At the invitation of the Minister Provincial of the Province of St. Francis in Poland, on the 23rd October 2023 in the friary of Toruń, fr. Darko Tepert, General Secretary for Formation and Studies, participated in the Province's ongoing training day on the theme "Sacred Scripture in the Regula Bollata".
In the first conference, fr. Darko presented which biblical themes are present in the Rule and showed how the idea of observing the Rule and the Word of God comes from Sacred Scripture and particularly from Deuteronomy. Furthermore, he highlighted those passages of the Rule in which Saint Francis develops the texts mentioned in the triple opening of the Gospel at the beginning of his call and the life of the Friars Minor.
After the break, the friars discussed in small groups the presence of the Word of God in their personal and fraternal lives.
During the celebration of the Holy Mass, presided over by the Minister Provincial, fr Leonard Bielecki, starting from the evangelical passage, fr. Darko underlined some aspects of fraternal life and, based on the example of Saint John of Capestrano, invited friars to free themselves from the limitations placed by ourselves and to be, like this saint, free to go wheresoever the Lord can send us.
In the afternoon meeting, the small groups reported the fruits of their discussions and fr. Darko exposed the way in which Saint Francis sees life according to the Rule and according to the Gospel at the end of his life, in his Testament. He highlighted Francis' desire to live the Gospel and the Rule sine glossa, explaining the meaning of the term glossa in Francis' time and showing that this does not mean the absence of any interpretation.
