On Thursday 10 October, Fra Flavio Antonio Curto Gutiérrez made his solemn (perpetual) profession in the Order of the Friars Minor in Jerusalem, in the hands of the Custos of the Holy Land, Fra Francesco Patton. With this, Fra Flavio takes on once and for all the commitment to follow in the steps of the Lord, following the example of St Francis, living in obedience, without anything of his own and in chastity.
“All things work for good”
The celebration was held five days after that of his 16 companions . Fra Flavio was abroad for reasons of study and was unable to return in time for the date fixed due to the war and the cancellation of flights. “This was something unexpected from which a lesson of life can be drawn,” the Custos emphasized in his homily, in the certainty that, as St Paul says, “all things work for good for those who love God'” (cf Romans 8,28).
“You can trust God and there is a fraternity that looks after you. You were a long way from your country (Peru, Ed.’s note) and far from your fraternity as well, yet God watched over you and your fraternity found the way to accompany you. So we can answer the call of God with trust and we can really experience that all things work for our good if we love God.” The Custos continued: “Our safety is not given by the political, social, economic or even religious situation in which we live, but only by having put our life and our person in the hands of the Lord. And it is exactly this that you are doing today in a solemn and definitive form.”
“May the Lord’s will be done”
“May the Lord’s will be done,” are the words of St Manuel Ruiz, a Franciscan of the Custody, martyr in Damascus, that Fra Flavio and his companions chose as the “motto” for their profession-. These words have their origin in the Gospel of the agony of Jesus. “The act that took place this afternoon is also the reflection of that Holy Thursday night, because the solemn profession is renouncing one’s own will to embrace that of God” Fra Flavio said at the end of the Mass. “The call to the consecrated life is a gift that the Lord has given to me freely and I try freely to answer, trying to understand his will in me to be able to then return everything to Him and give thanks to Him, who is my strength, my foundation and the beginning and accomplishment of my life.” All those present were asked to continue being “united in charity and in prayer so that we can always do the will of God.”
Marinella Bandini
