On the evening of September 3, 2024, the capitulars participated in the Eucharistic celebration of thanksgiving for the election celebrated by the newly elected General Minister Br. Roberto Genuin. The main concelebrants and the servers were chosen from among the brothers who are working behind the scenes in the Chapter as officers and aids. The choice was an opportunity to show appreciation – at the beginning of the sexennium – and with them also those who serve other brothers in the Order’s communities.
According to the liturgical calendar it was the memorial of St. Gregory the Great, a monk who became pope. As pastor of the Church, he is known for his reforms. In the beautiful celebration, marked by a harmony of languages, Br. Roberto, with a joyful spirit, wanted to begin his reflection from the figure of St. Gregory the Great, by recalling what is written in the Second Reading of the Office for the day. Here, he recognized that Gregory’s description of himself could also be applied to his own self, but also by each of us. It is very important for the General Minister, but also for all the major superiors gathered in Chapter, to be good shepherds. Then Br. Roberto recalled how important it will be for him to make as his own the dictates of St. Francis concerning the General Minister, which was previously cited in the morning prayer before the election. They are “specific criteria of reference for serving and guiding our Order.” The Minister then invited all the brothers to allow themselves to be guided by the Spirit, who speaks in and through the fraternity: “How important fraternal life is for us, which is not simply reduced to healthy human relationships, but is the voice of the Spirit who knows the things of God and makes us understand them.”
At the end of Mass, the friars moved to the outdoor plaza where, in an atmosphere of celebration and gratitude for the election of a new General Minister and the beginning of a new sexennium, they spent an evening of fraternal sharing, making visible a valuable trait of the Order: unity in diversity.
