To live fraternal charity is an imperative of the Incarnate Word, He was the one who elevated fraternal love to a sublime degree when he left to men the commandment of love as a testament...

Third Order Directory, 413

Members of the Third Order

The lay people of the Third Order of the Institute of the Incarnate Word form a single family with us, united by the same faith, the same aims, the same mission, the same charism, the same character and the same spirit.

There are three different levels of commitment:

First level: Those lay faithful who are freely bound by private vows or by some other sacred bond.

Second level: Constituted by different Lay Movements, each of these with its own organization, so that the laity who want to can associate for the apostolate and mission.

Third level: Constituted in a very broad way, by all those lay Christian faithful or priests from all over the world who, being friends, sympathizers, benefactors, relatives, etc., want to share with us the spirit of our religious family, thus forming part of the Brotherhood. of the Incarnate Word.

What are the duties of the members?

We can summarize the duties and rights that the Code of Canon Law imposes on the laity in four aspects:

The tertiaries “have a general obligation, and enjoy the right, both personally and in association, to work so that the divine message of salvation is known and received by all men throughout the world, an obligation that compels them even more in those circumstances in which only through them can men hear the Gospel and know Jesus Christ.” None of the members of this Third Order can dispense with this sacred duty of the apostolate.

The laity must also imbue and perfect the temporal order with the evangelical spirit, and thus bear witness to Christ, managing temporal things. 450 This is a fundamental obligation. It is the apostolate properly understood; the testimony of life that every layperson has to give by virtue of the mandate to go and teach (Mt 28:19).

Those who live their vocation in the conjugal state through sacramental matrimony, a sacrament proper to the laity, are obliged to use this means to work in the building up of the people of God. Having transmitted (or opened to trasmitting) life, they must be responsible educators and, therefore, educate their children in a Christian way according to the doctrine taught by the Church.

Furthermore, in order to live according to Christian doctrine, to proclaim it, to defend it when necessary, they have the duty and the right to form themselves in a Christian way, acquiring a deep knowledge of Catholic doctrine, especially the Social Doctrine of the Church.

Prayers of
the third order

Holy Mass:

As worshipers in spirit and in truth of the Incarnate Word, the main prayer is the Holy Mass, by which
they join the whole praying Church. They should noy only seek to hear it on Sundays but also as often as
possible.

The Passion:

Devotion to the Way of the Cross and having an intimate love of the mystery of the Passion and of the Cross

Marian Prayers:
As imitators of the Blessed Virgin Mary they should have an unlimited trust in this good Mother of Heaven, trying to make a pilgrimage to her sanctuaries, celebrating Saturdays in her honor, illuminating and adorning her images, spreading her devotion, having a particular veneration to Marian prayers, especially to the prayer of the Angelus and, in particular, the Marian prayer par excellence, the Holy Rosary, which they should try to pray daily.