Here, the fraternal visitor is a lay person. The new Rule has no place for a Spiritual Director. In the old Rule, the ideal Franciscan Tertiary was obedient and devout. The liturgy, before the reforms of Vatican II allowed for public and active participation almost exclusively by the clergy. To Apostolic In the new Rule, the ideal Secular Franciscan is no less obedient and devout, but now Secular Franciscans are required to exercise more initiative in their obedience and to base their devotional life on the Scriptures and on actively participated liturgy.
Scriptural spirituality is the soul of their devotional life.
The language that we use is a sure indication of our way of thinking, of our deepest beliefs and of the values that we hold most dear. Under that rule, terms were taken directly from religious life to describe novices and postulants, novice master and novice mistress, also T.O. Provinces, with Ministers Provincial. Practices followed language. They called one another Brother and Sister in secular life. Under this Rule, the terms from religious life are translated into terms appropriate for secular people.