Minority is one of the key words of Franciscan experience and Spirituality because being small, the smallest – as the word minor says – is according to the Gospel, a source of joy, a condition that makes Jesus himself exult with joy, a condition that Mary finds in herself by singing the Magnificat: that of making oneself small is a continuous tension required of the disciple. St. Francis therefore likes minority – so much so that he gave himself and his brothers this appeal – for the simple fact that minority – “pleases” the Lord and the Gospel.
being small
Indeed, on the feast of St. Francis, the Church sings in the liturgy
Francis, poor and humble, enter richly into the kingdom of heaven...
The Gospel passage proclaimed is precisely the one in which Jesus rejoices because the secrets of the kingdom are revealed to the little ones.
Minority is a quality that characterizes the disciple particularly in relationships (in fact, as this word which is precisely a relative comparative shows, one cannot be minor except in relation to someone else). The Franciscan is thus led to live relationships not under the sign of superiority or domination, but with the freedom and openness of one who has no position to defend, knows himself small before God and humble before his brothers and sisters.
May the Blessed Virgin our Mother guide and comfort you, and always animate you to the precious and her beloved virtue holy humility, annihilate you in yourselves and with the true feeling of your nothingness make you ardent with holy charity for her Divine Son who lowered Himself to us for our sake, and make you all charity for your neighbors.
Suor Maria Giuseppa di Gesù Bambinoi recommended and made this trait of the disciple’s physiognomy her own in her history.
She invites her daughters to humility as a precious virtue since it enables them to feel greatly loved by the God, who became little love and thus made capable of loving without pretension and without fear.
So even today, for fmgb, minority is a “precious pearl” that we wish could shine in our lives, among us and in the style of our mission.
precious pearl