Meeting of the new ministers

The identity and role of the Provincial Minister

Br. Štefan Kožuh, General Vicar

When someone begins to enter into a new ministry, usually he tries to do it with enthusiasm and confidence, perhaps also with a certain fantasy. Pope Francis – right away in his teaching – proposes to us a sure method for the path of animation of the brothers: "to look to the past with gratitude, to live the present with passion, and to embrace the future with hope". With these three attitudes and with creative fidelity to our charism, we will be able to care for and lovingly develop the spiritual patrimony of our Fraternity.

What is—in summary—this our "spiritual patrimony"? "Brotherhood and minority are original features of the charism given to us by the Spirit. They also shape the contemplative and apostolic dimensions of our vocation. Docile to the same Spirit, we commit ourselves to live this gospel ideal to the full."

The task of the Provincial Minister/Custos is to live, care for and develop our gospel ideal! It is a demanding and complex task.

When I was elected Provincial Minster – after that, "Yes, I accept!" – I sought to renew my first resolution: "I trust in the Lord!" But at that beginning of ministry to the brothers of the province I felt the need to add also: "I trust in the brothers." The minister is called to be first all a man of faith in God and then also a man of trust towards the brothers. "In order to learn how to be brothers, we walk in humility always imbued with a spirit of mutual understanding and sincere esteem. Let us cultivate dialogue among ourselves, trustfully sharing experiences and manifesting our needs to one another."

Our serving of the brothers in the key of "looking after with tenderness," as Pope Francis exhorts us, must be lived in a continual exodus from the Old to the New Testament, from Sinai to the Mount of the Beatitudes; that is from the Law to Love freely given, from duty to affection, from administration to animation.

I would like for each of you in the moment to recall having been elected, that is called to carry out this service. From the obvious fact that the "Lord gave me brothers" can be deduced also the same trust that it was the same Lord, who by means of the brothers, entrusted this service to me of looking after them with tenderness and observing faithfully "the rule and life of the Lesser Brothers...to observe the holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ by living in obedience, without anything of one's own, and in chastity."

The firm awareness of having been called by God by means of the brothers as "the first to inspire and safeguard our form of life," constitutes a strong stimulus for our being and acting. Trust cannot betray, nor does it disappoint. From this awareness comes the gratitude and the desire to respond with generosity.

The best way to honor this trust is to make incarnate the instructions of our Constitutions when they tell us: "Therefore, the ministers, who are servants of the brothers entrusted to them and for whom they will have to account to God, shall serve them humbly. Let them welcome the service of the brothers as a grace. Let them not exercise authority as masters, but preside over their fraternities in love and with a generous spirit. Let them gladly become models for the brothers, ministering spirit and life to them by their example and their words." And again: "Let ministers outshine the brothers in the life of our brotherhood and in the observance of the Rule and Constitutions, and encourage the brothers to observe them as a daring adventure of love."

Taken from the report for the new ministers meeting, Frascati 2015