These posts (1-4) are intended to serve as a summary and guide to this important document. It is also intended to assist in individual study of the document and in presentations made to our fraternities.
We encourage you to read the entire document at this link:
https://secularfranciscansusa.
· Instrumentum Laboris means “Working Instrument.”
· Usually refers to a Vatican document produced before a Synod
· In our case it is a document produced by our International Presidency (CIOFS) in preparation for the triennial Chapter
o “This Instrumentum Laboris should serve as preparation for the celebration of the 2021 General Chapter, which constitutes the highest governing body of our OFS.”
· Theme for the General Chapter of 2021: “Animate and Guide with Servant Leadership”
· In the OFS our brothers and sisters have to be properly served and formed in order to strengthen our vocation
· Councils must be “responsible servants” who know their jobs
· Each member must remember their commitment to work as a team alongside the servant leaders
· The leadership style chosen by St. Francis for his brothers is modeled on the service of Jesus—“…you must wash each other’s feet.”
· “… the greatest among you must behave as if he were the youngest, the leader as if he were the one who serves.” (Luke 22:25-26)
· To be a servant-leader, in the image and likeness of Christ, the fundamental attitude of listening and discerning is essential.
o Listening to God through prayer
o Listening to the members, especially those in difficulty
o Discerning through dialog
o Discerning the Divine Will in the signs of the times
· St. Francis desired that Ministers would be servants to the brothers so that the brothers could talk to them [the Ministers] and truly treat them as brothers. This takes humility.
· Our style of service is that exemplified by the washing of the feet.
· Service is based on fraternity and fraternal relationships.
· This style of leadership requires “prophetic creativity” for the realization of the Secular Franciscan life.
· Both individuals and the entire fraternity act according to the Gospel and the Magisterium of the Church.
· The responsibility to animate and guide our fraternities (at whatever level) requires leadership based on FRATERNAL SERVICE, in which we bear each other’s burdens.
· Our service mirrors Jesus’s service—he gave his life for others
o For us as servant leaders this implies renunciation, humiliation, and suffering.
o Our brothers and sisters are not objects to be dominated—they are to be carried—they weigh down on the shoulders of others.
Questions for discussion or to answer in your journal.
+ How does the Council in your fraternity exemplify the characteristics given above?
+ If you are, or aspire to be, a servant leader in the OFS, how do you (or will you) live up to what is asked?
+ How can this type of leadership be lived out in the world outside of the Order?
(Part 1 of 4)
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