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COLLANA « DOCUMENTI VATICANI »
Nota Dottrinale su alcuni aspetti dell’Evangelizzazione.
Il servizio dell’autorità e l’obbedienza.
Bibbia e morale. Radici bibliche dell’agire cristiano.
Vademecum per i Pastori.
Istruzione sugli Istituti Superiori di Scienze Religiose.
Orientamenti per l’utilizzo delle competenze psicologiche nel-
l’ammissione e nella formazione dei candidati al sacerdozio.
La Chiesa in Africa al servizio della riconciliazione, della giustizia e
della pace.
La Chiesa Cattolica nel Medio Oriente: comunione e testimonianza.
La Nuova Evangelizzazione per la trasmissione della Fede Cristiana.
Norme per procedere nel discernimento di presunte apparizioni e
rivelazioni.
La Teologia oggi: Prospettive, Princìpi e Criteri.
La Nuova Evangelizzazione per la trasmissione della Fede Cristiana
(Instrumentum laboris).
Orientamenti pastorali per la promozione delle vocazioni al
Ministero Sacerdotale.
Carta dei Diritti della Famiglia.
Vademecum per Religiose.
Educare al dialogo interculturale nella scuola cattolica.
Dio Trinità, unità degli uomini.
Dialogue in Truth and Charity. Pastoral Orientations for Interreligious.
Ispirazione e verità della Sacra Scrittura. La parola che viene da Dio
e parla di Dio per salvare il mondo.
Le sfide pastorali sulla famiglia nel contesto dell’Evangelizzazione
(Instrumentum laboris).
Le sfide pastorali sulla famiglia nel contesto dell’Evangelizzazione
(Discorsi e Omelie del Papa, Messaggio alle famiglie e Relazione
del Sinodo).
La vocazione e la missione della famiglia nella Chiesa e nel mondo
contemporaneo (Lineamenta).
La vocazione e la missione della famiglia nella Chiesa e nel mondo
contemporaneo (Instrumentum laboris).
La vocazione e la missione della famiglia nella Chiesa e nel mondo
contemporaneo (Discorsi e Relazione finale del Sinodo).
“Perché i doni e la chiamata di Dio sono irrevocabili”, Rm 11, 29
(Riflessioni su questioni teologiche ...).
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COLLANA
DOCUMENTI
VATICANI
CONGREGATION FOR INSTITUTES
OF CONSECRATED LIFE AND
SOCIETIES OF APOSTOLIC LIFE
Identity and Mission
of the Religious Brother
in the Church
LIBRERIA EDITRICE VATICANA

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CONGREGATION  
FOR  INSTITUTES  OF  CONSECRATED  LIFE
AND  SOCIETIES  OF  APOSTOLIC  LIFE
Identity and Mission
of the Religious Brother
in the Church
“And you are all brothers” (Mt 23:8)
LIBRERIA EDITRICE VATICANA

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INTRODUCTION
Brother
1. From the first centuries of Christianity, consecrated
life has been composed predominantly of lay members, an
expression of the yearning of men and women to live the
Gospel with the radicalism proposed to all followers of Je-
sus. Even today lay members of the consecrated life – men
and women – form the great majority.
“Brother ” is the name traditionally given to the male lay
religious1 in the Church since the beginning of consecrated
life. The title does not belong to him exclusively, of course,
but it represents a significant way of being in the eccle-
sial community in which he is the prophetic memory of Je-
sus-Brother, who told his followers: “And you are all brothers”
(Mt 23:8).2
This saying of Jesus is passed on to us by Matthew in
a context in which Jesus speaks out against the hypocri-
1  Throughout the document we will preferably use the term pro-
posed in the Apostolic Exhortation Vita Consecrata, 60: “The Religious
Brother” or simply “the Brother”. Whenever necessary we will use the
corresponding term in the plural, because a Brother can only be so
in the company of other Brothers, in the context of fraternity, never
alone. Being a Brother always implies a relationship, and it is this that
we want to emphasize.
2  Cf. John Paul II, Post Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Vita Con-
secrata (25 March 1996), 60.
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sy of those who used religion to gain privileges and glo-
ry in the eyes of others. But the value of this logion goes
beyond the immediate context. The title of brother/sister
underlines the common dignity and fundamental equality
of all believers. Brothers are sons in the Son of the same
heavenly Father (cf. Mt 5:45), called upon to form a univer-
sal brotherhood in Christ, the firstborn of many brothers
(cf. Rom 8:29).
Although in this Instruction we speak directly of the
life and mission of the Religious Brother, we have in mind
that many of the issues discussed here, such as participa-
tion in the mystery of communion, ecclesial fraternity or
the prophetic role of witness and service, are applicable to
both the life and mission of Religious Brothers as well as
that of consecrated women.
The Religious Brother and Sister, by participating in the
saving mystery of Christ and the Church, are permanent
reminders for all Christian people of the importance of the
total gift of self to God and a reminder that the mission of
the Church, respecting the various vocations and ministries
within it, is one and is shared by all. However, we recognise
that the vocation of the Religious Brother and Sister is not
always well understood and appreciated within the Church.
This reflection aspires to contribute to the appreciation
of the richness of the different vocations, especially within
male consecrated life, and seeks to shed light on the identity
of the Religious Brother and the value and necessity of this
vocation.
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To whom is this document addressed?
2.  Brothers or lay religious are now a fifth of all male reli-
gious in the Church. Some belong to clerical institutes; oth-
ers to mixed institutes. Others are integrated in lay institutes,
also called Institutes of Religious Brothers,3 whose members are
all or mostly lay Religious. This reflection is directed to all
of them, in the hope that it serves to affirm them in their
vocation.
Given the similarities between the female religious vo-
cation and that of the Religious Brother, what is stated here
will be readily applicable to Religious Sisters.
This document is also directed to the laity, religious
priests, diocesan priests, bishops and all those who want to
know about, appreciate and promote the vocation of the
Religious Brother in the Church.
A framework for our reflection
3. The Apostolic Exhortation Vita Consecrata of John
Paul II serves as a framework for our specific reflection on
the Religious Brother, and we refer to it for all those gen-
eral traits that make up the identity of consecrated life. We
aim to propose here only what is specific or peculiar to this
vocation, although references to consecrated life in general
are inevitable, as well as are references to the documents
3  The latter is the name proposed by the Synod on Consecrated
Life (October 1994) and included in the Apostolic Exhortation, Vita
Consecrata, no. 60.
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which since the Second Vatican Council have presented it
within the ecclesiology of communion.4
Many of the characteristics deemed formerly as spe-
cific or even exclusive to consecrated life are considered
today as belonging to the common treasure of the Church
and are proposed for all the faithful. Religious today are
challenged to recognise themselves in what, though being
held in common, they live in such a particular way that it
becomes, through their lives, a sign for everyone.
Outline of this document
4. Firstly we will introduce the Religious Brother within
the Church-Communion, as part of the one Chosen Peo-
ple, in which each one is called to radiate the richness of his
particular vocation.
Then, following the three dimensions within which the
Church-Communion presents itself,5 we will develop the
identity of the Brother as a mystery of communion for mission. At
the centre of this triple perspective lies the heart of the
identity of the Religious Brother, namely fraternity, which
is a gift that is received (mystery), a gift that is shared
(communion) and a gift that is given away (mission).
4  John Paul II, Post Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Christifideles
Laici (December 30, 1998), 19: “At the Second Vatican Council the
Church again proposed this central idea about herself (…) The eccle-
siology of communion is a central and fundamental concept in the
conciliar documents”.
5 Cf. Christifideles Laici, 8; 19; 32.
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Finally, we will propose some guidelines so that in
every part of our world, in every community, each Reli-
gious Brother may respond to this question: How can we
be Brothers today?
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1.
RELIGIOUS BROTHERS
IN THE CHURCH-COMMUNION
“I have chosen you as a covenant of the people”
(Is 42:6)
Putting a face on the covenant
5. The renewal brought about by the Second Vatican
Council, through the promptings of the Spirit of Pente-
cost, has illuminated the Church to the core of its very
being, revealing it as mystery of communion.6 That mystery is
the divine plan for the salvation of humanity,7 unfolding in a sto-
ry of covenant.
The source of this mystery is not, therefore, in the
Church itself but in the Trinity, in the communion of the
Son with the Father and in the gift of the Holy Spirit. This
communion is the model, source and goal of the communion
of Christians with Christ; and from it is born the commu-
nion of Christians among themselves.8
Consecrated life, which “is at the very heart of the Church as
a decisive element for her mission»,9 must look into that
6  Christifideles Laici, 8; Vita Consecrata, 41.
7  Christifideles Laici, 19.
8  Cf. ibid; 18; 19.
9  Vita Consecrata, 3.
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heart to discover and understand itself. The Religious
Brother finds therein the profound meaning of his own vo-
cation. In this contemplation he is inspired by the figure of
the Servant of Yahweh, described by Isaiah, to whom God
says: “I have made you a covenant of the people” (Is 42:6). That
figure is perfectly reflected in Jesus of Nazareth, who, with
his blood, sealed the new covenant and calls those who be-
lieve in him to continue the task entrusted to the servant, to
be a covenant of  the people.
The mediating identity of the Servant of Yahweh has a
personal significance as well as a communitarian one, as it
relates to the remnant of  Israel, the messianic people, which
the Council says is “established by Christ as a communion
of life, charity and truth, it is also used by Him as an instru-
ment for the redemption of all, and is sent forth into the
whole world as the light of the world and the salt of the
earth. (cf. Mt 5:13-16)”.10
Being part of this people and its mission, the Religious
Brother lives the call to be memory of the covenant by his
consecration to God in a fraternal life in community for mis-
sion.11 Thus he makes the communion that all God’s people
are called to embody more visible.
In communion with the People of God
6. Encouraged by the Spirit, the Church today is deep-
ening its awareness of being the People of God, where all
10  The Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic Con-
stitution on the Church Lumen Gentium , 9.
11  Vita Consecrata, 72.
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have equal dignity received in Baptism,12 all have a common
vocation to holiness,13 and all share responsibility for the
mission of evangelization.14 Each one according to their vo-
cation, their charism and their ministry becomes a sign for
all the others.15 Religious life is born and inserted into this
consecrated people, and within it lay religious life with a new
and special consecration which develops and deepens baptismal
consecration.16 Lay religious life participates in “a special
form of sharing in Christ’s prophetic office, which the Holy
Spirit communicates to the whole People of God”;17 it lives
its particular charism in relationship and in continuity with
other ecclesial charisms and it integrates itself into the mis-
sion of the Church which is shared with the other believers.
