Members of the MIM, then, are known as Missionaries of the Immaculate Mediatrix. But membership (not group homogeneity) in the MIM, and so type and degree of participation in its Franciscan-Marian charism, is on a threefold basis:

1) Those who are missionaries simply on the basis of unlimited consecration to the Immaculate;

2) Those who are missionaries on the basis of the Marian Vow of unlimited consecration to the Immaculate;

3) Those who are missionaries on the basis of the Marian Vow of unlimited consecration to the Immaculate, together with the profession of the form of life proper to the Franciscan Tertiaries of the Immaculate.

*******

1.) Simply on the basis of unlimited consecration to the Immaculate any believer, lay or clerical, or religious or member of any third order may become a missionary of the Immaculate Mediatrix. They are obliged, in so far as possible, to attend the regular meetings of the Cenacle to which they are inscribed, or where this is not possible because of distance to participate via printed bulletins, reviews, E-mail, Internet, etc. They should prepare for the act of consecration by following a prescribed course of doctrinal-spiritual study and reflection, preferably concluded by a retreat of several days. Thus their subsequent efforts to give a truly Marian and missionary character to their lives and activities will be facilitated.

2.) Missionaries on the basis of the Marian Vow, in addition to the above, undertake all the spiritual, moral, canonical and pastoral obligations which such a vow entails. For this reason the preparation for such commitment is both longer and more intense, and in addition carried out under the guidance of a director approved by the Franciscans of the Immaculate. Ordinarily this vow is made for a period of one year and is renewed privately on some feast of our Lady.

The distinctive feature of missionaries with this vow is their "transubstantiation" into the Immaculate so as to become her property and possession, as it were making it possible for them to say: "It is no longer I who live, but the Immaculate who lives in me." Hence, the daily routine of such members is marked by early rising (never later than six A.M.), morning prayer and meditation for at least 1/2 hour (based on the Gospel, lives of the saints, Marian classics, Kolbean texts), Mass and Communion followed by thanksgiving, the Holy Rosary, mid-day Angelus and spiritual reading, evening prayer and the blessing of our Lady before retiring. Their work should be carried out in intimate union with the Immaculate, and their should be constant effort to deepen their understanding and love of the mystery of the Immaculate Mediatrix. Mortification and penance, including fast and abstinence, silence and the hidden life, should play an important role in their personal form of life. Finally, their work as much as possible should be directed to the promotion and support of those apostolic projects undertaken by the Cenacles to spread the good word about the Immaculate Virgin.

3.) Missionary Tertiaries are all those faithful (lay and clerical) who are at least 18 years of age (and not members of any other religious order or tertiary group) and in addition to the Marian Vow profess the Marian-Franciscan form of life, governed by a proper statute known as the Marian Plan (Traccia) of life of the Franciscan Third Order of the Immaculate. In addition to the obligations of the Third Order rule with stress on poverty and penance these missionaries seek to seal their profession with the Marian Vow and so place themselves under the direction of the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate, and both singly and as fraternities commit themselves to involvement in the Marian missionary apostolate of the Franciscans of the Immaculate.

Her role, then, as Mother of the Church and of all the faithful, consummated under the Cross in the maternal sacrifice of her Heart transpierced, is made possible by this singular grace of her Immaculate Conception. Her "preservation" from sin is the means by which the Savior effects our "liberation" from sin. That is why He insists with Nicodemus that one cannot enter the kingdom of heaven, unless born again of water and the Holy Spirit, that is to say, unless we become children of Mary and of the Church.

This is the Marian key to the spirituality and missionary fervor of St. Francis of Assisi and his modern son, St. Maximilian M. Kolbe. It is the reason for the existence of the Franciscans of the Immaculate.

In the narrow sense MIM connotes all those means whereby Catholics can be involved in this specific cause entrusted for the good of all to a particular branch of the Franciscan family: the Franciscan Friars and Sisters of the Immaculate.