NATURE AND OBJECTIVE

The Third Order of our Religious Family of the Incarnate Word is an Association of the Faithful whose Members, living in the world, desire to participate in our spirit. For this reason, this Secular Association commits itself to form with the Members of this Religious Family, a unique family united by the same faith, goals, charism, and spirit. The Third Order is an essential part of our Religious Family because it is a prolongation of our works in their own environment.

Objective

The Third Order shares our objective that is twofold. As a universal objective, it seeks the greater glory of God and the salvation of all souls, and through this primary end, we look for the sanctification of our Members and the sanctification of the whole world. The specific objective that the Third Order shares with us is the ‘inculturation’ of the Gospel. They commit all their strength to inculturate the Gospel, that is to say, to extend the Incarnation “to all men, in the whole man, and in all of the manifestations of man,” in accordance with the teachings of the Magisterium of the Church. In this respect His Holiness John Paul II teaches: “The term `acculturation` or `inculturation,` may well be a neologism, but it expresses very well one of the elements of the great mystery of the Incarnation.” Because of this, they desire to order all temporal matters according to God, and to manifest Christ to others, principally through the testimony of their life.

Apostolate

In order to adequately realize this objective this Association will dedicate itself to evangelize in the key places of our culture: works of mercy, apostolate of prayer, catechism, popular mission, the proclamation of the truth through the media, politics, education, assisting the priest and religious, taking advantage of all that can be used in order that Christ may reign in the life of individuals, families and societies.

Each member in the world has to be a witness of the resurrection and the life of Christ, a true sign of the living God. Together and each individual should feed the world with spiritual fruits. We have to spread in this world the spirit that moves the poor, the humble and the meek, whom our Lord proclaimed “blessed”. In a word, what the soul is to the body our Members must be to the world.

Marian Devotion

With Christ, laity of the Incarnate Word will desire to manifest the presence of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the world. They know that her presence is necessary to prolong the Incarnation in all of creation. For this reason, the Third Order will deepen their spirituality in her life: following her teachings, and prolonging her mission. They accomplish all of their actions for Mary, with Mary, and through Mary, following the teachings of St. Louis Marie Grignion of Montfort as expressed in the True Devotion of Mary. We commend this Association to the care of the maternal hands of our Lady.

PLURALISM OF VOCATION

Principles

The Third Order of our Religious Family is structured in levels according to the degree of commitment of the Members. We desire that according to their vocation these Members may share and enrich our spiritual treasury, because the Church is like a field with fascinating and marvelous varieties of herbs, flowers and fruits.

Each individual according to his vocation has to live the Charism that the Holy Spirit has inspired in our founder, Fr. Carlos Buela. They will be known for their deep devotion to the Incarnation of our Lord, the pinnacle of all the Mysteries, and the “trademark” of our Family. This Mystery has to illumine their lives, and they, in turn, have to lead all of reality into the light of the Incarnate Word. They will desire to bring the Mystery of Christ unto the end in order that Christ may be the center in everyone because the center of our vocation is rooted in the God made flesh.

Secular Life

The charism of lay people consists in looking for the kingdom of God in temporal matters in which, by vocation, our Members are united. These temporal matters must be arranged within the world according to God to contribute to the sanctification of the world.

Lay people have to transform the world by bringing the Gospel into their cultures, living their secular charism and their profession of faith received in their Baptism and reaffirmed in their Confirmation.

STRUCTURE OF THE THIRD ORDER

The Third Order has three levels according to the union that our Members have with our Religious Family.

1) The Fraternity of the Incarnate Word

The third level is made up of a wide variety of lay people, or diocesan priests, who are friends, or have a spiritual affinity with us, or are benefactors of our missions, or are families and relatives of our Religious Members. All who desire to share in the spirit of our Religious Family are actually a part of this Fraternity of the Incarnate Word. These are “life” Members of the Third Order who are united with us by prayer and charity. They share the same love for God and for the Congregation. Third Order Members manifest the Incarnate Word in their lives in their own environments, in their families, in their work, in their studies, in their Parishes, and in all other situations.

2) Association Of Faithful

This second level is made up of several Lay Movements and an Association of the Faithful. Each one in their own Association can share our apostolate and mission according to the possibility and pastoral necessities that occur in our existing missions. These groups according to their own statutes and under the guide of an Incarnate Word priest can proclaim in all cultures the Good News that Christ brings.