Religious Brothers find their natural habitat in this
context of communion, by way of belonging to the People
of God, and they are also united with all those who, by re-
ligious consecration, reflect the essence of the Church, the
mystery of communion. In it they keep alive the obligation of
brotherhood as a confession of the Trinity.18
The bonds of communion of the Religious Brother ex-
tend beyond the boundaries of the Church, because he is
12  Cf. Christifideles Laici, 55; Vita Consecrata, 31.
13  Cf. Christifideles Laici, 16.
14  Cf. Paul VI, Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Nuntiandi (8 De-
cember 1975), 59.
15  Cf. Christifideles Laici, 55.
16  Cf. Vita Consecrata, 30.
17  Ibid; 84.
18  Ibid; 41; 46.
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driven by the same “universal character that distinguishes the
People of God”.19 The vocation of the Brother is part of the
answer that God gives to the absence of brotherhood which
is wounding the world today. At the root of a Brother’s vo-
cation lies a profound experience of solidarity that essentially
matches that of Moses before the burning bush: he discovers
himself as the eyes, ears and heart of God, the God who sees
the oppression of his people, who hears their cry, feels their anguish
and comes down to liberate them. In this intimate experience, the
Brother hears the call: “Come, I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring
my people out of Egypt ” (cf. Ex 3:7-10). Therefore, the dimen-
sion of communion is closely linked in the Brother to a fine
sensitivity for everything that affects the least privileged of
people; those oppressed by various forms of injustice, aban-
doned on the margins of history and progress, those who, ul-
timately, are less likely to experience the good news of God’s
love in their lives.
A living memorial for the Church’s awareness
7. The first ministry that Brothers develop in the Church
as religious is “to remind the baptized of the fundamental
values of the Gospel” and “the need to respond with ho-
liness of life to the love of God poured into their hearts
by the Holy Spirit (cf. Rom 5: 5)”.20 All other services and
ministries offered by the various forms of consecrated life
make sense only when rooted in this first ministry.
19  Lumen Gentium, 13.
20  Vita Consecrata, 33; Cf. 39.
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This purpose, of being a sign, recognized by the Second
Vatican Council21 and repeatedly underlined in the Apostol-
ic Exhortation Vita Consecrata,22 is essential to consecrated
life and determines its orientation: it does not exist “for
itself ”, but as a part of the ecclesial community.
Religious consecration itself, which presents life as a
witness to the absoluteness of God,23 and also as a process of
openness to God and people in the light of the Gospel,
is a call to all the faithful, an invitation to each person to
orient his or her own life along a radical path, in different
situations and states of life, open to the gifts and invitations
of the Spirit.24
The fraternity of Religious Brothers is an encourage-
ment for the whole Church, because it makes present the
Gospel value of fraternal relationships of equality in the
face of the temptation to dominate, to search for the best
place or to exercise authority as power: “You, however, must
not allow yourselves to be called Rabbi, for you have only one Master,
and you are all brothers. You must call no one on earth your fa-
ther, since you have only one Father who is in heaven. Nor must you
allow yourselves to be called teachers, for you have only one Teacher, the
Christ” (Mt 23:8-10).
Communion is proposed today in the Church as a par-
ticularly pressing challenge in the new millennium, so that
21  Cf. Lumen Gentium, 44.
22  Vita Consecrata, 84. Cf. ib 15; 21; 25; 26; 27; 42; 51; 80; 92; 105.
23  Vita Consecrata, 39.
24  Cf. ibid; 84-94.
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it may be transformed into the home and school of commu-
nion.25 Brothers are active inhabitants in this home and are
both students and teachers in this school; that is why they
make their own the urgency that the Church proposes for
itself, to live and promote a spirituality of communion.26
Rediscovering the common treasure
8. Relationships in the Church-Communion are estab-
lished from what unites rather than what divides. Today we
are becoming conscious once again of our common heritage.
It is a great treasure that makes us all fundamentally equal, in
common dignity and in common rights and duties. All of us
are born in faith and we join the Church as baptized people.
In this common framework we are called to perform cer-
tain duties in the service of the ecclesial community, to live
in a significant or prophetic way certain characteristics that
belong to the common heritage, and to serve the common
mission through concrete charisms and ministries.
This fundamental dimension never abandons us: lay
Christians live it in an explicitly lay way of life. For those
called to the priesthood or consecrated life, the laity are a
constant point of reference that reminds them for whom
they are signs of consecration and with whom they exercise
their ministry.
25  John Paul II, Apostolic Letter Novo Millennio Ineunte (January
6, 2001), 43.
26  Cf. Vita Consecrata, 46, 51; Novo Millennio Ineunte, 43.
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The Religious Brother, when rooted among the Chris-
tian people, receives the witness and support of other vo-
cations. He is called to live in an integral and prophetic way
the mystery of Christ and the Church within consecrated
life, as a service to the entire People of God.27
A renewed project
9. Consecrated life, predominantly lay in its beginnings,
proposes as a fundamental objective, the cultivation of the
collective Christian treasure, which is contained and given
to all the faithful in the sacraments of initiation. Certainly it
accomplishes this in a special way, seeking to imitate Christ in
his way of living: chaste, poor and obedient.28
Over the centuries, this goal, so essential to consecrated
life, has run the risk of taking second place in male religious
life, in favour of priest-ly functions. In order to restore it
to its own proper place, throughout history the Spirit has
raised up founders who placed emphasis on the lay charac-
ter of their foundations. It happened in the monastic life
of St. Benedict, whose brother monks were the evangelizers
of Europe; also in the way of life proposed by St. Francis,
whose Friars Minor were born as a mixed Order, formed by
lay people and priests. In both these cases, the tendency to
priesthood was subsequently imposed on the initial foun-
dational project.
27  Cf. Vita Consecrata, 33.
28  Cf. ibid; 16; 31.
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In the 16th and 17th centuries, new founders revital-
ised the project of lay religious life, this time developing
it in communities that, in addition to giving a special place
to the fraternal relationship between their members, iden-
tified themselves with and were shaped by the social needs
that they intended to address. They situated their houses
in or close to the situations of need, poverty or weakness
that they would evangelize; and in doing so, from with-
in, they were embodying and making visible God’s saving
love. These consecrated fraternities gave rise to the Insti-
tutes of Religious Brothers and Sisters. St. John of God
and St. John Baptist de la Salle, as well as St. Angela Merici
and Mary Ward on the female side, among others, were in-
struments of the Spirit, introducing in the Church these
new founding charisms that would multiply especially dur-
ing the 19th century.
Religious Brothers, whether in monastic communities,
convents, communities of apostolic life or fraternities as
just described, have emphasized the dignity of services
and ministries related to the multiple needs of human be-
ings. They carry out these ministries from the unity of their
consecration, making them the centre of their experience
of God and performing them with quality and competence.
Developing the common treasure
10. The current context of Church-Communion facili-
tates and demands more than ever that Religious Broth-
ers reaffirm, with renewed vigour, this original purpose of
consecrated life, not only within their communities but in
the whole Church community. They do so as leaven in the
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dough, as expert guides in the spiritual life,29 fraternally accom-
panying other believers and helping them discover the rich-
es of the Christian tradition, or simply as Brothers who
share their own experiences with other brothers for mutual
benefit. Let us highlight some aspects of this common treas-
ure that Religious Brothers commit themselves to develop:
–– Sacramental life. Religious consecration has its roots
firmly planted in Baptism and the other sacraments of in-
itiation. From them, the Brother experiences the filial im-
pulse towards the Father, celebrates the new life that he has
received from the Risen Lord, regards himself as part of
Jesus Christ, Priest, Prophet and King, and is guided by the
Holy Spirit.
–– Belonging to the People of God. The Brother affirms his
belonging to the community of believers, inserting himself
willingly into the local Church and into its structures of
communion and apostolate, in accordance with his own
charism. He also affirms his belonging to all humankind,
he stands in solidarity with all its needs, especially with its
members who are weaker and more vulnerable: “The joys
and the hopes, the griefs and the anxieties of the men of
this age, especially those who are poor or in any way afflict-
ed… nothing genuinely human fails to raise an echo in their
hearts”.30
29  Vita Consecrata, 55.
30  The Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Pastoral Consti-
tution on the Church in the Modern World, Gaudium et Spes, 1.
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–– Personal integration of lay and consecrated identity. The
Brother unites both these aspects in his own person. Thus
he maintains the unity between the profane and the sacred,
a unity which has become more evident since the human in-
carnation of the Son of God.
–– Sign of God’s presence in secular realities. The Brother as-
sumes ecclesial ministries with his Brothers in community,
with other members of his congregation and with other be-
lievers who participate in the same founding charism. Thus
he seeks and points to God in the secular realities of cul-
ture, science, human health, the workplace, and the care of
the weak and disadvantaged. Similarly, he seeks and points
to the human being, man and woman, “whole and entire,
body and soul, heart and conscience, mind and will”, con-
vinced that “the human person deserves to be preserved;
human society deserves to be renewed”.31
–– Fraternal life in community. The Brother deepens fra-
ternal communion in a common life and manifests it as
his way of being in his relationships outside the community.
Sustained by the core experience of his vocation, that of
experiencing himself with Jesus as a beloved son of the Fa-
ther, he lives the new commandment of the Lord as the center
of his life and as the first commitment of his religious con-
secration.
–– A shared charism. The Brother becomes aware of the
wealth contained in his own foundational charism, and he
31  Ibid; 3.
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shares it with other lay believers who could live it within
other ways of life.32 He accepts being an instrument of the
Holy Spirit in the transmission of the charism and takes re-
sponsibility for being a living memory of the founder. Thus
the charism retains its Gospel richness for the building up
of the Church, the good of people and meeting the needs
of the world.33
While developing the common treasure, the Religious
Brother is aware of himself as a brother of the Christian
people and hears within himself the Lord’s call to his ser-
vant, “I have chosen you as a covenant of the people” (Is 42:6). This
call gives meaning to everything that he lives and does, it
converts him and makes him a prophet among his Brothers,
and, by virtue of it, he lives his consecration in a missionary
and evangelizing community.
