Third order

the incarnation.

Probably his most extended treatment about what poverty actually is, is in his exhortation to the Brothers and Sisters of Penance, which will later become the Third Order.

But, you know, he...

he quotes scripture.

Indeed, we may say that he only sent out the extraordinary men to encourage men to be ordinary.

This paradox may be more exactly stated or explained when we come to deal with the very interesting matter of the Third Order, which was designed to assist ordinary men to be ordinary with an extraordinary exultation.

The point at issue at present is the audacity and simplicity of the Franciscan plan for quartering its spiritual soldiery upon the population, not by force, but by persuasion, and even by the persuasion of impotence.

It was an act of confidence and therefore a compliment.

Even the return of the twelve pioneers from their papal audience seems to have been a sort of triumphal procession.

In one place in particular, it is said the whole population of a town, men, women, and children, turned out, leaving their work and wealth and homes exactly as they stood and begging to be taken into the army of God on the spot.

According to the story, it was on this occasion that St. Francis first foreshadowed his idea of the Third Order, which enabled men to share in the movement without leaving the homes and habits of normal humanity.

For the moment, it is most important to regard this story as one example of the riot of conversion with which he was already filling all the roads of Italy.

However, there are two occasions where she is reported as having been physically present.

So one of the Capuchin friars who from time to time looked after her, uh, spiritually because she was a member of the Third Order, they would come and visit her from time to time.

He was celebrating mass one day, and, um, in those days, of course, you celebrated with your back to the people, only turning around occasionally for the preaching, the, the homily, or for, for particular elements in, within the liturgy.

And when he turned around, he was astonished to see that Therese was at the back of the church, and, uh, he continued the mass, and when he turned around at the end, she was gone.

He did.

I always like to remind, especially the third order members of that, that he became a third order Franciscan while teaching at Bonaventure.

And yeah, he was never dismissed from it or anything like that.

So as far as I can tell, he always was a member of the third order secular, even after he became a member of the Trappist order as a monk.

So You know, it says something indeed about his interest, his draw to the tradition, his commitment to the tradition, that he would take that kind of personal step.

Yeah, and there's a lot of nuance, correct, around why he didn't become a Franciscan friar.

And that's not, that's neither good nor bad.

It's just I think things played out the way that the Spirit wanted them to play out, at least in terms of the invitation Merton was given and that he responded to.

Francis, the privileges of religious life in this great order were extended to those who were not in a position to bid farewell to the world and to spend their days in the solitude of the cloister.

This he did by means of the third order secular.

Tertiaries also have a rule that was given them by St. Francis, the observance of which enables them, even in the midst of the distractions of the world, to participate in the advantages of the cloister and to attain to perfection.

In order to make it possible for all Christians to become members of this holy institution, Pope Leo XIII adapted it to change conditions.

And in 1978, Pope St. Paul VI approved and confirmed a new rule for secular Franciscans.

If you are a member of the Third Order, ask yourself whether you have a true appreciation of the privilege that is yours, whether you are faithful to the simple rules proposed for your observance.

If so, rest assured you will share in the blessings and privileges that have been promised you by St. Francis himself.

We hope you enjoyed that sermon entitled Blessed Bonaventure of Barcelona.

Hmm.

So what does that mean to be a Third Order religious?

So the Third Orders came about, and they're called Third, uh, not because of level of importance but because of historical significance of when they were founded.

So they came about, uh, initially from the Franciscan movement.

So when St. Francis founded his order, the first order chronologically founded was the brotherhood, the brothers who came to him.

September 8th, Blessed Anaclete Gonzales Flores.

Martyr, Third Order.

Anaclete Gonzales was another of the modern martyrs who fought for Christ the King in Mexico, who suffered and shed his blood for him.

He was born in Tepititlan in 1890 of unpretentious parents.

Then already he sensed the struggle that was bound to come.

To meet it, he gathered a group of Catholic students about him, and with them he organized the Gironda, a society for the defense of Catholic interests.

He himself joined the Third Order of St. Francis and strove to make himself worthy of the patron of Catholic action in a way that no one else had yet done.

He was especially concerned to place the press at the service of Catholic interests.

Indeed, we may say that he only sent out the extraordinary men to encourage men to be ordinary.

this paradox may be more exactly stated or explained when we come to deal with the very interesting matter of the third order which was designed to assist ordinary men to be ordinary with an extraordinary exaltation the point at issue at present is the audacity and simplicity of the franciscan plan for quartering its spiritual soldiery upon the populace not by force but by persuasion and even by the persuasion of impotence it was an act of confidence and therefore a compliment it was completely successful it was an example of something that clung about st francis always a kind of tact that looked like luck because it was as simple and direct as a thunderbolt There are many examples in his private relations of this sort of tactless tact, this surprise affected by striking at the heart of the matter.

It is said that a young friar was suffering from a sort of sulks between morbidity and humility, common enough in youth and hero-worship, in which he had got it into his head that his hero hated or despised him.

We can imagine how tactfully social diplomatists would steer clear of scenes and excitements, how cautiously psychologists would watch and handle such delicate cases.

We shall see the importance of this argument when we come to the whole of that higher aspect of the life of St. Francis which may be called the imitation of Christ.

upshot of the discussion was that the pope gave his verbal approval to the project and promised a more definite endorsement if the movement should grow to more considerable proportions it is probable that innocent who was himself a man of no ordinary mentality had very little doubt that it would do so anyhow he was not left long in doubt before it did do so the next passage in the history of the order is simply the story of more and more people flocking to its standard and as has already been remarked once it had begun to grow it could in its nature grow much more quickly than in the ordinary society requiring ordinary funds and public buildings even the return of the twelve pioneers from their papal audience seems to have been a sort of triumphal procession In one place in particular, it is said, the whole population of a town, men, women, and children, turned out, leaving their work and wealth and homes exactly as they stood, and begging to be taken into the army of God on the spot.

According to the story, it was on this occasion that St. Francis first foreshadowed his idea of the third order, which enabled men to share in the movement without leaving the homes and habits of normal humanity.

For the moment it is most important to regard this story as one example of the riot of conversion with which he was already filling all the roads of Italy.