Living Franciscan vows in the world, by Edward Owen TSSF
What is the value of taking vows from a human perspective? Do they matter? Have we, as human beings, simply grown beyond being bound by promises? These are important questions I’d like to consider. Put simply, a vow is a commitment to a promise or belief, meant to be taken seriously and to be life-changing. In my case, the vows I wish to focus on are those I have taken as a member of the Third Order of the Society of St Francis.
This October marks the 800th anniversary of the death of St Francis of Assisi. The Third Order of St Francis is an Anglican Religious Order comprising people who are married and single, young and old, all committed to living in the spirit of St Francis today. We commit ourselves to living in accordance with a Rule of Life whilst living in our own homes, working in the community and caring for our families.
The Three Aims
The initial draw to the order, for me, was its Three Aims:
- To make our Lord Jesus Christ known and loved everywhere
- To spread the spirit of love and harmony
- To live simply
These three radical aims are deeply intertwined, and I would argue that St Francis is truly a saint for the radicals. Through these aims, the Order encourages me to undertake the difficult work of embracing my full humanity and the humanity of others. Francis is truly a saint for our times, as we consider the work of peacemaking, interfaith work and a more radical understanding of simple living.
St Francis is truly a saint for the radicals
Living out these aims has brought about some simple yet profound changes in my life. I was drawn to the order as a university student, seeking something to ground me as I discerned a vocation to ordained ministry. I had been a vegetarian since the age of seven, but when I was drawn into discernment for formation as a tertiary, I was led towards veganism as I considered the notes and ideals of the order. This was, for me, an example of the two aims of spreading the spirit of love and harmony and of living simply. The evolution of my vocation led me to become a secondary school teacher of Religious Studies in my twenties, and it was here that many of the order’s practical ideas were put to the test. Foremost among these were compassion and understanding. I taught in a post-industrial valley community where people were worn down by pain and loss, so spreading the gift of love and harmony was important.
The Three Ways of Service
Alongside the Three Aims of the order come the Three Ways of Service. As someone on the more radical liberal wing of the Church, one of the fundamental questions I often ask is what difference any of this makes. The Three Aims are where this is put into practice. The Three Ways of Service are prayer, study and work. For me, the vow to pray is about self-recollection, drawing on the rich seams of spiritual tradition to be more effective in my humanity. The way of study has drawn me into deeper knowledge of self, especially through the study of other religious traditions, which has helped me understand that the whole of humanity asks the same fundamental questions. Encapsulated within this are questions of justice and peace and of the use and distribution of wealth. The third way of service is work, and this vow prompts careful reflection on the work undertaken. After much discernment, I pursued a vocation as an Anglican Priest, working in a variety of contexts and focusing on enabling, team-building and growth in spiritual depth and deepening religious practice.
The Three Notes
The Three Notes of the order, namely humility, love and joy, frame fruitfulness and human flourishing. Humility teaches that if we are grounded and rooted, we are truly able to flourish and grow. It also helps us to contemplate the difficult aspects of ourselves, including the tendency to remove the speck from another’s eye without considering the log in our own. Joy helps us appreciate the simple things in life. The cultivation of joy in nature, so loved by St Francis and transmitted throughout the history of the order, is truly life-giving. Joy teaches me that we can find cheerful courage when we face heartbreak and disappointment, and calm and a resolute spirit when things are not going quite as well as we might hope.
One of the key characteristics of the Third Order is positivity — towards the world, the work of reconciliation, and the joy of human life. Part of the order’s objects is to live in the spirit of poverty, chastity and obedience. The practical working out of these is, for me, predominantly about the ethical standards to which I see myself as being held. Yes, it might look very different from those of a Brother or Sister in the First or Second Order, but these are nonetheless standards to which, as tertiaries, we are accountable. Our aim as tertiaries is to spread the spirit of love and harmony throughout the world. This is a direct call to fight against prejudice and to work for a world where there is equity for all. In practical terms, this has meant my working for equality for women in ordained ministry and championing equal marriage.
The Primacy of Love
All of the things mentioned so far are about the primacy of love. It is this primacy of love that inspired St Francis. The initial misunderstanding of “Go, rebuild my church” gives way to a life-giving call concerned with the liberation of humanity from anger, war, hatred and selfishness, and with a way of reconciliation, love and selflessness. Brother Ramon SSF writes in Franciscan Spirituality about ecology and reconciliation in a way that promotes the dignity of creation and warns us very carefully about the desecration of the world. In the words of Wendell Berry, ‘In such desecration, we condemn ourselves to spiritual and moral loneliness and others to want.’
The vowed life is, in essence, about moving ourselves away from spiritual and moral loneliness and finding greater purpose. St Francis’ renunciation preceded his being joined by the company of others. That company has evolved through the many dramatic changes the world has undergone, but the calling itself remains as radical. The call is one of renouncing the false self and embracing a greater hope. That greater hope calls for living to a better ethical standard. For me, the calling is one of paradox, not contradiction; it is the call to love, to love myself, to love other human beings in all their diversity, and to love the created world. The benefit of that calling, lived out in the community of tertiaries, is that it is not an isolated or lonely calling; it is the calling of mutual accountability and understanding.
This eight hundredth anniversary of the death of St Francis will be celebrated by those in the order and by many beyond its boundaries. It is fitting that his example of simplicity, love and reconciliation continues to inspire so many people today to strive for a better world.
Edward Owen TSSF is Vicar in the Garth Ministry Area in the Diocese of Llandaff and Diocesan Spirituality Officer. He is a member of the Cardiff and Gwent group of Franciscan Tertiaries (Third Order of the Society of St Francis), and a member of the Sea of Faith.