Brother: A Christian experience from the beginning
11. “I especially ask Christians in communities through-
out the world to offer a radiant and attractive witness of
fraternal communion. Let everyone admire how you care
for one another, and how you encourage and accompany
one another: ‛It is by your love of one another that everyone will
32  Cf. Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and
Societies of Apostolic Life, Instruction Starting Afresh from Christ
(May 19, 2002), 31.
33  Cf. Christifideles Laici, 24.
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recognise that you are my disciples ’ (Jn 13:35)”.34 This petition
of Pope Francis to the entire Christian people highlights
the special place that brotherhood has within the whole of
the shared Christian heritage. It is the pearl that Religious
Brothers cultivate with special care. In this way they are, for
the Church community, a prophetic memory of its origin
and an encouragement to return to it.
The Acts of the Apostles present the early Church as a
community of disciples whose mission is to proclaim salva-
tion and be witnesses to the Risen One, and whose strength
is found in the Word, in the breaking of bread, in prayer
and in being brothers to each other. The disciples are broth-
ers; this is the sign that they are disciples of Jesus. But they
are brothers not so much by personal choice but because
they have been called. They are gathered together before be-
ing sent out in mission.
Brotherhood is a source of strength for the mission,
but it relies upon another force: the Holy Spirit. The
Spirit descends upon the brothers reunited in prayer on
the day of Pentecost and sends them out to be witness-
es (Acts 2:1ff). On the brothers reunited in prayer once again,
supporting each other after the capture and release of Peter
and John, the Spirit comes and fills them with the strength
to preach the Word of God with courage (Acts 4:23ff). The
narrative of the Acts of the Apostles shows us how the com-
34  Pope Francis, Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium (No-
vember 24, 2013), 99.
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munity of disciples becomes increasingly aware that frater-
nity and mission require each other, and that both are devel-
oped by the prompting or demand of the Spirit. This is the
dynamic that is established: the cultivation of brotherhood
creates a greater sense of mission, and the development of
the mission produces brotherhood.
With renewed commitment the Holy Spirit strengthens
and renews that message in the Church, especially with-
in consecrated life. For the same reason the Spirit fosters
the presence of Religious Brothers in clerical congrega-
tions. Their presence is important, not only for their con-
tribution to meeting material and other needs, but above all
because, in these congregations, Religious Brothers are a
permanent reminder of “the fundamental dimension of brother-
hood in Christ” 35 which all members should strengthen. For
the same reason, the Spirit also fosters Institutes of Reli-
gious Brothers, along with Institutes of Sisters. All of them
constantly evoke in the Church the supreme values of fra-
ternity and free, boundless generosity as eminent expres-
sions of communion.
The name “Brothers” positively designates what these
Religious assume as the fundamental mission in their lives:
“These Religious are called to be brothers of Christ, deep-
ly united with Him, ‘the firstborn among many brothers’ (Rom.
8:29); brothers to one another in mutual love and working
together in the Church in the same service of what is good;
35  Vita Consecrata, 60.
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brothers to everyone in their witness to Christ’s love for all,
especially the lowliest, the neediest; brothers for a greater
brotherhood in the Church”.36
36  Ibid; 60, quoting the speech of John Paul II at the General
Audience, February 22, 1995.
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2.
THE IDENTITY
OF THE RELIGIOUS BROTHER
A mystery of communion for mission
Memory of the love of Christ: “The same thing you
must do ...” (Jn 13:14-15)
12. To deepen our understanding of the identity of the
Brother, we will allow ourselves to be enlightened as we
contemplate one of the most evocative icons of the four
Gospels: Jesus washing the feet of his disciples.
The story that the evangelist John offers us regarding
the meal on Holy Thursday begins with the solemn and
intimate statement: “Jesus… having loved those who were his
own who in the world, loved them to the end” (Jn 13:1). The Last
Supper of Jesus with his disciples takes place in an context
of commissioning: Jesus urges his disciples and, through them,
the whole Church, to continue the ministry of salvation which
reaches its culmination in the death of Jesus on the cross,
although he had developed it during his life, as reflected in
his answer to John’s disciples, “Go back and tell John what you
have seen and heard: the blind see again, the lame walk, lepers are
cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life and the good news is
proclaimed to the poor” (Lk 7:22).
Thus the Church experiences itself being constituted as
a ministerial people commissioned by Jesus. The evangelists
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represent the institution of the ecclesial ministry through
two icons. The three Synoptics choose the icon of Jesus
breaking and sharing his Body and Blood with his disci-
ples, while requiring of them: “Do this in memory of me”
(Lk 22:19). Differently, the Gospel of John presents us with
the icon of Jesus with the towel tied around his waist, wash-
ing the feet of his disciples, in order to later tell them: “I
have given you an example so that you may copy what I have done to
you” (Jn 13:14-15).
In the consciousness of the Church, it is in the light
of this icon of the washing of the feet that the other icon,
in which Jesus shares his Body and his Blood, finds its full
meaning. That is to say, the commandment of brotherly
love gives us the key to understanding the meaning of the
Eucharist in the Church. This is reflected in the liturgy of
Holy Thursday.
This testimony which the Church receives from Jesus
points to two aspects or dimensions of the ministry of sal-
vation which unfold in the Church through diverse specific
ministries. On the one hand, through the ministerial priest-
hood, instituted by a specific sacrament, the Church guar-
antees its fidelity to the memory of the surrender of Je-
sus, his death and resurrection, and makes it present in the
Eucharist. On the other hand, the Holy Spirit stirs among
the faithful the memory of Jesus showing the attitude of
service, and the urgency of his mandate: “by this everyone will
recognise you as my disciples” (Jn 13:35).
Because of this, many charisms are raised up among
the faithful to develop communion through fraternal ser-
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vice. That is how salvation comes to the poorest: the blind
see, the lame walk, prisoners are released, youth are educat-
ed, the sick and the elderly are taken care of. Brotherly love
is made real in numerous services, many of which become
institutionalized or recognized as ecclesial ministries.37
Consecrated life arises in the Church in response to this
call of the Spirit to faithfully keep alive the memory of the
love of Christ who loved His own to the end.38 This response
is expressed in many forms, but at the deepest level there is
always the option of “a radical gift of self for love of the
Lord Jesus and, in Him, of every member of the human
family”.39
The vocation and identity of the Religious Brother ac-
quire meaning in this dynamic, which is both inclusive of
and complementary to the various ministries, but which
also needs and promotes prophetic signs.
I.  The mystery:
brotherhood, the gift we receive
Witness and mediator: “We believe in the love of God”
13. What is the origin of the vocation of the Brother if
not the experience of God’s love? “We have known the love
God has for us and put our faith in it” (1 Jn 4:16). That is also
37  Cf. Vita Consecrata, 60; Novo Millennio Ineunte, 46.
38  Cf. Vita Consecrata, 75.
39  Ibid; 3.
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the source of every Christian vocation. “Being Christian is
not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the
encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new
horizon and a decisive direction”.40
The radical option proposed by the Old Testament
for the people of Israel, and each Israelite in particular, is
found in this context of the encounter between the believer
and God, God who comes to meet the People with whom
He has made ​a​ covenant. This is a total consecration of
life: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your
soul and with all your strength” (Dt 6:4-5). Jesus reaffirms this
requirement, but unites it with this one: “You shall love your
neighbour as yourself ” (Lv 19:18). From then on, both form
one indivisible commandment (cf. Mk 12:29-31). “And
since God has first loved us (cf. 1 Jn 4: 10), love is now no
longer a mere ‘command’; it is a response to the gift of love
with which God comes to meet us”.41
The vocation of the Brother is not only intended to be
that of being a recipient of God’s love, but also of being
a witness and mediator of that same gift, of the project
of communion which God has for humanity and which is
based in the Trinitarian communion. This project, the Mys-
tery which has been revealed to us in Christ, seeks to estab-
lish a horizontal relationship between God and humankind
40  Benedict XVI, Encyclical Letter, Deus Caritas Est (December
25, 2005), 1.
41  Ibid.
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at the very heart of humanity, precisely where God wants
to be present.
Relationships of affiliation are thus transformed simul-
taneously into brotherly relationships. For that reason, say-
ing “brother” is like saying “mediator of God’s love”, the
God who “so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that
everyone who believes in Him may have eternal life” (Jn 3:16).
To be a “Brother” is also to be a mediator of the love
of the Son, the Mediator par excellence, who “loved them to the
end” (Jn 13:1) and asked us to love one another as He loved
us (Jn 13:34). In this world that God loves so much, the
Brother cannot hide. On the contrary, he experiences the
impulse to go out to encounter and embrace God. In con-
templating the saving work of God, the Brother discovers
himself to be an instrument which God wants to use to
make the covenant, God’s love and concern for the weak-
est, more visible.
The Brother is aware that all creation is imbued with the
love and presence of God and that especially whatever af-
fects the human person is part of God’s saving plan. Thus
is born in the Brother and the community of Brothers the
commitment to quality professional service in every task,
no matter how profane it may seem.
Consecrated by the Spirit
14. There is nothing greater than baptismal consecra-
tion. Baptism “regenerates us in the life of the Son of God;
unites us to Christ and to his Body, the Church; and anoints
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us in the Holy Spirit, making us spiritual temples”.42 The
whole existence of a Christian must be one of being in
a process of integration into the plan of communion of
which Baptism is a sign, taking on the baptismal commit-
ment according to the vocation that each one has received
from God.
The above statement risks not being understood if we
read it outside the great story of the history of salvation,
within which it comes to life and within which, through Bap-
tism, each Christian finds his or her own unique place. This
story tells how the Trinity transmits its own communion in
the mission of the salvation of humanity, how it proposes
the covenant in various ways, and commits itself to it to the
extreme in the incarnation of the Son. This story of salva-
tion continues thanks to the Spirit, who brings together and
builds up the Church with his gifts, so that through her, it
can continue saving humanity.
