St. Francis of Assisi Fraternity - Cornwall, PEI - December 2021

ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI FRATERNITY NEWSLETTER
December 2021                                                                         VOLUME XXXIII NO. 12

Living Out the Incarnation

​The Incarnation of Jesus forms the basis of our Christian faith and the actions of Justice, Peace, and Integrity of Creation (JPIC) form our decisive participation in this mystery. During this time of Advent, we reflect on how Secular Franciscans can use their active faith to make Christ present in the world.

Nativity of Jesus - public domain

From Article 15 of our Rule: Let them individually and collectively be in the forefront in promoting justice by the testimony of their human lives and their courageous initiatives.

Since Vatican II, an important role of laity has been the task of ministry. No longer are the laity charged with just the threefold adage of “pray, pay, and obey”. The lay person has become the most effective evangelizer for the Church. This role of ministry for laity is not just about doing “churchy” things like proclaiming the Word as a lector, serving as an extraordinary minister of the Eucharist, or teaching catechetics, as important as these may be. 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. Almost 60 years later, the words of the Vatican II document on the Church in the modern world (# 43) still ring true: “One of the gravest errors of our time is the dichotomy between the faith which many profess and the practice of it in their daily lives.”

• What justice am I showing to those living around me?
• What am I doing to assist the settlement of refugees or minorities in my area?
• How am I involved in securing fair assistance for those in need in my community?
• Do I use my voting power and my correspondence with legislators to shape domestic and foreign policy with principles of Christian justice?

Let us use the season of Advent to think of ways in which we can activate our faith to fulfill the meaning of Christmas.

​(Submitted by the JPIC team with excerpts from Called to Proclaim Christ (Short Reflections on the SFO Rule), Benet A. Fonck OFM, Franciscan Press, 1998)

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