We members of the Institute of the Incarnate Word want to be characterized and stand out by living in “contagious joy.”[1] That joy that is “the fruit of the Holy Spirit and the effect of charity”[2] and that is born from considering that “God is infinite joy.”[3] That is the good news, the great joy[4]—a consequence of the Incarnation—that, with our lives, we want to announce to the whole world. This is our proclamation: that with the coming to the world of the Word who became flesh and dwelt among us, “truth prevails over lies, good over evil, beauty over ugliness, love over hate, peace over war, mercy over vengeance, life over death, grace over sin… in short, being over nothingness, the Virgin over Satan, Christ over the Antichrist, God over all.”[5]

For this reason, we members of the Institute of the Incarnate Word desire to “try to live out the essence of the Kingdom that Jesus Christ came to inaugurate on earth: The kingdom of God is… righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit (Rom 14:17).”[6] That is, we make use of all means so that “nobody may be disturbed or grieved in the house of God,”[7] and we strive to bear with patience the weaknesses of our brothers, both bodily and spiritual; by seeking the good of others before our own; ultimately, by putting sincere fraternal love into practice. For we are convinced that, without charity, there cannot be authentic joy. And “a fraternity without joy is a fraternity that fades away.”[8]

Joy is “the Christian’s gigantic secret,”[9] and it is also our loud secret. In a special way, the Paschal Mystery of our Lord is an inexhaustible source of spirituality. His Passion, His Death, His descent into hell, His Resurrection, illuminate our lives.[10] Therefore, joy is an essential element of Christian spirituality, and it is so in our spirituality too.[11] Because of this, our constant petition is that God would give us the grace to “be experts in the wisdom of the cross, in the love of the cross, and in the joy of the cross,”[12] for we are aware that the suffering of the cross is the necessary and unavoidable condition for the glory of the Resurrection. Jesus did not deceive us; He told us clearly, You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy,[13] and He assured us, I will see you again and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.[14] Because true joy, the serene and profound joy that is maintained in spite of difficulties and even “in sufferings,”[15] is precisely that which is born from the cross[16]: “the cross of the humility of reason in the face of mystery; the cross of the will in the faithful fulfillment of all moral, natural, and revealed law; the cross of one’s own arduous, and at times less than gratifying, duty; the cross of patience in illness and in everyday difficulties; the cross of the tireless zeal to respond to our own vocation; and the cross of the struggle against the passions and attacks of evil.”[17]

“Only the one who is joyful in love is truly joyful: ‘Where charity is joyful, there is festivity.’ Therefore, there is no greater motive for joy than the Resurrection of the Lord because His triumph is our triumph, His victory is our victory.”[18] Hence, it is very characteristic of us to “appropriately celebrate the great solemnities, especially the Octave of Easter, Sundays, and the feast days of Our Lady and of the Apostles.”[19] Furthermore, in our communities, we have weekly “another kind of minor feast: recreation,”[20] and we have to say that, in our humble experience, our testimony of community joy has given rise and gives rise to an enormous attraction toward religious life. In fact, it is a source of new vocations and is a support for our perseverance.[21]

Therefore, even if we have to sow in tears, since our joy is “spiritual and supernatural,”[22] we know that we must “rejoice always and in everything”[23] and conserve and cultivate the joy of evangelizing.[24] For, in the end, we are “followers of the Risen One,”[25] and, in truth, “the only great tragedy in life, is not to become a saint.”[26]

[1] Constitutions, 231.

[2] Ibid., 95.

[3]Directory of Spirituality, 210, quoting Saint Teresa of the Andes, Letters, 101.

[4] Lk 2:10.

[5] Directory of Spirituality, 210.

[6] Constitutions, 93.

[7] Ibid., 95, quoting Saint Benedict, Holy Rule, 31.

[8] Directorio de Vida Fraterna, 40; our translation.

[9] Directory of Spirituality, 204; the phrase is G. K. Chesterton’s.

[10] Constitutions, 42.

[11] Directory of Spirituality, 203.

[12] Constitutions, 42.

[13] Jn 16:20.

[14] Jn 16:22.

[15] Directory of Spirituality, 207.

[16] Cf. Directory of Spirituality, 145.

[17] Ibid., 142, quoting Saint John Paul II, “Homily in Saint Thomas Parish,” at Castel Gandolfo, September 15, 1991; OR (9/20/1991) Spanish Edition.

[18] Directory of Spirituality, 212, quoting Saint John Chrysostom, quoted by Josef Pieper, Una Teoría de la Fiesta, Madrid 1974, 33.

[19] Ibid.

[20] Ibid., 213.

[21] Cf. Directorio de Vida Fraterna, 41.

[22] Ibid., 204; our translation.

[23] Ibid., 205; our translation.

[24] Directorio de Misiones Ad Gentes, 144; cf. Evangelii Nuntiandi, 80.

[25] Directory of Spirituality, 208.

[26] Pope Francis, Gaudete et Exsultate, 34, quoting León Bloy, La femme pauvre, Paris, II, 27.