We all participate in this great story, because “God
calls the individual in Jesus Christ, each one personally by
name”.43 Each is actively involved and each one’s influence
on others is crucial. Each member of the Church is “en-
trusted with a unique task which cannot be done by another
and which is to be fulfilled for the good of all”.44 Each one,
thanks to the anointing received in Baptism and Confirma-
42  Christifideles Laici, 10.
43  Ibid; 28.
44  Ibid.
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tion, can repeat the words of Jesus: “The Spirit of the Lord is
upon me; for he has anointed me to bring the good news to the poor. He
has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives, sight to the blind, and to
let the oppressed go free, to proclaim a year of favour from the Lord ”
(Lk 4:18-19). Thus, the “baptized share in the same mission
of Jesus, the Christ, the Saviour-Messiah”.45
Public commitment: making the face of Jesus-brother
visible today
15. It is in this personal story, which begins in Baptism, that
religious consecration is inserted and finds its full mean-
ing. This is “a special and fruitful deepening” of baptismal
consecration, insofar as it expresses a vocation that involves
“a specific gift of the Holy Spirit”.46 This gift is experienced
as a desire to proclaim with one’s very life, to the Church
community and to the world, what Jesus announced in the
synagogue of Nazareth: “Today this scripture is fulfilled before
you” (Lk 4:21). That desire, which characterizes the life of
the prophet, is accompanied by a heartfelt interior invita-
tion to demonstrate, through voluntary celibacy, embraced
in love and lived in fraternal community, the new world re-
vealed in Jesus Christ, the fruitfulness of his covenant with
the Church beyond flesh and blood.
Each religious consecration expresses to the faithful
that the mystery of Christ the Saviour is being fulfilled here
45  Ibid; 13.
46  Vita Consecrata, 30.
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today, in this world and through the Church today. In every
time and place consecrated persons show their contempo-
raries the traits of Jesus with which he himself had made
clear that the mystery of the Kingdom of God had bro-
ken into history. Visibility is achieved by a way of being
present which reveals the charism of each religious family
in the here and now. Therefore consecrated people should
frequently ask themselves how to be witnesses of the Lord
today. What kind of presence should we live so that the
Lord Jesus can be seen, experienced, by people today?
Consecrated life is called to be “a living memorial of
Jesus’ way of living and acting as the Incarnate Word in
relation to the Father and in relation to the brethren”.47 In
particular, the Religious Brother, and also the Religious Sis-
ter, make visible in the Church the face of brother Christ,
“firstborn among many brothers” (Rom 8:29), creator of a new
brotherhood which he established with his teaching and
with his life.
Exercise of the baptismal priesthood
16. The Second Vatican Council has highlighted the rich-
ness of Baptism and the importance of the common
priesthood of all the baptized. It noted the mutual relation-
ship between the baptismal priesthood and the ministerial
priesthood, and recalled that the latter is fundamentally re-
lated to that of all the faithful.48
47  Ibid; 22.
48  Cf. Christifideles Laici, 22; cf. Lumen Gentium, 10.
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The Religious Brother, living his lay state through a
special consecration, is witness to the value of the com-
mon priesthood received in Baptism and Confirmation:
“He has made ​u​s a kingdom of priests to serve his God and Fa-
ther ” (Apoc 1:5,6). His religious consecration is in itself an
exercise in the fullness of the priesthood of all the bap-
tized. The essential act of this priesthood is the offering of
the spiritual sacrifice by which the Christian places himself
or herself in God’s hands “as a living sacrifice ” (Rom 12:1), in
response to His love and for His glory.
The Brother lives in communion with the Father, source
of all life, through the total offering of his life to God in
an attitude of praise and worship. Rooting his life deeply
in God, the Brother consecrates all creation, recognizing the
presence of God and the Spirit’s action in creation, in cul-
tures and in daily events. Because he recognizes this active
presence, he can proclaim it to his contemporaries. This
ability is the fruit of an ongoing process of openness to
God through consecration, that is, through the daily expe-
rience of his baptismal priesthood.
Like all his brothers in all things
17. Religious consecration helps the Brother to partici-
pate more consciously in the fraternal dimension which
characterizes the priesthood of Christ. He “had to become
completely like his brothers, to be a compassionate and trustworthy
high priest ” (Heb 2:17,18). To clothe us in his divine sonship,
Jesus Christ first of all became brother, shared our flesh
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and blood and was in solidarity with the sufferings of his
brothers and sisters. This is the title Jesus gives his disciples
after his Resurrection, and Mary Magdalene is responsible
for communicating it: “Go to my brothers, and tell them: I am
ascending to my Father and your Father ” (Jn 20:17).
In the fraternal community which supports him, the
Religious Brother experiences the mystery of the Risen
Jesus as a call and a sending forth in mission. This com-
munity is a theological space49 where Jesus makes himself
present among the brothers (cf. Mt 18:20) to unite them in
one heart, to give them his Spirit (cf. Jn 20:22) and to send
them, like Mary Magdalene, to announce that in Christ we
are all brothers, sons of the same Father. Immersed in this
experience, the Brother develops his baptismal priesthood
through brotherhood. Through it he becomes a bridge be-
tween God and his brothers, anointed and sent by the Spirit
to bring the Good News of the love and mercy of God to
all, especially to the least of his brothers, the weakest mem-
bers of humanity.
The Religious Brother and the lay Christian who is
committed in secular society live the universal priesthood
in different ways. Both express the complex richness of this
priesthood which implies closeness to God and closeness
to the world, belonging to the Church as servant of the
Lord and to the Church which is built in the world, for
God. The committed lay Christian effectively reminds the
49  Cf. Vita Consecrata, 42.
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Religious Brother that he cannot be indifferent to the sal-
vation of humanity, nor to progress on the earth which is
loved by God and geared to Christ. The Brother reminds
the committed lay Christian in the secular society that earth-
ly progress is not the ultimate goal, and that “the building
up of the earthly city has its foundation in the Lord and
tends toward Him, lest perhaps those who build this city shall have
laboured in vain”.50
Profession: a unique consecration, expressed
in different vows
18. The offering of oneself is made ​p​ ublic and is received
by the Church through the profession of vows. Consecra-
tion comes before the vows, includes them and goes beyond
them existentially. This statement should be understood in
the light of what follows.
To respond to God’s loving action which consecrates, the
consecrated person offers his life to God in religious pro-
fession, makes an offering, above all, of life itself, that his
life might become a sign of the primacy of God, of a life
only for Him, of the covenant, of the love of God for his
people. It is a commitment to love as the fundamental ori-
entation of life. It is the bond of brotherhood in response
to the gift of sonship received from God in his Son Jesus.
This consecration, which unifies and integrates life,
commits the person to live in the here and now of every day
50  Lumen Gentium, 46.
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the sacrifice of himself in all the dimensions of his con-
crete existence. In this integrative dynamism the vows make
sense, as a way of including, with different nuances, the
whole of existence.
In the history of consecrated religious, public profes-
sion has been explained in various ways, but since the 13th
century it has become a common tendency to express it
through the evangelical counsels, which highlight the inten-
tion to conform one’s whole existence to Christ51 in three
essential dimensions: chastity, poverty and obedience.
The Religious Brother expresses his consecration by the
profession of the evangelical counsels, while at the same
time aware of the unity of his life and his conformity to
Christ through the central core of the Gospel, the com-
mandment of love for God and neighbour. He lives chasti-
ty, especially, as an experience of the love of God by which
he feels driven to a universal love and to become a promo-
tor of communion through the testimony of his brother-
hood.52 He lives poverty as one who has received freely, in
the person of Jesus, the precious pearl of the Kingdom
of God. Because of it he makes himself a​​ vailable to build
brotherhood and serve all in charity, especially the poor-
est. The vow of poverty opens the Brothers to each other
and makes them aware that they need each other. He lives
obedience, specifically, as a common search for the will of
51  Cf. Vita Consecrata, 16.
52  Cf. ibid; 46; 51.
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the Father, in brotherhood animated by the Spirit, with the
commitment to walk together with one mind and heart53
and gladly accepting the human mediations indicated by the
Rule of the Institute.54
The vows thus express the commitment of the Brother
to living the mystery of God, of which he has been con-
stituted, together with his Brothers, sign and prophecy for the
Church community and the world:55 mystery of love, cove-
nant and brotherhood.
An incarnated and unifying spirituality
19. The prophetic dimension is an essential part of the
identity of the consecrated person and it is developed, first-
ly, by listening. This has been the experience the Servant of
Yahweh: “Every morning when I wake up he makes my ear alert
to listen like a disciple” (Is 50:4). Just the experience of be-
ing centred in God and imbued by his Word can guarantee
the living out of this dimension in the apostolate, for “true
prophecy is born of God, from friendship with him, from
attentive listening to his word in the different circumstanc-
es of history”.56 The ability to read deeply the signs of the
times, to understand in them God’s call to work according
53  Cf. ibid; 92.
54  Cf. Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and So-
cieties of Apostolic Life, Instruction, The Service of Authority and Obe-
dience, 9.
55  Cf. Vita Consecrata, 15.
56  Ibid; 84.
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to His plan,57 to discover the presence of God in people,
especially among the poor, is all the result of cultivating
contemplation, which helps us to see things and people as
God sees them.
The spirituality of the Brother must lead him to empha-
sise in a special way the foundational Christian experience
which the evangelist Matthew symbolically expressed as:
“The veil of the Sanctuary was torn asunder ” (Mt 27,51). This
image suggests to us that Jesus, through his death, “has
opened for us a new and living opening through the curtain, that is
to say, his own flesh ” (Heb 10:20) so that we can meet the
Father. God’s presence is no longer exclusively in a “sacred
place ”. From then on “God must be worshipped in spirit and in
truth ” (Jn 4:24).
The Brother is called to live this incarnated and unifying
spirituality which facilitates encounter with God, not only
by listening to the Word, in the sacraments, the liturgy and
in prayer, but also in everyday life, in all of his daily tasks, in
world history, in the ongoing human enterprise, in material
reality, in work and technology. This spirituality is based on
a profound vision of the unity of God’s plan. It is the same
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who created the
world and who saves it. It is about bringing all of life to
prayer and ensuring that prayer continues in life.
Religious Brothers integrate the official prayer of the
Church with the dimension of service that characterizes
their consecrated life. They cultivate a contemplative atti-
57  Cf. ibid; 73.
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tude capable of glimpsing the presence of Jesus in their
personal circumstances, in their daily lives, in their work and
commitments, in order to be able to exclaim with him: “I
thank you, Father ... because you have revealed these things to the
simple...” (Lk 10:21)
A spirituality of the Word in order to live the Mystery
“at home” with Mary
20. The three Synoptic Gospels briefly narrate a scene
in which Jesus establishes a clear distinction between “his
mother and brothers” in the flesh and “his mother and
brothers who hear the word of God and keep it ” (Lk 8:21). In
the story, Jesus speaks clearly in favour of the latter. The
former are outside the house, they call him from outside; the
latter are gathered around Him, inside the house, listening to
Him. This new category of family relationship established
by Jesus is where Mary finds her true greatness and her pro-
found significance for the Christian community. Regarding
her, St. Luke says that “she treasured all these things in the in-
timacy of her heart, continually meditating on them ” (Lk 2:19,
51). Mary welcomes and fully lives the mystery of the love
of God to the point of it becoming flesh in her. She is
the bond of unity in the emerging community of brothers,
which she accompanies and in which she is integrated as
mother and sister; and in this prayerful brotherhood she
receives the Spirit (cf. Acts 1:14; 2:1-4).
