Perhaps, you will not be required to pour out your blood as a martyr, but you will certainly be asked to give a coherent and steadfast witness in fulfilling the promises made at your Baptism and Confirmation, which you renewed and confirmed with your profession in the Franciscan Secular Order
Pope Saint John Paul II
By virtue of this profession, the Rule and the General Constitutions1 must represent for each of you the point of reference for daily living, based on your explicit vocation and special identity. If you are truly driven by the Spirit to reach the perfection of charity in your secular state, “it would be a contradiction to settle for a life of mediocrity, marked by a minimalist ethic and a shallow religiosity 2”. You must be sincerely dedicated to that “high standard of ordinary Christian living2” to which I invited all the faithful at the end of the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000.
~ John Paul II , Address to the Secular Franciscan Order, Friday, 22 November 2002
1 Address of John Paul II to the Secular Franciscan Order on 22-Nov-2002
2 Novo Millennio Ineunte : No 31 on 06-Jan-2001
The Secular Franciscan Rule
