1.2 “Brother” is the name traditionally given to the male lay religious 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 ecclesial community in which he is the prophetic memory  of Jesus-Brother, who told his followers: "And you are all brothers” (Mt 23:8).

1.3 The title of brother/sister underlines the common dignity and fundamental equality of all believers.

4.2 At the centre of this triple perspective (a  mystery of communion for mission) 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).

5.3 Consecrated life, which  "is at the very heart of the Church as a decisive element for her mission", must look into that heart to discover and understand itself. The Religious Brother finds therein the profound meaning of his own vocation. 

5.5 …the Religious Brother lives the call to be memory of the covenant by his consecration to God in a  fraternal life in community for mission. Thus he makes more visible the communion that all God's people are called to embody.

6.1a Encouraged by the Spirit, the Church today deepens its awareness of being the People of God, where all have equal dignity received in Baptism,  all have a common vocation to holiness, and all share r e s p o n s i b i l i t y f o r t h e m i s s i o n o f evangelization.  Each one according to their vocation, their charism and their ministry becomes a sign for all the others.

6.1b 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. 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.”

6 . 2 R e l i g i o u s B r o t h e r s f i n d t h e i r natu ra l  hab i ta t  i n th i s contex t o f communion, by way of belonging to the People of God, and they are also united w i t h a l l t h o s e w h o , b y r e l i g i o u s consecration, reflect the essence of the Church,  the mystery of communion.  In it they keep a l ive  the ob l igat ion of brotherhood as a confession of the Trinity.

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6.3 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 vocation 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.

7.1 Th i s purpose, of being a s ign, recognized by the Second Vatican Council  and repeatedly underlined in the Apostolic Exhortation  Vita Consecrata, is e s sent ia l to consecrated l i fe and determines its orientation: it does not exist "for itself", but as a part of the ecclesial community.

7.3 The fraternity of Religious Brothers is an encouragement 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:

7 . 4 … t h e h o m e a n d s c h o o l o f communion. 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.

8.3 The Religious Brother, when rooted among the Christian people, receives the witness and support of other vocations. 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.

9.4 Religious Brothers … have emphasized the dignity of services and ministries related t o t h e m u l t i p l e n e e d s o f h u m a n beings.  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.

10.1… They do so as leaven in the dough, a s  e x p e r t g u i d e s i n t h e s p i r i t u a l l ife,  fraternally accompanying other believers and helping them discover the riches of the Christian tradition, or simply as Brothers who share their own experiences with other brothers for mutual benefit. 

10.2… Religious consecration has its roots firmly planted in Baptism and the other sacraments of initiation.  From them, the Brother experiences the filial impulse towards the Father, celebrates the new life that he has received from the Risen Lord, regards himself part of Jesus Christ, Priest, Prophet and King, and is guided by the Holy Spirit.

We are all brothers

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10.3…The Brother affirms his belonging to the community of believers, inserting himself willingly into the local Church and in its structures of communion and apostolate, in accordance with his own charism.  He affirms also his belonging to all humankind, he stands in solidarity with all its needs, especially with its members who are weaker and more vulnerable.

10.4 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  incarnation of the Son of God.

10.5 The Brother assumes ecclesial ministries with his Brothers in community, with other members of his congregation and with other believers who participate in the same founding charism. Thus he seeks and points to God in the secular realities of culture, science, human health, the workplace, and the care of the weak and disadvantaged.

10.6 The Brother deepens fraternal communion in a common life and ministry as his way of being  in relationships outside the community. Sustained by the core experience of his vocation, that of experiencing himself with Jesus as a beloved son of the Father, he lives the new commandment of the Lord as the centre of his life and as the first commitment of his religious consecration.

10.7 The Brother becomes aware of the wealth contained in his own foundational charism, and he shares it with other lay believers who could live it from other ways of life.

10.8 "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.

11.1 " I especia l ly ask Chr i s t ians in communities throughout 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 recognise that you are my disciples"  (Jn 13:35)".  This petition of Pope Francis to the entire Christian people h i g h l i g h t s t h e s p e c i a l p l a c e ( o f ) brotherhood…

11.3 The narrative of the Acts of the Apostles shows us how the community of disciples becomes increasingly aware that  fraternity  and  mission  require each other, and that both are developed by the prompting or demand of the Spirit.  This is the dynamic that is established: the cultivation of brotherhood creates a greater sense of mis s ion, and the development of the mission produces brotherhood.