Like Mary, the Religious Brother is invited to live in-
tensely the spirituality of the Word, to have this experience
of being at home around Jesus, listening to his message, and
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living alongside him the mystery of the Father who makes
us children in the Son and brothers among ourselves and
with Jesus.
Like Mary, the Brother is invited to allow himself to be
filled by the Spirit, to hear the Spirit within himself, crying
in the depths of his heart: Abba! (Gal 4,6; Rom 8:15). This
experience is the only one that can sustain his vocation.
Supported and inspired by Mary, the Brother lives in
his community the experience of the Father who brings
the brothers together with his Son around the table of the
Word, of the Eucharist and of life. With Mary, the Brother
sings the greatness of God and proclaims his salvation. Be-
cause of this he feels urged to seek out and to make a place
at the table of the Kingdom for those who have nothing
to eat, the socially excluded and those marginalized from
progress. This is the Eucharist of life which the Brother is
invited to celebrate in the spirit of his baptismal priesthood,
reaffirmed by his religious consecration.
II.  Communion:
brotherhood, the gift we share
From the gift we receive, to the gift we share: “That they
all be one so that the world may believe” (Jn 17:21)
21. The mystery of the communion of its very inner life
which the Trinity communicates to us becomes a gift shared
by the Brothers in the community. The gift received and
shared will also be given away in the mission.
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The foundation supporting the religious community is,
above all, the gift of fraternity that it has received, which is
more essential than the efforts and generosity of its mem-
bers or the tasks they perform. “Whenever we lose sight
of this mystical and theological dimension which binds re-
ligious community to the mystery of divine communion,
present and communicated to the community, we inevitably
come to forget the profound reasons for making community,
for patiently building fraternal life”.58
The community of Brothers manifests in that way the
universality of the brotherhood begun by Christ, for it is
not based on natural bonds but on the power of the Holy
Spirit, living principle of love among human beings. Au-
thentic community life represents a living sign of the es-
sential reality that the Brothers have to announce. The love
that God has shown to humanity in Jesus Christ becomes a
uniting principle for human beings among each other: “May
they be one so that the world may believe” (Jn 17:21). Building on
faith, the community makes real the ministry of revealing
the love of the Triune God by means of the communion
that reigns in it.
Consecration and mission are united in the communi-
ty. In the midst of it, gathered in the name of Jesus, the
Brother experiences the mystery of God: the Father’s love,
the life of the Risen Christ, the communion of the Holy
Spirit. The Lord consecrates the Brother in the community
58  Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and So-
cieties of Apostolic Life, Instruction Fraternal Life in Community, 12.
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and from there sends him out to communicate that same
mystery: love, life and communion.
Community which develops the baptismal priesthood
22. The community of Brothers is in itself a prime man-
ifestation of the baptismal priesthood. Its life is shaped to
allow the members to live the experience of being chosen
by the Lord “as living stones, used in building a spiritual house, a
holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices pleasing to God through Je-
sus Christ ” (1 Peter 2:5). This image from the first letter of St.
Peter gives us a sense of the dynamism of a building under
construction. It is a very appropriate one when referring
to a religious community of Brothers called to develop the
dimension of their common priesthood.
The community organizes its life so as to be able to see the
action of God present in its daily life and to discover there
the history of salvation that is being fulfilled every day. In
the same contemplation, the community discovers itself as
a mediator in the saving action of God. It gives thanks, cel-
ebrates and offers itself to continue, as a useful instrument,
in the history of salvation.
The substance of the priestly offering of the community
is the very same reality of the Brothers, with the limitations,
poverty and weaknesses of each one. The Brothers build
the community through the joyful gift of themselves. It is
a eucharistic experience, by which they are joined to Christ
in his offering to the Father, to continue his redemptive
work through their community. In that celebration of life
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forgiveness cannot be lacking between brothers, not only
as a requirement of love and a condition for strengthening
the community, but also as an expression of the baptismal
priesthood. Thus they become mediators for one another
of the grace and forgiveness which come from the Risen
Jesus (cf. Jn 20:22-23).
Ministerial fraternity: “source and fruit of mission”
23. “Communion represents both the source and fruit of
mission”.59 This statement from the post-conciliar reflec-
tion of the Church finds a visible image in the community
that Brothers create. It is always a brotherhood for mis-
sion. It is not simply that the community has an apostol-
ic outreach. The mystery of the saving God emerges as a
source in the community; it is lived among the Brothers and
finds expression in the Church’s mission. It returns to the
community and nourishes its life from the reality experi-
enced in the mission.
Encouraged by their respective founding charisms, In-
stitutes of Brothers create communities which are situat-
ed within the mission, in some small part of the great ecclesial
mission, be they active or contemplative or mixed. The com-
munity acts as an ambassador of God’s love in the world,
an instrument of salvation among those who are suffering,
among the marginalized, among the lowly and the weak. It
embodies the saving presence of God within human reality
59  Christifideles Laici, 32.
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in need of salvation. That is why it is easy to identify it as
a sign that points directly to its meaning. This is a group
of brothers who strive to live in communion around Him
who has gathered them, and they communicate that experi-
ence as the message of the One who sends them.
The approval of the Institutes of Brothers by the
Church entails, in the first place, the entrusting of the mis-
sionary task that each one carries out according to its own
charism. Secondly, it recognises that their commitment to
the various human situations in which they are involved is
not accidental or external to their religious life, but rather
an essential part of their identity and their consecration. Be-
yond the specific tasks they carry out, these consecrated
communities represent the Church, universal sacrament of sal-
vation,60 within society and especially alongside the poor and
the suffering.
It seems appropriate, then, to refer to these communi-
ties of Brothers as fraternities of service, in the sense that the
ecclesial ministry 61 assumed by the community of Brothers
gives it its distinctive identity in the Church. In addition, the
community stresses the fraternal relationship between its
members and with those who participate in its mission. The
ministry is not carried out by an individual but by the com-
munity. The members of a ministerial community can per-
form many different functions; some may even be unable
to carry out any outside task due to illness or age. The min-
60  Lumen Gentium, 48.
61  Cf. Vita Consecrata, 60.
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istry is not identified with any particular task. It is the whole
community which carries it out through the various ser-
vices of its members, including that of prayer, the offering
of their suffering by the sick, and solidarity with one anoth-
er. The entire community is responsible for the mission that
the Church has entrusted to it.
Brotherhood in service has been a fundamental contri-
bution of Religious Institutes of Brothers to consecrated
life and to the Church. Through brotherhood those Insti-
tutes underline the indissoluble bond between communion
and mission, the essential role of brotherly love as the cen-
tral core of evangelization in its full magnitude and com-
plexity, the reality of the action of the Spirit and the seeds of
the Word 62 present, in some way, in all peoples and cultures.
Brotherly communion and common life
24. Common life, an essential characteristic of the reli-
gious life of Brothers, is intended to strongly encourage
brotherly communion, but fraternal living does not auto-
matically become a reality through the observance of the
rules governing common life.63
While it is true that structures are necessary, communi-
ty among Brothers is expressed mainly through their atti-
tudes. They come together to participate more fully in the
62  The Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Decree on the
Missionary Activity of the Church Ad Gentes, 11.2 and 15.1.
63  Cf. Fraternal Life in Community, 3.
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life and mission of Jesus, to give witness to the brother-
hood and sonship to which all the faithful are called.
Thus, the community is, for Brothers, an experience more
than a place; or better still, the Brothers live together, gather
in a place, to deeply develop that experience. In that way they
are responding to the call to be experts in communion,64 effec-
tive signs of the possibility of living deeper relationships
rooted in the love of Christ.
Mutual love is the hallmark of Christians (cf. Jn 13:35),
and this is the sign which Brothers offer. This love must be
the criterion of discernment in each community of Broth-
ers, above and beyond the effectiveness of their work. It is
easy to see how, in the founding period of each of the In-
stitutes of Brothers, brotherly love is signalled as the core
of the initiative, and they explicitly take on the ideal of the
first Christians, to be “of one heart and one soul ” (Acts 4:32). It
is from this standpoint that they organize their apostolic ac-
tion, aware that this consists in transmitting what the Broth-
ers have previously lived in community. Their brotherhood
will create brotherhood, and the mission of the Brothers is
characterised from the beginning as one of being in communion
and creating communion.
Brotherhood and evangelical counsels: a counter-sign
25. The prophetic experience of fraternity65 on the part
of the Brothers is accompanied by a commitment to take
64  Vita Consecrata, 46.
65  Cf. ibid; 85.
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on the lifestyle of Jesus. Consecrated celibacy allows them
to live community life fully and to be brothers to all, rath-
er than living an exclusive love. Poverty, the choosing of a
moderate and simple lifestyle, means sharing goods in order
to experience fraternal communion with others.66 And obe-
dience, by which all come together in the common project,
“in the same witness and the same mission, while respecting
the diversity of gifts and individual personalities”.67 This
prophetic experience requires an initial break with the place
of origin, with family, friends and other people, only to re-
gain them later, being deeply part of a new family, in a new
framework of universal brotherhood.
The community of Brothers lives its prophetic mission
counter-culturally, because its lifestyle, according to the
Gospel, is opposed to what the world promotes. The com-
munity of Brothers is a “brotherhood born of the Spir-
it, of the interior freedom of those who put their trust in
God despite the human limitations of those who represent
him”.68 For that reason it is a place of multiple commit-
ments, of mutual interdependence, of harmony and soli-
darity that are open and reach out, in a demanding way of
life, in the discernment of their lifestyle in the light of the
Gospel. It should not be forgotten, however, that commu-
nity is a fragile sign: it needs constant renewal; it must be
66  Cf. Pope Francis, Message for the celebration of the XLVII World
Day of Peace (January 1, 2014), 5.
