The worldwide mission of the Franciscans of the Immaculate

Loving God, notes Benedict XVI, inevitably opens a soul toward his neighbor. This is the special dynamic of Christian love; this is what makes it unique. In missionary life it reveals itself in very concrete actions, while at the same time its universal character is set in relief. “Jesus united into a single precept the commandment of love of God and the commandment of love of neighbor found in the Book of Leviticus: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’” (Lev 19:18; Mk 12:29-31).

Since God has first loved us (cf. 1Jn 4:10), love is now no longer a mere ‘command’; it is the response to the gift of love with which God draws near to us” (Deus Caritas est, 1). In this sense the Church’s orientation toward missionary activity is part of the Divine plan framed within the Incarnation of the Word. This connection between the Incarnation and the missions makes of the labors of a missionary a spiritual art, a longing of the heart, requiring him to immerse himself in the world only to transform it from within by means of his own union with God.

This is just what the Franciscans of the Immaculate (Friars and Sisters) propose to do. The missionary dimension is one of the fundamental characteristics of the charism of this religious family. This is a consequence of their Marian Vow, which has been called the “diamond of the Institute” and “the pearl of great price” (Mt 13:45), which enriches the three classic religious vows of obedience, poverty and chastity. The Franciscans of the Immaculate want “to achieve a love, utmost and passionate, for Jesus and a love in Jesus for our brothers through their community life of prayer, of poverty, of penance and through […] missionary zeal” (Traccia, that is, A Marian Plan of Franciscan Life, 2).

In this way they imitate “God’s passionate love for his people- for humanity- [which] is at the same time a forgiving love” (DC 10). But love for souls, a love which should burn in the heart of every Franciscan missionary of the Immaculate, wells up only as a result of the contemplation of the pierced side of Christ Crucified. It is, in fact, right there on Calvary, at the foot of the Cross, that one finds the Mother of God, the Coredemptrix, Who constitutes, as it were, the soul of the Church’s missionary activity, according to the thought of St. Maximilian M. Kolbe, through whom the Franciscans of the Immaculate draw their authentically Franciscan spirituality. These standard-bearers of the Immaculate have the precious and unmerited mission of converting and sanctifying souls, applying to them Her maternal Mediation. Conversion and sanctification is the work of divine grace. And who distributes the treasures of redeeming grace more than the Immaculate?

The presence of the Franciscans of the Immaculate throughout the world is sustained by the awareness of being “useful instruments”- though fragile ones- in the hands of Our Lady, Who is omnipotent in Her capacity as intercessor before Her Son. Thus the Franciscans of the Immaculate, Friars and Sisters, go forward in the grace of God, confident of His blessing because incorporated into the living fabric of the Church as part of the vanguard in the evangelization of the nations. Besides the care of souls in the churches entrusted to them, they have developed an extensive Marian apostolate in various part of the world, including periodicals that convey genuine Christian culture and which help to bring about a deeper knowledge of the mysteries of Mary, publishing houses, and radio and television stations to help people grow in their life of faith.

On the highways and byways of the world, the Family of the Franciscans of the Immaculate will go forth step-by-step until the end of time, God willing, fulfilling the mission bestowed upon them by the Holy Spirit, laboring for the salvation of all souls “through the Immaculate.” To lead all souls to Heaven through the Immaculate: is not this just what St. Francis, St. Maximilian, and above all the Immaculate Herself, so earnestly desire?

May the Immaculate continue to sustain this apostolate, so that it may contribute to the building up of the faith of many whose souls She Herself, the true Dawn of Salvation and Coredemptrix of the human race, illumines.