3) Consecrated Lay People

In the first level of the Third Order of the Incarnate Word are those lay people who aspire to the evangelical perfection according to our spirit. They participate in our mission by freely making private vows or another form of consecration. These faithful can make profession of the evangelical counsels --poverty, chastity and obedience-- while at the same time preserving their original state of life. They are privileged Members within the Third Order by their particular consecration. As lay people, they live in the world according to their lay state and obligations arising there from and they manifest their particular consecration through the evangelical counsels.
By this profession, Third Order Members dedicate themselves to intensive prayer, reading of Sacred Scripture, participation in the Eucharist, frequent reception of the Sacrament of Penance, spiritual direction, and the practice of the Spiritual Exercises.

COMMITMENT OF THIRD ORDER MEMBERS

Admission

Admission to the First Level is for those Third Order Members who desire to make a sacred consecration by way of private vows or promises, accepted by the Superiors of The Institute of the Incarnate Word.

Admission to the Second Level is for those who want to commit themselves to belong to the Third Order by way of group commitment with their own statutes approved by the Superiors of The Institute of the Incarnate Word.

Admission to the Third Level is for those who manifest an explicit desire to belong to the Third Order. They enlarge the spiritual treasure of the Family of the Incarnate Word.

Duties and Rights of Third Order Members

These can be summarized in four points as expressed in Canon Law.

1) The announcing of Salvation is a general obligation of the Members who also enjoy the right to do so. They are to work to make known the Gospel of Jesus Christ to all people in the particular circumstances in which they find themselves where no one else can do it. No member can excuse him/herself from this sacred duty of the apostolate.

2) By their witness of life, Third Order Members must perfect the temporal order with the evangelical spirit of the Gospel. This obligation is incumbent on all lay people by the commandment of Jesus, “Go and teach.” (Matthew 28:19)

3) Through the Sacrament of Matrimony, married lay people have an obligation to perfect their vocation in the building up of the People of God. Because they have transmitted life, married couples are responsible for the Christian education of children, according to the teaching of the Church.

4) Members, in addition to defending, proclaiming and living the Christian Doctrine, have the right and duty to increase their own Christian formation by acquiring a deeper knowledge of the Catholic Doctrine.

Principal Feasts

All Members of the Incarnate Word need to have an authentic understanding of Christian feasts.

The celebration of Sunday has to be lived in full awareness of the Resurrection of the Lord –“the Little Easter.” It is very important for lay people who live the rest of the week immersed in hard work, to rest on the day of the Lord in order to celebrate properly this day with dedication to spiritual matters.

In a particular way we have to solemnize the feasts of our Family: March 25 (Annunciation); Paschal Triduum (Holy Thursday through Holy Saturday); Resurrection of the Lord with its Octave; April 28 (St. Louis de Montfort); May 31 (Visitation); Pentecost; Immaculate Heart of Mary; June 29 (SS Peter & Paul, day of the Pope); August 6 (Transfiguration); August 15, (Assumption); September 14 & 15 (Exultation of the Cross, Cross of Matará & Our Lady of Sorrows); December 8 (Immaculate Conception); December 25 (Nativity); February 22 (Chair of St Peter); March 19 (St. Joseph).

On all of these days, we have to celebrate with great joy because we commemorate in them the central Mysteries of Jesus and Mary.

Life of Prayer

As worshippers of the Incarnate Word in “spirit and truth,” the principal prayer is Holy Mass. By this prayer, Third Order Members unite themselves with the praying Church; and they will desire to habitually participate in it.

Devotion to the Passion of Christ as practiced through the Stations of the Cross will manifest their heartfelt love for our Suffering Savior.
Third Order Members will wear the Cross of Matará as a sign of their devotion to the Mystery of the Passion and Cross of our Savior, in order to show that they are “friends of the Cross.”

As imitators of the Blessed Virgin Mary, they will have an unlimited trust in their good Heavenly Mother. As a sign of their devotion they will make pilgrimages to her shrines, celebrate Saturdays in her honor, adorn her images, spread her devotion, and have a particular veneration of Marian prayers, especially the Angelus and, par excellance, the Holy Rosary.