67  Vita Consecrata, 92.
68  Ibid.
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lived on the path to holiness and with an evangelical dyna-
mism that enlivens and constantly remakes the structures.
Community in search
26. At the beginning of his vocational experience
(cf. Acts 22:3-21) the Apostle Paul asks, “What should I do,
Lord? ” The question signals the radical change of attitude
which has occurred in him, having left his own path to fol-
low that of Jesus. The answer will not be found in the exact
fulfilment of the law and the traditions of the Synagogue,
but rather in his listening to people, his reflection on daily
events and his contemplation of the Word.
Religious Brothers, in facing the present, have to risk ask-
ing the same question as Paul: “What should I do, Lord? ” but
this question is only sincere when preceded by the willing-
ness to “get up”, because that is the first response required
(cf. Acts 22:10.16). In other words, fidelity to the present
time requires personal willingness to change and to be dis-
turbed. Without it, there is little value in renewing structures.
A Brother does not ask the question of himself but
directs his question to the Lord Jesus because he wants to
know and do His will. He will need to be a contemplative, to
be able to find Him in the people and in daily events in the
light of the Word. This enlightenment allows the Brother to
interpret daily life with the heart of God and to live every
moment as a time of grace and salvation.
Consecrated life, like all forms of Christian life, is a quest
for perfection in love.69 The Brother’s vocation and his commit-
69  Cf. ibid; 30; 35.
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ment to be memory of this obligation for all is also the mo-
tive for a greater effort.70 In this search they have to be very
attentive to the erosion of fraternal life in community. There
are many factors that tend to destroy it if the Brothers do
not work at it daily and do not repair the damages or fric-
tions which occur. Part of the conversion process is going back
continually to basics, to their prophetic mission in the Church:
living brotherhood as a gift from God and strengthening it
with God’s help and the commitment of the Brothers, within
the community and also outside from the community.
III. The mission:
brotherhood, the gift we give away
Life as brotherhood with the least: “Whatever you do
to the least of my brothers” (Mt 25:40)
27. Two Gospel images show us the meaning of the
mission of the Brother. One is Jesus’ compassion on the
multitude, “because they seemed to be like sheep without a shep-
herd” (Mk 6:34). Jesus amply satisfies them with the bread
of the Word and, moved by compassion, he asks his disci-
ples to also distribute the ordinary bread of life: “Give them
something to eat ” (Mk 6:37).
The other image also shows us Jesus, the Son of Man,
but this time his compassion comes across as genuine
brotherhood with the most disadvantaged. He even iden-
70  Cf. ibid; 39; 93.
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tifies himself with them. His command becomes a solemn
warning: “Whatever you did to one of these my brothers, you did it
to me ... When you neglected to do this to one of the least of these, you
neglected to do it to me ” (Mt 25:40,45).
Throughout the Gospel Jesus’ concern to alleviate the
suffering and meet the needs of people is well known, to
the point of identifying himself with the needy and warn-
ing that only those who reach out to help them will inherit
the Kingdom he promised. Likewise, the mission entrusted
to his disciples, when being sent to evangelize, refers not
only to proclaiming the spiritual message but also to liber-
ation from what oppresses the people and their human de-
velopment,71 because “between evangelization and human
advancement – development and liberation – there are in
fact profound links”.72
Throughout its history, the Church has taken very seri-
ously Jesus’ command: “ Give them something to eat ”. Its evan-
gelizing activity has consistently been linked to the distri-
bution of human bread in its various forms: food, health,
freedom, culture, meaning of life, etc. In particular, the
history of consecrated life portrays this effort to make the
Good News of the Kingdom a reality.
The Brother’s mission follows this same movement
presented by the two icons just contemplated. On the one
hand, it is the fruit of a heart that is open to suffering with
71  Cf. Mt 10:1; Mk 3:14-15; 6:12-13.
72  Evangelii Nuntiandi, 31.
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the needs and miseries of humanity. The Brother experi-
ences in them the call of Christ who sends him to alleviate
their hunger in many forms; his charism makes him par-
ticularly sensitive to some of them. But it is not enough.
A Brother, whose vocation ultimately is identified with the
Son of Man, feels compelled to be like him, brother of
the least ones. This is how the gift of brotherhood he has
received and is living in community now is shared in the
mission. It is a gift whose ultimate recipients are the little
brothers with whom Christ has identified. The mission is not
“what he does” but rather his very life itself made ​c​ ommu-
nion with the least. “If my gift is not to prove a source of
humiliation, I must give to others not just something that
is my own, but my very self; I must be personally present
in my gift”.73
Participating in the ministry of Jesus, “the Good
Shepherd”
28. “... Religious Brothers provide valuable services of var-
ious kinds, inside or outside the community, participating in
this way in the mission of proclaiming the Gospel and bear-
ing witness to it with charity in everyday life. Indeed, some of
these services can be considered ecclesial ministries, granted by
legitimate authority”.74 These services “are all a participation
in Jesus Christ’s own ministry as the Good Shepherd who
73  Benedict XVI, Deus Caritas Est, 34.
74  Vita Consecrata, 60.
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lays down his life for the sheep (cf. Jn 10:11), the humble
servant who gives himself without reserve for the salvation
of all (cf. Mk 10:45 )”.75
The image of the Good Shepherd, like the image of the
Master wrapped in a towel, washing the feet of his disciples,
speaks not of power but of service, of love and sacrifice to
the point of giving one’s life. Thus a Brother should under-
stand his service, whatever the specific functions assigned
to him, in complementarity with his brothers.
Among the services and ministries performed by Broth-
ers, some are more related to the internal life of the Church,
while others highlight its missionary character. Some are
dedicated to more spiritual tasks such as the service of the
Word of God and the liturgy; others make manifest the
Church’s concern for the material wellbeing of people, as
the power of the Spirit for the healing and transformation
of the world.
In any case, the mission of the Brother is not confined
to the activity which he performs, even when it is apostol-
ic. Mission is the work of evangelization in its most global
sense. “Evangelizing is in fact the grace and vocation prop-
er to the Church, her deepest identity. She exists in order to
evangelize”.76 The same has to be said of consecrated life
and specifically the Religious Brother: “The task of devot-
ing themselves wholly to “mission” is therefore included in
their call… Indeed, more than in external works, the mis-
75  Christifideles Laici, 21.
76  Evangelii Nuntiandi, 14.
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sion consists in making Christ present to the world through
personal witness. This is the challenge, this is the primary
task of the consecrated life! Consecrated persons are “in
mission” by virtue of their very consecration, to which they
bear witness in accordance with the ideal of their Insti-
tute”.77 On this intimate relationship between mission and
consecration is built the unity of the life of a Religious, who
is committed to the mission by his consecration and who
lives his consecration in the mission.
Activities, even apostolic ones, may vary or even dis-
appear because of illness or old age, but the mission al-
ways remains. The work of evangelization, lived and invig-
orated by each specific charism, is the very raison d’être of
the Brother’s life and what gives meaning to his consecra-
tion. Like Jesus, he has to be able to say: “for their sake I
consecrate myself  ” (Jn 17:19).
It is, therefore, not a question of task but of identity, “I
am a mission on this earth; that is the reason why I am here
in this world. We have to regard ourselves as sealed, even
branded, by this mission of bringing light, blessing, enliv-
ening, raising up, healing and freeing”.78 The minister is the
whole person of the Brother: consecrated, member of a
community, identified with the mission. All of him assumes
the privilege and responsibility of representing the Church
to the Good Shepherd who gives his life for his sheep.
77  Vita Consecrata, 72.
78  Evangelii Gaudium, 273.
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The mission that leads to the sources: “Come and
see”
29. The thirst for spirituality is clearly evident in today’s so-
ciety, but tends to be smothered in a multiplicity of substi-
tutes. Just as Philip spoke to Nathanael, the Brother rushes
to announce the discovery of the person who responds to
the deepest longings of the human heart; and faced with
the disbelief of the speaker, he has to say: “Come and see”
(cf. Jn 1:45-46). It is the same invitation extended by the
Samaritan woman to her people after finding the source of
living water that Jesus offered, “Come and see a man who told
me everything I have done. Could this be the Christ? ” (Jn 4:29).
Brothers offer themselves as guides in the search for
God,79 aware of their own inconsistencies, but able to ac-
company their contemporaries on their faith journey. At
the community level, the Brothers plan their communi-
ties to be schools of true evangelical spirituality,80 and they offer
them as privileged places where the roads leading to God are ex-
perienced.81 They are called, then, as communities, to invite
people to prayer, to share the search for and the experience
of God, to facilitate widespread reading of Scripture and to
deepen the dialogue between faith and culture.
Contemplative communities focus their mission on
this presentation of the sources. These communities are a pow-
79  Vita Consecrata, 103.
80  Ibid; 93.
81  Fraternal Life in Community, 20.
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erful sign which question our society which is alienated
from God. They are meeting places for young people and
adults in search of the deeper meaning of their lives. The
phenomenon of spiritual awakening and the attraction of
young people to praying communities of an ecumenical na-
ture such as Taizé, or other Catholic monastic and convent
communities of both men and women, is no coincidence.
As Saint Peter invites us (1 Peter 3:15), all Brothers,
whatever their specific mission, must take seriously their
being witnesses of the hope they carry within. They are called
to be expressions of hope, being present in situations of
pain and misery, demonstrating that the tenderness of God
knows no boundaries, that the resurrection of Jesus is the
pledge of victory, that the God of life will have the last
word over pain and death, that on the last day God will
wipe away all tears (Apoc. 7:17) and we will all live as brothers
and sisters.
Mission of brotherhood, seeking the lost brother
30. The charisms of the Institutes of Brothers often re-
spond to this invitation of Jesus: “Let us cross to the other
side” (Mk 4:35). The Gospel passage that Mark conveys
(Mk 4:35-5:20) shows Jesus and his disciples travelling deep
into pagan lands to announce the message of the King-
dom. It reveals a typical situation of Church life: in the
face of the temptation to withdraw into its own space, the
Church is urged by the Master to cross all frontiers. Noth-
ing human is alien for it, and any human situation will always
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be a potential setting for the Church, an appropriate place
for the proclamation of the Good News of the Kingdom.
