INTRODUCTION:
On 22nd of September, that is the 25th Sunday of ordinary time, the Catholic Church in our Archdiocese acknowledges the vital role of the laity and pray for each and everyone for a participatory mission in evangelization. It is a clear expression of the fundamental demand of every Christian vocation, namely, the universal call to holiness. John Paul II underlines this idea when he states: “We come to a full sense of the dignity of the lay faithful if we consider the prime and fundamental vocation that the Father assigns to each of them in Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit: the vocation to holiness, that is, the perfection of charity” (Christifideles Laici, 16). This reference is all the more significant because it is formulated from a Trinitarian perspective which is, of course, a logical consequence of belonging to this Church, a mystery of communion in which the identity and the unity of the laity is revealed.
A SPIRITUALITY OF COMMUNION:
The Ecclesiology of communion is a central and fundamental idea in the documents of Second Vatican Council. Paul VI explained this in an admirable way when he stated: “The meaning of the Church is a communion of Saints. ‘Communion’ speaks of a double life-giving participation: the incorporation of Christians into the life of Christ, and the communication of that life of charity to the entire body of the faithful, in this world and in the next, union with Christ and in Christ, and union among Christians, in the Church” (PAUL VI, General Audience, June 8, 1966). The documents of the Council and the later Church documents, refer to St Paul’s image of the body of Christ and the dynamism of the charisms. Lumen Gentium states: “The messianic people, although it does not actually include all men, and at times may look like a small flock, is nonetheless a lasting and sure seed of unity, hope and salvation for the whole human race” (Lumen Gentium, 9).
A SPIRITUALITY ROOTED IN THE NEWNESS OF BAPTISM:
This Sacramental reality, with its various dimension and dynamisms, has appeared in many different sections of this reflection. In light of the reality of a new birth, believers experience themselves enlightened by the Word and strengthened and animated by the Spirit who shares with them various gifts/charisms. They understand that this newness has made them effective participants in Christ’s priestly, prophetic and kingly mission. They have acquired a sense of belonging to the ecclesial community and a commitment of service that involves them in the human, social, political and religious realities and structures. Baptism, far from alienating people from their brothers and sisters, makes people fully human. Through baptism we die so that, like Christ who by the glory of the Father was raised from the dead, we too might live anew.
THE SPIRITUALITY THAT IS PROFOUNDLY CHRISTOLOGICAL:
Paul’s profession about the centrality of the person and the ministry of Christ in His life and His full incorporation into this mystery, could also be a valid expression for the laity: “I have been crucified with Christ; yet I live, no longer I, but Christ lives in me; insofar as I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who has loved me and given Him- self for me” (Galatians 2:19-20). It is the person of Jesus who attracts the attention of the laity. For the laity, Jesus’ family, social, and ministerial life, is a prototype and a point of reference in order for the laity to live faithfully in the various situations in which they find themselves. Jesus Christ was a member of a working-class family in Nazareth and not a member of the priestly class. From the beginning of His public ministry Jesus was acclaimed as the great prophet who was to come to save the people and as such, He offers the laity a paradigm. Jesus gave glory to the Father through filial obedience and through the offering of His life on behalf of His brothers and sisters provide people with a sign of the greatest possible love (cf. John 10:14).
CONCLUSION:
The laity are sanctified in their home and in the world and in their professional work. In the fullest sense of these words the laity are called to be salt of the earth and light to the world. They experience as their own the affirmations that are made at the beginning and throughout the pastoral constitution, Gaudium et spes: “The joys and the hopes, the griefs and the anxieties of the men of this age, especially those who are poor or in any way afflicted, these are the joys and hopes, the griefs and anxieties of the followers of Christ. Indeed, nothing genuinely human fails to raise an echo in their hearts” (Gaudium et Spes, 1).
Fr. Josely Rocha