Pope Francis asks Secular Franciscans to take St. Francis’ path of conversion

Pope Francis urged Secular Franciscans on Monday to embrace the “path of conversion” taken by St. Francis of Assisi.

The pope spoke to participants in the general chapter of the Secular Franciscan Order on Nov. 15, days after making his fifth visit to Assisi since his election in 2013.

Addressing members of the order originally known as the Brothers and Sisters of Penance, he reflected on the 13th-century saint’s transformation from a gilded youth to a humble friar nicknamed “Il Poverello.”

The pope said that the Secular Franciscan vocation was “born of the universal call to holiness,” a term used in the documents of the Second Vatican Council.

“This holiness, to which you are called as Secular Franciscans … involves the conversion of the heart, attracted, conquered and transformed by the One who is the only Holy One, who is ‘the good, every good, the supreme good,’” he said, quoting from St. Francis’ writings.

“This is what makes you true ‘penitents.’ St. Francis, in his Letter to all the faithful, presents ‘doing penance’ as a path of conversion, a path of Christian life, a commitment to do the will and works of the heavenly Father.”

The pope noted that in his Testament, St. Francis said that he was at first repelled by the sight of lepers. But when God inspired him to do penance, the saint wrote, “that which had seemed to me bitter was changed for me into sweetness of body and soul.”

“The process of conversion is thus: God takes the initiative: ‘The Lord gave to me to begin to do penance.’ God leads the penitent to places where he would never have wanted to go: ‘God led me among them, the lepers,’” Pope Francis said.

“The penitent responds by accepting to place himself at the service of others and by using mercy with them. And the result is happiness: ‘That which had seemed to me bitter was changed into sweetness of mind and body.’ Exactly the path of conversion taken by Francis.”

He went on: “This, dear brothers and sisters, is what I urge you to achieve in your lives and in your mission. And, please, let us not confuse ‘doing penance’ with ‘works of penance.’ These — fasting, almsgiving, mortification — are consequences of the decision to open one’s heart to God.”

“Open your heart to God! To open one’s heart to Christ, living in the midst of ordinary people, in the style of St. Francis. Just as Francis was a ‘mirror of Christ,’ so may you too become ‘mirrors of Christ.’”

The Secular Franciscan Order belongs to the third branch of the Franciscan family, after the First Order of friars and the Second Order of nuns, known as the Poor Clares.