The Spirituality Pillar must be anchored in prayer. It is the means to being attentive and pursuing the application of our Franciscan Spirituality on a daily basis. It is the spirit of God that we wish to nourish and make strong within us. This internal quest is realized through the external stimulus of prayer. Prayer, being the lifting of the heart and mind to God, establishes the direction in which we as a whole person are to go. If there is quality and sincerity in private prayer then it will be extended to communal prayer and there will be life-giving worship. Whatever prayer mode we engage - personal, communal, spontaneous or formulary – all is to be done with a vibrancy and spirit that truly engages the Almighty.

Formation is the vehicle whereby we learn to internalize and integrate Franciscan Spirituality into every aspect of our lives – into our Franciscan Way of Life. This includes our fraternity life and our good works or our apostolic life. Formation serves to direct us to identify and utilize our time, our talent and our resources. As a wise Secular Franciscan once said, “Formation doesn’t end until ten minutes after we get into heaven!” It is a life long process.

Life in Fraternity is to pray together, to learn, to serve and to grow as members within a particular spirituality and lifestyle. Our living life in fraternity calls us to attend to the interpersonal aspects of our life together. We are called to do things like speak the truth in love, i.e., in the love of Christ and the spirit of Francis and Clare. We are encouraged to dialogue and brainstorm regarding each one’s expectations, hopes and vision for the fraternity. We can sift among these pieces to find the common elements for the “good of the fraternity” rather than promoting one’s individual agenda.

The Fraternity Apostolate gives us the important opportunity to actually work together as a fraternity. When we meet together in our fraternity gatherings we get a chance to interact with each other, but the fraternity apostolate gives us the added opportunity to interact and work with each other at a different level. Our hearts are good and generous, but they need to meet together as a unit and we will come to know each other at a deeper level. When we live in relationship we learn about the other – sharing values, telling one’s story, telling about our relationships and working with others. Working with another person reveals the strengths and weaknesses – whether a leader or a follower, whether insistent or compliant – in other words we learn whether we cooperate, share, truly listen, are open to change, respect the other, appreciate the person and the task. This pursuit is to communicate

individuals working as a unit in peace and harmony – to feed, to clothe, to comfort – to make Christ present in the name of Francis. Then and only then will our vocation as Secular Franciscans be realized and the passion for our vocation become alive.