INTRODUCTORY REMARKS BY THE MINISTER GENERAL

As we gather to accomplish the tasks foreseen in the Directory for the first session of the Chapter, allow me to offer all of you a most cordial welcome and best wishes for peace and all good things, as well as a few simple reflections.

I would like to take this time to highlight the importance of this event which will be taking place here for nearly a month. A Chapter certainly implies an activity with an institutional character which is indispensable in the life of the Order: moments of evaluation, the selection of people and projects, decisions relevant to our reality, and diverse problems of our religious Family, etc. And still, there is more than this.

In fact, we are not here only as members of an Institution whose administration is about to expire with the primary purpose of complying with a legal obligation. Nor are we here to make the necessary decisions that will keep our "religious organization" functioning well. We are here first of all, as brothers united by the same faith in Christ whom we recognize as the only Lord of history and of our existence. We are united as well by the same calling to follow Christ in the same manner as Francis of Assisi, by the same mission of announcing and witnessing to the world Christ's love and his salvation. If the perception of our gathering here is not enlightened by this bond which unites us to Christ and in his name, by his presence among us, by the common vocation to the consecrated life according to the Franciscan Charism, even the most wise decisions that we make in this Chapter could be reduced to a purely organizational activity.

The search for a more intense and concrete fidelity to Christ and to Francis is the true reason for our gathering.

All of this helps us to comprehend and to pursue the things that count the most, to know where we should devote most of our energy. We could say that this rich spiritual patrimony that is the Conventual Franciscan Charism - a charism that has nourished many generations of friars before us - has been put into our hands at this time. We have been called to recognize its potential and to translate it in our choice of life, in this contemporary period of history - at the start of the third Christian Millenium - in the diverse geographical areas, as well as in particular regions of the Church where we are present.

We could also apply, with the necessary changes, what the Pope recently affirmed in the Apostolic Letter Novo millennio ineunte: "In the final analysis, this rooting of the Church in time and space mirrors the movement of the Incarnation itself. Now is the time for each local Church to assess its fervor and find fresh enthusiasm for its spiritual and pastoral responsibilities, by reflecting on what the Spirit has been saying to the People of God in this special year of grace, and indeed in the longer span of time from the Second Vatican Council to the Great Jubilee."

(n.3). Applying this to our reality, these words could sound like this: even our Order, rooted in time - with its long history - spread throughout the world, should reflect on what the Spirit suggests at this moment in time, after the many inspirations for renewal expressed in and by the Church from the Second Vatican Council to the recent Great Jubilee. All of us, looking at our religious Family, are called "to assess its fervor and find fresh enthusiasm for its spiritual and pastoral responsibilities".

I allow myself therefore to invite each one of you to use to the most this "opportune time", this moment of grace for our Franciscan Family.

Daily Prayer and, in particular, the Eucharist, in which we are nourished by the same Word and from the same Bread of Life, constitute the indispensable source that helps us in our work to listen, serve, discern, and search for a higher fidelity to the Lord with an authentic evangelical spirit.

It is important as well that our work be carried out in an authentic fraternal climate, welcoming each other and one another's diversity: this should become an important occasion for enrichment and mutual awareness. That is why we have foreseen as you can see in the Suggested Chapter Work Calendar, some moments of "communication of experiences". We would like in this way to give the Chapter, a moment of awareness of the concrete life of the Order, listening to friars from various parts of the world, "recounting" and sharing with all special experiences, successes, problems, etc., giving life to a spontaneous and informal dialog. I hope that those asked to speak will willingly share with all their experiences. Fraternal Life in Community reminds us that "in order to become brothers and sisters, it is necessary to know each other. To know each other is as important as communicating in a clear and profound way" (n. 29). We would like to be here not like members of a parliament, but like a true "fraternal chapter". I hope that every moment of community recreation, organized by the "Fraternal Life Commission", will be a truly fraternal moment, a moment of joyful celebration of our fraternity.

In looking at the content of our Chapter, at what will be the object of review, reflection, decisions, etc., I would like to point out - now that everyone has been able to review and evaluate the items in the Instrumentum Laboris - that there are numerous questions regarding juridical aspects - a few of these aspects could have notable affects on our life: I am thinking, for example, about the proposed norms concerning the suppression of Provinces and the institution of a General Delegation. Other themes of juridical character regard the clarification of certain norms already in effect. I retain that these questions should not occupy an excessive amount of our time, allowing time for those questions that are of more importance.

I believe that considerable time should be given to the relevant themes concerning our prayer life, permanent formation, to the planning of our community life and that of the Province/Custody, to a greater understanding of the Franciscan Charism and its inculturation. All of these are priorities of the Order for the next sessenium. In summary, everything that concerns the renewal of our life to make it more evangelical, more faithful to the Franciscan ideals, more capable of witnessing to the Beatitudes, a more visible manifestation of the primacy of God, a more authentic confessio Trinitatis. The work on the questions connected with these concerns will certainly make this Chapter an important event which will help it bear fruit in the next sessenium. The Church has a need for jurists, but it also asks us to be prophets and witnesses.

The Day of Reflection at the Seraphicum on the theme of Which Conventual Franciscanism Today?, the pilgrimage to the Tomb of St. Francis, the visit to the Pope, will be three "pauses" of the Chapter's work that will certainly enrich our discernments and help us to put into practice what we see as important in our life as Conventual Franciscans.

Nothing remains, but to wish you all a good, fulfilling experience of working together in a spirit of fraternal communion and sharing.

fr. Agostino Gardin, OFM Conv.
Minister General