Franciscan Creed
Inspired
by the vision of St. Francis, we commit ourselves to the Gospel as our
way of life.
Our world-view is centered in Christ; we see Jesus Christ as the goal of all creation.
This world vision reveals to us a God who is Father and a life which is love. This demands of us a life as brothers and sisters of all people and creation.
We are on pilgrimage, trying to reach our Father, trying to live a life of love. We have not yet arrived; we are sinners, but we are all called to be saints.
As sinners, weak human beings, we must undergo a continuing conversion, returning always to the Father as prodigal sons and daughters.
Christ was poor and Christ was crucified; we seek to share in his "poorness" and in his suffering. We further commit ourselves to the services of the poor.
In making our way through life, we are guided more by simplicity, humility, and "littleness" than by power, prestige, and status.
Like Christ, like Francis, we seek to become instruments of peace, peacemakers.
Acknowledging the guiding presence of the Holy spirit, we declare our loyalty to the Church in a spirit of dialogue and cooperation with her ministers and shepherds.
We are conscious of our obligation to share in the life and mission of the Church. We are lay apostles called by Christ to continue his work on earth.
Our life and our spirituality, however, is characteristically secular, in the world and for the world.