).
If we were to lose the evangelical-Conventual quality of our life, it would amount to spiritual suicide for the Order. If we failed to take care of that which is essential or necessary for our life, if we did not enhance the Conventual life, we would endanger not only the present but also the future of the Order.
Brothers, we must first recover prayer, silence, the internalization of the Word, contemplation, community discernment, and knowledge of our charismatic qualities and principals.
Living our lives in accordance with what we have promised will bring joy to us and the world, serving as a credible example of Christian and Franciscan life.

Looking Upward: A Path to Renewal
During his general audience on August 23, 2017, Pope Francis told us that “it is not Christian to walk with one’s gaze directed downward,” as some animals do that seek only their sustenance on the surface of the earth, “without lifting one’s eyes to the horizon. As if our entire journey terminated here, in the span of a few meters traveled.”
The context of the Franciscan centenaries is a fitting opportunity to look upward with the virtue of Christian hope and the guidance of the Gospel, which is always relevant and ever new.
On this feast of St. Francis, as we prepare to celebrate our Ordinary General Chapter, I would like to propose that the Order undertake a profound renewal, almost an internal reform, one that is not excessively rigid or quietly uncompromising, but oriented towards a creative love that leaves room for the newness of the Spirit and does not close itself off from the challenges posed by the culture of our time.

Therefore, dear brothers: we have our Conductor, we have our score, we have our instruments (which must be continually tuned), and we know the melody: let us allow it to resonate in our hearts, under the direction of He who unites us all in perfect harmony, so that our conversion may bear fruit.

May the blessing of our Seraphic Father St. Francis be with you always. May the Lord give you peace!

Friar Carlos A. TROVARELLI
Minister General