We are all brothers

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11.4 Religious Brothers are a permanent reminder of  "the fundamental dimension of brotherhood in Christ"  which all members should strengthen. For the same reason, the Spirit also fosters Institutes of Religious Brothers, along with Institutes of Sisters. All of them constantly evoke in the Church the supreme values of fraternity and free, b o u n d l e s s g e n e r o s i t y a s e m i n e n t expressions of communion.

11.5 The name "Brothers" posit ively designates what these Religious assume as a fundamental mission in their lives: "These Religious are called to be brothers of Christ, deeply united with Him, “the firstborn among many brothers” (Rom. 8:29)

12.1 To deepen our understanding of the identity of the Brother, we will allow ourselves to be enl ightened as we contemplate one of the most evocative icons of the four Gospels: Jesus washing the feet of his disciples.

13.1 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 the source of every Christian vocation. 

13.8 In this world that God loves so much, the Brother cannot hide. On the contrary, he experiences the impulse to go out to e n c o u n t e r a n d e m b r a c e G o d .  I n contemplating the saving work of God, the Brother discovers h imself to be an instrument which God wants to use to make the covenant, God’s love and concern for the weakest, more visible.

15.1 It is in this personal story, which begins in Baptism, that religious consecration is inserted and finds its full meaning.  This is "a special and fruitful deepening" of baptismal consecration…  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)

17.3 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 community is a theological space 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. 

15.7 Visibility is achieved by a way of being present which reveals the charism of each r e l i g i o u s f a m i l y i n t h e  h e r e a n d 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?

We are all brothers

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20.4 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).

21.2 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 members or the tasks they perform. 

18.2 To respond to God's loving action which  consecrates,  the consecrated person offers his life to God in religious profession, 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 orientation of life. 

19.3 The ability to read deeply the signs of the times, to understand in them God's call to work according to His plan, 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.

23.2 It is always a brotherhood for mission. It is not simply that the community has an apostolic 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 experienced in the mission.

24.2 Fraternal living does not automatically become a reality through the observance of the rules governing common life. While it is true that the structures are necessary, community among Brothers is expressed mainly through their attitudes… Thus, the community is, for Brothers, an  experience more than a place.

25.8 Community is a place of multiple commitments, of mutual interdependence, of harmony and solidarity 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 community is a fragile sign: it needs constant renewal; it must be lived on the path to holiness and with an evangelical dynamism that enlivens and constantly remakes the structures.

26.3 Religious Brothers, in facing the present, have to risk asking the same question as Paul: "What should I do, Lord?" but this question is only sincere when preceded by the willingness 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 disturbed. Without it, there is little value in renewing structures.

We are all brothers

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27.8 A Brother, whose vocation ultimately is identified with the Son of Man, feels compelled to be like him, brother of the least ones…  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 communion with the least.

30.1 The charisms of the Institutes of Brothers often respond 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 Kingdom.  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. 

31.2 Brothers 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 neediest members.

31.7 Brothers 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 … is a sign that shows the way and points to a horizon which gives meaning.

32.3 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 “towards the mystery of the Kingdom of God already at work in history, even as its full realisation in heaven (VC, 1)

32.4a The life of the brothers is a story, a story of salvation for their contemporaries, and among them, especially for the poorest.

32.4c A characteristic of Brothers is their concern about being a gift of God the Father for those to whom they have been send. They are bearers of the love that proceeds 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.

29.8 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 s i t u a t i o n s o f p a i n a n d m i s e r y , demonstrating that the tenderness of God knows no boundaries.

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33 The question of what it means to be a Brother today presumes 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 solidarity and who are identified by their founding charism.

33.5b 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, whatever their age, to compose a history of grace, to live with passion for Christ and for humanity.

33.5c Concern for their own survival, so that the history of salvation may continue to be written, is a fair one, but much more important is the desire 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.

35.1 Brothers live their vocation in today’s world in different ways: some with some degree of disappointment and frustration, others with loyalty, peace, joy and hope. Ongoing fo r mat ion i s 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)

35.2 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 evangelization; 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.

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 evangel iz ing miss ion; one s imply participates in the mission in different ways.

36.2 The contribution expected of older people is not so much the performance of specific tasks but primarily 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 prophetic sign (VC, 85) of faith, love and hope that the whole of society needs.

37.1. Every era needs its prophets. We are 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 of spirituality. We now note some others that the present moment of great social change requires and that constitute a challenge for Religious Brothers:

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40.4b 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 personally. 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)

37.2 • The prophecy of hospitality • The prophecy of the meaning of life • The prophecy of the affirmation of

feminine values in the history of humanity (female religious and lay)

• The prophecy of the care and protection of life, of the integrity of the creation

• The prophecy of the wise use of new technologies in order to place them at the service of communication .

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