What does it mean to have a Catholic Vocation as a Brother of the Poor of St. Francis?

The vocation of a Brother is to minister to persons as one like them. We do not stand apart from our brothers and sisters; we stand with them. We make this real when we resist the temptation to separate ourselves from God's people. We associate ourselves sociologically, psychologically, and religiously with them.

The vocation of a Brother is to comfort with all people the pain and loneliness of existence. There is ultimately no division between the Brother in ministry and those who stand in need of ministry.

The vocation of a Brother is to embrace and empower the marginalized and the powerless. And to struggle with them in the achievement of freedom.

The vocation of a Brother is to reconcile, unify, and heal every kind of discord. We are compassionately sensitive to the injustices that fragment the human family and the global environment. We call upon God, upon our own competencies, and upon our brothers and sisters to heal divisions that impede God's Kingdom on earth.

The vocation of a Brother is passionately to proclaim, in word and deed, the prophetic utterance of a God who continuously calls us to hope. Yet we know that our hearts will ever see more than our hands will ever make.

The vocation of a Brother is to bring our ministries the catalyst of our relationships with Jesus who entered our humanity as brother, who walked in the turmoil of His time, who struggled to understand His identity, and who shared His story in action and word.

The vocation of a Brother is to be profoundly aware of the reality that structures, whether personal, ecclesiastical, or political, are created to sustain and enable vision and must be critiqued and challenged when we lose sight of the vision, and when we focus on the maintenance of the structures.

The vocation of a Brother is to participate deeply in the sacramental life of the Church. Such participation is a reminder to Brothers of the basic mystery that we are the sacrament of Jesus The Brother.

The vocation of a Brother is to minister. Rooted in the Gospel, we perform a variety of ministries within the Church. As people in touch with our times, we posses the freedom to continue the saving works of Jesus. We brother Jesus in the world.

The vocation of a Brother is to understand and appreciate the working of the Spirit in the world and in the lives of men and women. We walk with them as together we effectively discern creative means of furthering God's Kingdom. Such ministry demands preparation through prayer, study, and Christian living.

The vocation of a Brother is to encourage, enable and support our brothers and sisters in offering through commitment and action, their own particular gifts and charisms in ministry to others. All Christians have gifts, which must be called forth for the Christian community. We associate ourselves with Jesus, the enabler, so that being a Brother is not a role we assume, but rather a posture we hold in all our activities with the friends of Jesus.