The search for the one who is alienated, the foreigner,
the lost one, the one from a different culture, is a strong
concern in the origins of the Church and is repeated as a
powerful echo in the beginning of Religious Institutes. In
the Acts of the Apostles the expression “the ends of the earth”
indicates the place where the disciples of Jesus have to go
to proclaim the Gospel: “You will be my witnesses... to the ends
of the earth ” (Acts 1:8). Religious Brothers, encouraged by
their charisms, accept this invitation.
Where are the frontiers today? They no longer coincide
with remote locations but rather with marginal situations,
the peripheries of our world. The frontiers are now in im-
poverished countries, in developing nations and also in de-
prived areas of developed countries. The frontiers coincide
with the dramatic reality that so many men and women live
in situations marked by migration, hunger, injustice, indif-
ference and lack of sensitivity to the pain of others, super-
ficiality and the loss of religious and human values. The
vocation of the Brother, authentically lived and embodied
in this reality, acquires a wonderful meaning.
To be drawn to the frontiers means a preferential option for
the poor, for those in a situation of urgent need.82 This
option is required of all the disciples of Christ, because
82  Cf. Vita Consecrata, 82; cf. Evangelii Gaudium, 197-201.
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it belongs to the essence of the Gospel.83 Indeed, that is
the sign given by Jesus when asked if he is the expected
one (cf. Mt 11:2-6). Consecrated persons, who have made a​​
public profession to have their lives shaped by Jesus, are called
to be coherent in their commitment to always live for the
poor and, to the extent that their charism demands, with
the poor and like the poor.
The Gospel of Luke provides the Religious Brother with
an icon with which to “look at himself ” and be challenged
in his search for his estranged brother. This is the Good
Samaritan (Lk 10:30-37). The compassionate man of Sa-
maria, who becomes neighbour and brother to the one who
has fallen, is a sign of the merciful love of the Father.
Sign of a Kingdom that seeks the integral salvation
of the person
31. Many Religious Brothers carry out their mission exer-
cising a secular profession, whether it is in the health ser-
vice, education, assistance to immigrants, the accompani-
ment of children and adolescents at risk, etc. They thereby
give witness that their commitment to the Kingdom also
implies the effort to build, in the here and now, a more
human and inhabitable world, and that the love of Christ is
linked to love of humanity, especially its weakest and needi-
est members. Today more than ever, the world needs conse-
crated persons who, from the heart of secular realities and
83  Cf. Evangelii Gaudium, 48-49.
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of human life itself, bear witness to knowing and loving the
God of life.
We refer here, firstly, to the manual labour that many
Brothers carry out. The Brother Monks, especially in Bene-
dictine monasteries, were instrumental in the West, in the
restoration of the dignity and the positive value of manu-
al labour, which even today in some cultures is considered
suited only to people of lower rank. Through manual la-
bour, Religious Brothers give witness to the sublime val-
ue of work, by which humanity cooperates with God in
perfecting the wonderful work of creation; they become
neighbours to their simplest brothers and identify with Je-
sus, brother and worker.
The Institutes of Brothers whose mission is associat-
ed with social promotion and defending human rights in
the various fields of marginalization, of human frailty or
development of the person, offer prophetic signs of a
Kingdom which seeks the integral salvation of every hu-
man being. Their insertion in these tasks and environments
is preferably communitarian. They thus bear witness as a
fraternal community whose cohesion is based on the One
who has called and sent them. Even when, by age or other
circumstances, the Brothers cannot engage in professional
activities, the presence of the consecrated community in
this context is a sign that shows the way and points to a
horizon which gives meaning.
The Kingdom of God is always among us. It is built
here and it is always beyond, because it exceeds any human
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achievement. It is the work of the Spirit. This eschatologi-
cal tension is personalized and represented in the consecra-
tion and in the person of the Brother, and is made visible
especially in the community of Brothers.
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3.
BEING BROTHERS TODAY:
A STORY OF GRACE
“Remain in my love”
(Jn 15:9)
A story which is a story of salvation
32. How can Brothers today be a recognizable face of the
covenant, in continuity with the ministry of the Servant of
Yahweh (cf. Is 42:6), and in fidelity to the prophetic voca-
tion received from the Lord? How can they continue being
for the entire Church a living and challenging memory of
Jesus who serves, who washes feet and who loves to the
point of giving his life? Can they experience and appreciate
his message, that which the Church expects and requires of
them, the message of brotherhood? In short, what does be-
ing Brothers today imply?
The answer to these questions is not easy or simple,
due to the differences between the many Religious Insti-
tutes and the diverse situations of religious life on different
continents.
Consecrated life has always been a story of grace in the
Church and for the world, “a gift of God the Father to his
Church through the Spirit,” which guides the eyes of the
faithful “toward the mystery of the Kingdom of God al-
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ready at work in history, even as it awaits its full realization
in heaven”.84
The life of the Brothers is a story, a story of salvation for their
contemporaries, and among them, especially for the poor-
est. “We may not always be able to reflect adequately the
beauty of the Gospel, but there is one sign which we should
never lack: the option for those who are least, those whom
society discards”.85 A characteristic of Brothers is their con-
cern about being a gift of God the Father for those to whom
they have been sent. They are bearers of the love that pro-
ceeds from the Father to the Son and from the Son to his
brothers: “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide
in my love” (Jn 15:9). This abiding which is asked of them has
an active dynamism, which is love.
Who is my brother?
33. The question of what it means to be a Brother today pre-
sumes the following: Who is my brother? And the parable of
the Good Samaritan reminds us of this other one: For whom
or to whom do we become brothers? The answer for Religious
Brothers is clear: preferably those who most need their sol-
idarity and who are identified by their founding charism.
To give vitality and realism to the story, Brothers are
called to let themselves be inspired by a series of biblical,
founding and contemporary icons, which can better open
84  Vita Consecrata, 1.
85  Evangelii Gaudium, 195.
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their daily lives to the mystery of the love and covenant
revealed by the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
The first two chapters of this reflection are peppered
with biblical images from Moses before the burning bush
and the Servant of Yahweh, the “covenant of the people”,
to Paul fallen on the road to Damascus. Jesus is the central
icon, who invites us to be memory of his love. This set of
images together gives us the great story of the history of
salvation in which the Brothers are called to act, cooperat-
ing in the saving work of God.
These biblical icons have to be joined, firstly, with the
icons of the foundational period of each Institute which
remind the Brothers of the initial fire that they need to re-
cover. And secondly, with the icons that convey the voice
of the Spirit today: the faces of Brothers who in recent
times have given their lives, even under circumstances of
martyrdom, in places of social or religious conflict; and also
the faces of children, youth, adults and older people who
now live with dignity thanks to the support and the close
presence of Religious Brothers.
There are many more faces still waiting for the Good
Samaritan to approach them, to be their brother and to give
them life. With their eyes they beg of the Brother those
gifts he has received as a mediator and which are destined
for them. They are inviting Religious Brothers today, what-
ever their age, to compose a story of grace, to live with
passion for Christ and for humanity. Concern for their own
survival, so that the story of salvation may continue to be
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written, is a fair one, but much more important is the de-
sire to give one’s life, to be buried like the grain of wheat,
knowing that God will produce a hundredfold in the way He
sees fit.
Establishing the foundations: initial formation
34. The story of the Brother today begins to be written in
initial formation: it is during this period that a candidate
to this lifestyle becomes aware of the experience of the
Servant: “The Lord called me when I was in the womb, before my
birth he had pronounced my name... I am honoured in the eyes of the
Lord, and God is my strength”(Is. 49:1,5). Well-grounded in the
free initiative of God and the personal experience of his
gratuitous love,86 the person in formation begins to grow in
a sense of belonging to the People of God, from which and
for which he has been chosen.
A proper study of the ecclesiology of communion will
help him to relate to people who follow the various forms of
life of which Church life consists.87 It will also encourage him
to experience himself as brother with all the brothers and
sisters who form the People of God. He can also discover
and appreciate his own gifts, not as something that separates
him from or raises him above others, but as the capacity he
has received to contribute something specific to the growth
of the Body of Christ and its mission in the world.
86  Cf. Vita Consecrata, 17.
87  Cf. ibid; 31.
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“Everyone in the Church is consecrated in Baptism
and Confirmation”.88 Deepening this common underpin-
ning and reading it from the specific perspective of the
founding charism, one comes to discover the meaning of
the consecration of the Religious Brother. The charismatic
theological intuition underlying each one’s vocation must
be borne in mind during initial formation. This intuition
reveals a specific way of living the gospel through a special
consecration rooted in baptismal consecration and in the
service of a particular mission.
Nourishing hope: lifelong formation
35. Brothers live their vocation in today’s world in different
ways: some with some degree of disappointment and frus-
tration, others with loyalty, peace, joy and hope. Ongoing
formation is necessary to encourage some, to keep others
going and to give everyone the chance to live the present
as a time of grace and salvation (cf. 2 Cor 6:2). Today, more than
ever, it is an intrinsic requirement of religious consecration89 and
needs to be scheduled in each Institute in as precise and
systematic a plan as possible.
The ongoing formation of Brothers is shaped in such
a way that they can relive in our time the journey of the
founders; discover and apply in the present the dynamism
that prompted them to launch a venture of evangeliza-
88  Ibid.
89  Ibid; 69.
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tion; reinterpret the foundational charism in the light of
current challenges and possibilities, discover it as a root and
prophecy and let it inspire them to respond to the problems
of the present.
The goal of lifelong learning is to provide resources for
living consecrated life in the world and in the Church today,
as well as to provide the criteria that will guide the presence
of Brothers in the mission field. This formation should
guide them to make their own the values that accompany
their action. It should be presented as a process of commu-
nal discernment so as to bring about change in the whole
community and not just in isolated individuals.
Where possible, formation ought to be shared not only
with members of the Institute but with people from other
states of life who share the same charism. It will also be
very helpful to carry out a good deal of formation in co-
ordination with other related charismatic families without
neglecting the specific features of each one’s vocation.
Animating the teachers of life and hope
36. A particular case is the continuing formation of older
Brothers, active members in creating the common story of
salvation. Many Religious Brothers carry out their mission
in the exercise of secular professions such as education
or health. They need an advanced awareness in order to
avoid the possibility that retirement from their job might
lead to religious retirement. There is no retirement in the
evangelizing mission; one simply participates in the mission
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in different ways. One way, and a very important one, is
supporting the common mission with prayer and sacrifice.
Another way is through small services that can be offered
depending on the person’s health, and also being witnesses
to and promotors of gratuitous service.
