Our Life

Brotherhood

From our Brotherhood Ideal

As Franciscans, radical love and zeal for Jesus Christ and the service of His Kingdom is the central charism of our brotherhood. This is the core of our identity as brothers; it forms and directs our life together.

We desire to know, love and serve Jesus, as fully as possible, in this life. This is the criterion by which we judge and discern everything about our life as a brotherhood.

Like St. Francis of Assisi, we will strive to surrender all things to Christ, holding on to nothing, desiring only to love and serve Him. We want what He wants, for we love Him above all else.

The Lord teaches us to be grateful that we have brothers who want Jesus as their only treasure and portion. Therefore, we should love one another. We show the greatest love for a brother when we lay down our lives for him, encouraging him to set his heart and his mind more fully on loving and serving the Lord Jesus.

Following the example of Jesus and His love for all people, as well as the example of St. Francis’ love for the poor, we open our hearts and our homes to receive as guests all whom the Lord may send. We will serve and welcome them as Christ, with great love and courtesy. We invite all guests to share in our prayer life as well as our home, our food and all the gifts that God has given us.

We shall establish our missionary dwellings in places that we perceive to be most in need of a clear and visible witness of Christ’s peace and reconciliation. We shall strive to be witnesses of this peace and reconciliation through our communal life of fidelity to prayer and repentance—our conversion to Jesus, the practice of fraternal charity and our spiritual and corporal works of mercy.