Short Reflections on the SFO Rule

These are all taken from: 
Called to Proclaim Christ by Benet A. Fonch, OFM

Article One:
We are Fransciscans for the Church. Our Franciscan way of life is a precious gift and an involving mission. By committing ourselves to the Gospel of Jesus through observing the SFO rule of life, we become a living sacrifice of praise and thanks, and a vibrant witness of the Good News for all to see and hear. 

Article Two:
The Secular Franciscan Order is truly an order. It is a special movement of the Holy Spirit within the Church which gives the striving for holiness a particular intensity, stability, and direction. 
The Secular Franciscan Order is truly secular, for it has a specialized style of evangelization: to transform the world from within  with the life and teachings of Jesus; and to do so by means of change of heart, worship, simple living, community, service, justice, peace, ecology, and Christian attitudes toward work. 

Article Three: 
Through a personal relationship and union with Jesus we can truly renew the face of the earth and usher in a new era of holiness with a Franciscan impact. 

Article Four:
Gospel is  a person: Jesus Christ himself, who has won salvation for us in an objective way and has provided for us the means to make that salvation our own in a personal way. Jesus Christ is the center and inpiration of our lives as Franciscans. He is the way, the truth, and the life. So, to observe the Gospel means that we live Jesus, that we make his life and teachings and values our own, just as Francis of Assisi did. 

Article Five: 
The most intense and complete encounter with Christ comes through the Eucharist. However, Christ is also intensely present in his Word. We can better know and communitcate with someone we love when we listen to and absorb that person's words. Reading the Word must become part of the fabric of our daily life. 

Article Six:
There is no authentic Secular Franciscan ministry without union with the Church in obedience and cooperation.  To live the Gospel means to know the Lord, seek out his presence, and share his life and mission. To fulfill this three-fold goal, the Church is essential, for she reveals the person of Christ, his presence, and his plan of redemption. Like Francis we share the mission of Christ by discovering his way through the Church and following his way with the guidance of its leaders. This is our faith, this is our life. We are proud to profess it.

Article Seven:
Look at Francis. He wasn't Assisi's great public sinner, but he still had to get off his high hourse and kiss the leper. He had to shake up his whole style of life, and invest himself totally in God. The same with us. Conversion isn't just a once-in-a-lifetime experience. It is an jongoing process. 

Article Eight: 
It is foolish and misguided to believe that we can renew the face of the earth without the intimacy with God that comes through prayer. It is equally off-track to believe that one's novenas and rosaries have nothing to do with peace talks, food prices, and integration in our school systems. 

Article Nine:
We get an insight into the way the Blessed Virgin Mary is the model for our Gospel living when we reflect on the Angelus, that traditional Franciscan prayer honoring her divine motherhood. When we imitate Mary's earnest and confident prayer, we establish within ourselves a God-oeriented direction for life. When we imitate her self-giving, we proclaim his life and message to a world in need of redemption.

Article Ten:
Francis saw the term "obedience" to be the basic characteristic of spirituality, life-style, and ministry because it signified a person's complete openness and disposal to the will of God...no matter how it might mainifest itself. 

Article Eleven:
Our voluntary gospel simplicity is our special Franciscan way of conforming to Jesus Christ. As such, it can be a sure remedy for many of the materialistic and consumeristic ills of contemporary society. 

Article Twelve:
Freedom of the heart to love God, other people, and ourselves in the highest possible way is that treasur of Secular Franciscan simple living which can only be found through purity of heart. 

Article Thirtheen:
We have to llive for a will-toward-community, that desire to expend the effort and take the risk to trust one another, rely on one another, and treat one another fairly without taint of prejudice, rash judgement, or preconceptions. 

Article Fourteen:
Are we to be content praying for more peace and charity, justice and human rights in our world? Or are we, as Franciscans called to build a more fraternal and evangelical world?  It's not just giving a hungry person a fish. It means teaching that person how to fish. Or even better, to fish together to discover new and better ways to catch fish. 

Article Fifteen:
One of the results of the emerging role of the laity since Vatican II has been the task of ministry. This role of ministry for laity takes a new shape. It is not just doing the "churchy" things (necessary indeed!) like lectoring, teaching faith formation, or distributing communion. It is a more dominant, out-front role of saturating the secular milieu with the message of the Lord. The Laity's pulpit becomes the platform of politics and business, family life and social issues. Through our efforts we make Christ flesh in our world and thus help others "see our God made visible and so are caught up in love of the God we cannot see". 

Article Sixteen:
Our Franciscan tradition teaches us that grace is not "packaged merit" for heaven, but rather the loving dynamic presence of God working in our lives to achieve the union of our total person with him and to provide the means necessary to develop and sustain that union. From this point of view, then, our working situation - whether an executive job, a manual task, or an activity at home - is a special place for us to encounter and respond to the presence of Jesus Christ in our lives.