The contribution expected of older people is not so
much the performance of specific tasks but primari-
ly knowing how to be in the community as teachers of life
and hope, willing to be companions on the journey and to
support those most involved in the external tasks of the
mission when they are tired. In that way they contribute to
the community of service so that it can become the prophet-
ic sign 90 of faith, love and hope that the whole of society
needs.
Prophets for our time
37. Every era needs its prophets. We have already referred
to various prophetic services that Religious Brothers offer
to society and the Church today, in order to contribute to
a greater humanization of society and to respond to the
search for spirituality. We now note some others that the
present moment of great social change requires and that
constitute a challenge for Religious Brothers:
–– The prophecy of hospitality as openness and accep-
tance of the other, the stranger, the foreigner, the one from
90  Cf. ibid; 85.
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a different religion, race or culture. It is an essential element
of human coexistence in the face of intolerance, exclusion
or the lack of dialogue.
–– The prophecy of the meaning of life. The service of
dialogue and gentle listening to which many religious devote
much of their time helps people to discover the essential, in
the face of the vacuum that exists in the welfare society.
–– The prophecy of the affirmation of feminine values​​
in the history of humanity. Female religious have a main
role in providing the feminine vision of life, thereby open-
ing new horizons for evangelization in general. Religious
Brothers contribute to deepening this prophetic aspect with
their fraternal support and their appreciation of the pres-
ence of women, religious and lay, in evangelization.
–– The prophecy of the care and protection of life, of
the integrity of creation. There are religious men and wom-
en who risk their lives by denouncing practices and poli-
cies that threaten human life and its habitat. Others devote
much of their time and energy to manual labour for the
conservation of nature. With their consecration each one
signals in different ways the meaning and spiritual value of
the mission of preserving our world for future generations.
–– The prophecy of the wise use of new technologies
in order to place them at the service of communication,
to democratize information to include the benefit for the
most disadvantaged, and to make these technologies useful
instruments in the task of evangelization.
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As family: a new way of being Church
38. Religious Brothers today often live their vocation inte-
grated into charismatic families. Many of these come from
longstanding traditions but have been profoundly renewed,
while new ones have appeared as a result of the ecclesi-
ology of communion promoted by the Second Vatican
Council. They point to a new way of living and building
the Church, a new way of sharing the mission and pooling
the various gifts that the Spirit distributes among the faith-
ful. They represent “a new chapter, rich in hope… in the
history of relations between consecrated persons and the
laity”.91
The founding charisms born with the Religious Orders
and Congregations now take the form of rivers watering
the surface of the Church and extending far beyond it. The
faithful come to their shores from different states of life
to drink from their waters and to participate in the mission
of the Church from the constantly renewed inspiration and
vigour of such charisms.92
Laity and religious, men or women, and priests are unit-
ed together in a charismatic family to revive the charism
that has given rise to this family, to incarnate together the
Gospel face that the charism reveals and to serve together
in the same Church mission, which is no longer just the
mission of a particular Institute.
91  Ibid; 54.
92  Cf. Starting Afresh from Christ, 31.
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The Religious Brother finds in his charismatic family an
environment conducive to the development of his identi-
ty. In such an environment the Brothers share the experi-
ence of communion and promote a spirituality of communion,
being the true blood which gives life to the family members
and which extends to the whole Church93 from them. In
the charismatic family, Religious Brothers place themselves
together with other Christians and in accord with them. It
is with them that the Brothers build a fraternity for the mis-
sion, motivated by the foundational charism; for them they
are signs of that same brotherhood that they are called to
live in consecrated life.
New wine in new wineskins
39. New wine needs new wineskins. It is the responsibility
of the whole Church to ensure that this new wine not only
is not lost, but can mature in quality.
–– Institutes of Brothers are urged to develop new
structures and initial and continuing formation pro-
grammes which can help new candidates and current mem-
bers to rediscover and value their identity in the new eccle-
sial and social context.
–– Those Institutes that are called “mixed” Institutes,94
which are referred to in the Apostolic Exhortation Vita
Consecrata, and which are formed by religious priests and
93  Cf. Vita Consecrata, 51.
94  Cf. ibid; 61.
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brothers, are encouraged to make further progress in their
aim of establishing among their members a way of relating
based on equal dignity, without any differences other than
those arising from the diversity of their ministries. In order
to facilitate this progress, we expect that the question con-
cernign the jurisdiction of Brothers in those Institutes will
be resolved with determination and within an opportune
time-frame.
–– The theology of consecrated life is called to develop
a profound reflection, especially within Institutes of Broth-
ers themselves, on the religious life of Brothers. Such a re-
flection will be inspired by an ecclesiology and spirituality
of communion, the foundation of the style of religious life
that has been developed in the Church in recent centuries
in the form of fraternities of service.
–– The superiors and government structures of Insti-
tutes must strengthen their resolve to discover signs of new
life, to promote and accompany them, and to detect mani-
festations of the founding charism in the new relationships
characteristic of Church-communion.
–– Pastors and the hierarchy of the Church are encour-
aged to promote knowledge and appreciation of the Reli-
gious Brother in the local Churches, which means promot-
ing this vocation, especially in youth ministry, and ensuring
that Religious Brothers and Sisters participate actively in
the organs of consultation, decision-making and imple-
mentation within the local Church.
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The thread of the story: “Abide in my love!”
40. We conclude this reflection on the identity and mission
of the Religious Brother, remembering the task given by
the Master: “Abide in my love ” (Jn 15:9). Brothers need to
have this task clearly in mind as they surrender with pas-
sion to be Brothers today: “Do not lose the thread of the sto-
ry”. This thread which weaves through the Brother’s life
is the experience of being sent as a sign of the maternal
tenderness of God and the fraternal love of Christ; it is
the thread that unites all his actions and life events so as to
make them a salvation history. When that thread is lost, life
is fragmented into anecdotes that do not refer to God and
to his Kingdom but become self-referential.
In the eagerness to meet the needs of the mission,
Brothers may fall victim to the temptation of activism, given
that a lot of bread needs to be prepared for the hungry. Ac-
tivism will quickly empty them of evangelical motivations
and prevent them from contemplating God’s work which is
being done in their apostolic action. Allowing themselves
to be carried away by activism, they end up replacing the
search for God and His will with the search for themselves.
It is helpful to contemplate the icon which depicts Mar-
tha and Mary being visited by Jesus in their home (Lk 10:38-
42). The two sisters live in a reciprocal tension. They need each
other, but coexistence is not always easy. It is not appropri-
ate to separate them; each one can predominate at one time
or another. However one of them is particularly attentive
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to the meaning and depth of life which the word of Jesus
brings: Mary chose “the better part ” while Martha “worried
and fretted about many things ”.
The evangelist Luke recounts for us the scene of the
two sisters, just after that of the Good Samaritan (Lk 10:30-
37), the man who became brother to the other man who
needed him. Both icons complement each other’s message
and remind the Religious Brother of the essential key to
his prophetic identity, that which ensures his permanence in
the love of Christ: the Brother is called to be a transmitter
in the chain of love and covenant which comes from the
Father through Jesus and which he has experienced per-
sonally. While performing this function, and so as not to
forget that he is only an instrument moved by the Spirit in
the work of God, he should always remember the words of
Jesus: “Cut off from me you can do nothing ” (Jn 15:5).
Vatican, October 4th, 2015
Feast of St. Francis of Assisi
João Braz Card. de Aviz
Prefect
c José Rodríguez Carballo, OFM
Archbishop Secretary
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction
1.  Brother. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2.  To whom is this document addressed? . . . . . 5
3.  A framework for our reflection. . . . . . .
5
4.  Outline of this Document . . . . . . . . . 6
1.
Religious brothers in the church-communion
“I have chosen you as a covenant of the people” (Is 42:6)
5.  Putting a face on the covenant. . . . . . . . 9
6.  In communion with the People of God. . . . . 10
7.  A living memorial for the Church’s awareness. . . 12
8.  Rediscovering the common treasure. . . . . . 14
9.  A renewed project. . . . . . . . . . . 15
10.  Developing the common treasure . . . . . . 16
11.  Brother: a Christian experience from the beginning. 19
2.
The identity of religious brother
A mystery of communion for mission
12.  Memory of the love of Christ: “The same thing you
must do ...” (Jn 13:14-15). . . . . . . . . 23
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 I. The mystery: brotherhood, the gift we receive
13.  Witness and mediator: “We believe in the love of God”. 25
14.  Consecrated by the Spirit. . . . . . . . . 27
15.  Public commitment: making the face of Jesus-brother
visible today . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
16.  Exercise of the baptismal priesthood. . . . . 30
17.  Like all his brothers in all things. . . . . . . 31
18.  Profession: a unique consecration, expressed in
different vows . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
19.  An incarnated and unifying spirituality. . . . . 35
20.  A spirituality of the Word in order to live the My-
stery “at home” with Mary. . . . . . . . 37
  II. Communion: brotherhood, the gift we share
21.  From the gift we receive to the gift we share: “That
they all be one so that the world may believe” (Jn 17:21). 38
22.  Community which develops the baptismal pries-
thood. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
23.  Ministerial fraternity: “source and fruit of mission”. 41
24.  Brotherly communion and common life . . . . 43
25.  Brotherhood and evangelical counsels: a counter-sign. 44
26.  Community in search. . . . . . . . . . 46
  III. The mission: brotherhood, the gift we give away
27.  Life as brotherhood with the least: “Whatever you do
to the least of my brothers” (Mt 25:40) . . . . . 47
28.  Participating in the ministry of Jesus, “the Good
Shepherd” . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
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29.  The mission that leads to the sources: “Come and see”. 52
30.  Mission of brotherhood, seeking the lost brother. . 53
31.  Sign of a Kingdom that seeks the integral salvation
of the person . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
3.
Being brothers today: a story of grace
“Remain in my love” (Jn 15,9)
32.  A story which is a story of salvation. . . . . . 59
33.  Who is my brother? . . . . . . . . . . . 60
34.  Establishing the foundations: initial formation . . 62
35.  Nourishing hope: lifelong formation. . . . . . 63
36.  Animating the teachers of life and hope . . . . 64
37.  Prophets for our time . . . . . . . . . . 65
38.  As family: a new way of being Church. . . . . 67
39.  New wine in new wineskins . . . . . . . . 68
40.  The thread of the story: “Abide in my love!”. . . . 70
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VATICAN PRESS

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