Let them individually and collectively be in the forefront in promoting justice by the testimony of their human lives and their courageous initiatives. Especially in the field of public life, they should make definite choices in harmony with their faith. — Secular Franciscan Rule, Article 15
I think of this often and in fact this principle has animated much of my life and led me to the Secular Franciscan Order thirteen years ago when I began my formation. I read a quote yesterday attributed to Pope Francis that was an invitation to just this sort of living.
“(Christ) is a true revolutionary and we are revolutionaries of this revolution, because we walk on the path of the greatest transformation in the history of mankind. A Christian, if he is not a revolutionary, in this time, he is not a Christian!” — Pope Francis
If we’re following Christ that means an interior transformation that calls us to the edge of society and to the marginalized and the poor.
How do cloistered orders, such as Poor Clares, go “to the edge of society and to the marginalized and the poor”?
I think you can be in solidarity with the poor without actually being with them in person. Cloistered or not I have to be able to see the poor around me. Those poor need not be begging bread as they often are poor in other ways that might include a poverty of spirit or some other manner of being poor.
Indeed. I have observed that the materially rich are often the most poor spiritually, while the materially poor are sometimes the most spiritually rich. Praying for both the materially poor and the spiritually poor is a good way to practice solidarity. This is what cloistered orders do every day. Pax et Bonum!
I’ve known the Poor Clares to pray with the Bible in one hand and the Newspaper in the other. They are up on what’s going on and thoughtful. They also are able to give money to organizations that work for justice (like my organization, Franciscan Action Network).
Peace, Lonnie Ellis