From 6 to 9 November the General Curia hosted the meeting on new forms of life and evangelisation in today's Europe, with the participation of 17 Friars from 11 countries.
The relaunch of these meetings, which resumed last year, was desired and encouraged by the Minister General and his Definitory, and made possible thanks to the work of the General Secretariat for Mission and Evangelisation. In addition to Europe, these meetings have also begun in South America and Asia. The New Forms of Life and Mission, as stated in the subsidy dedicated to them, are born of the desire "to draw on the sources, always fresh and new, of the original charism of St. Francis, the "new man", the man of the future, in order to inspire new incarnations, new models and styles of evangelisation, new passions and new missionary strategies" (Ite nuntiate 23).
The two days of work were marked by many moments of sharing and three moments of listening. The question of how we live life in our fraternities opened the work on the morning of Tuesday, 7 November, which ended with the presentation by Br. Francisco G. Vargas on what is emerging from the Latin American and Asian Conferences in terms of the "movement" of new forms.
The afternoon continued with the Report of the Minister General, a speech that opened a dialogue on the situation of the new forms in the Order today. The Minister noted that he himself had wanted "to reopen the discourse on the new forms, to give space and expression to those Friars who feel a gift of grace to live the charism beyond the usual pattern to which we are accustomed", and invited us "to continue on the path of research and also to anticipate through concrete experiences, such as the itinerancy in Northern Italy this summer".
On the morning of Wednesday 8 November, Br. Alessandro Ciamei gave a talk on "Our fraternal relationships in relation to evangelisation", showing how the same relationships, lived from the sharing of the project of life inspired by the Rule, become the way of evangelising new realities. It was then interesting to hear, in the sharing by language groups, the joys and difficulties in the relationship between the Friars who bring the desire for renewal and their own Provinces.
The afternoon was devoted to sharing other "new" experiences and to planning next year's meeting.
May the Lord enable us to live our way of life ever more evangelically and passionately.
Br. Manuel Valenzisi, OFM
