From time to time I try to read through the Constitutions of our Order. Of course I believe that my religious profession is of the Franciscan Rule, but along with Francis's Testament as a primary gloss, it's our Constitutions that are the authentic interpretation of the Rule for me.
Each time I read through I find something new to appreciate. Today I read at the very end that our life is supposed to be a "daring adventure of love." (ausum caritatis) I like that. For me, it gets to Francis himself. Francis loved, was daring about how to let it play out in his life, and embraced the resulting adventure.
To let ourselves be daring in our love for God and his creatures, and to embrace the adventure that we get ourselves into, that's the "striking and decisive" life that our General Minister invited us to in one of the first letters he wrote to the brothers after his election.
And let's not forget that such a life is also an imitation of the Incarnation; it is surely a "daring adventure of love"--literally!-- for the Word of God to empty Himself and become one of us in order to save humanity from the inside out.
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