Why the name of  "Voces Verbi"?

The name comes from an expression of St. Augustine: “Every man who proclaims the Word, is the Voice of the Word”. Such a statement expresses perfectly the apostolic purpose of the group, which is to bear witness to Jesus Christ through preaching, but even more precisely, the deeper intention of a total personal identification with his Life and Mystery, to the point of not saying that the young person proclaims Christ, but that Christ himself speaks through the young person who is faithful to him.

The young person's sole objective is to deeply imitate Jesus, the Incarnate Word, who “wanted to participate in human coexistence. He sanctified human relationships, especially family relationships, from which social relationships are born, by voluntarily submitting himself to the laws of his homeland. He wanted to lead the life of a worker of his time and his region”. For "in choosing to live the common life of men, the Son of God gave this life a new value, raising it to the heights of the divine. The fully human life of Jesus in the world is the model that illumines and inspires the life of all the baptized”. 

In short, the name of the group expresses that the young people of the Voices of the Word want to show with their lives to the world today that God exists and that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. 

"Through the Incarnation of his Son and through the glory of his Resurrection according to the flesh, not only did the Father beautify creatures partially, but we can say, he clothed them entirely in beauty and dignity"
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St. John of the Cross

Nature of Voces

The “Voices of the Word” is a group of youth apologetics that, directed by the religious of the Institute of the Incarnate Word, and receiving formation and spiritual assistance from them, seeks to have an effective impact in the temporal sphere to evangelize the culture according to the charism of the Institute itself, committing themselves to the deepening, defense and witness of the Catholic faith.

They are young lay people who “living in the world, wish to participate in the spirit of the IVE in order to seek with greater security and effectiveness their own Christian perfection to achieve the sanctification of all people through the works of the apostolate”.

The group of the Voices of the Word wants and commits itself to form with the members of the Institute of the Incarnate Word “a single family, united by the same faith, the same objectives, the same mission, the same charism, the same character and the same spirit”. Being the youth expression of the Third Order, we can similarly say that it is also an “essential and constitutive part of the Institute itself, which it cannot do without”, to the extent that it is the prolongation of the action of the Institute in the areas proper to the lay life of the young

Our Purpose 

Universal Purpose

Voces has the same double end as our Religious Family, that is

The Glory of God
As St. Ignatious of Loyola used to say, Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam. The Group of Voces always seeks to do what will give the most glory to God, regarding of the time, place, apostolate or mission. Each member must keep this in mind as his end.

The Salvation of Souls
Connected with the other end, the members of Voces must always seek their own sanctification for the sanctification of the Church as a whole. Imitating Our Lord who said "for their sakes I sanctify myself, so that they also may be sanctified in truth" (Jn 17:19)

Specific Purpose

The universal end, in Voces Verbi, is sought in concrete ways:​

Inculturating the Gospel​ in the daily activities: family, school, work, politics, medicine, sports, social media, friends, suffering, art, etc... the youth must persevere to prolong the mystery of the Incarnation to all men, in the whole man, and in all of the manifestations of man

That is why it is necessary to posses a clear conception of the mystery of the Incarnation and of the consequences of its negation or deformation. If the rejection of the Incarnation is the fountain of all evil, then its acceptation is the fountain of all good. The Son of God became flesh to redeem us; assuming a nature like ours in order to enter into the world like Lord and King, and conquer all in all.

Four Objectives Which Define Us

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Spiritual Formation

This is the fundamental objective to be considered as part of the group

• Spiritual Exercises
• Consecration to the Virgin Mary
• Eucharistic Devotion
• Lectio Divina
• Common Prayer
• Spiritual Direction

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​Evangelical Apostolate

The commitment that our young people take on is that of taking the Gospel to the environment and the realities in which they live. Such as
works of mercy with the most needy, the apostolate of prayer, catechesis, missions, the proclamation of the truth through the media, politics, teaching, assistance to priests and religious, social assistance, especially with the most needy, and taking advantage of everything that can legitimately be used so that Christ may reign in all the strata of individual, family and social life, knowing that the faithful, and more specifically the laity, are in the front line of the life of the Church, since “for them the Church is the vital principle of human society”. 

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Group of Friends

Friendship can be counted among the main fruits that the group has borne since its inception and should be pursued in a positive way. For as Aristotle said, "friendship is one of the most urgent necessities of life; no one would accept to be without friends, even if he possessed all goods. If the motive is holy and lofty, it will be a holy and lofty friendship. If it is something lesser, or utilitarian... it will not even be friendship properly speaking. The love that unites friends is according to virtue, and this alone is true. For we do not love our neighbor for our own good, but for his good.

Vocational Discernment

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God's concrete plan for each young person is the most important of all that he must first understand and then choose. Their earthly and eternal happiness will depend on their answer. This element is fundamental to be able to truly help them in their faith.

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Bl. Piergiorgio himself wrote: “Earthly friendships cause pain to our hearts because of the distance from those we love, but I want us to swear a pact that knows no earthly or temporal boundaries: union in prayer".