Dear sisters and brothers of the Franciscan Family,
may the Lord give you peace!
We turn to you, as the Committee of the Franciscan Family for the Franciscan Centenary, to continue the dialogue that our six General Ministers began on 2 October last, when they announced the Centenary, and continued with the sending, at the beginning of May, of the Guidelines entitled 2023-2026 A Centenary articulated and celebrated in several Centenaries.
As you know, it is a text translated into 10 languages, which presents an outline for the celebration of each of the stages of the Centenary: in 2023 the Rule and the Christmas at Greccio, in 2024 the Stigmata, in 2025 the Canticle of Brother Sun and in 2026 the Transitus or, perhaps better, the Easter of Francis. This text will be the fundamental aid for the celebration of the Centenary.
Those of you who have already tried to read these Guidelines have certainly grasped the richness of this proposal. We are now sending you a very short tool (only two pages) to better “enter” the Guidelines and to grasp, at a glance, the connection and articulation of the various themes proposed. It is a kind of table showing, year by year, the various themes related to each centenary, showing the structure of each centenary, articulated on four fundamental dimensions. It is a simple proposal that aims to show a possible use of the guidelines and thus stimulate creativity