139. Growing the kingdom of God among men.

Growing the kingdom of God among men.

YOUCAT Catechism + Catechism of the Catholic Church Lesson 139

Ave Maria series

139  What is the lay vocation?

The laity are sent to engage in society so that the kingdom of God can grow among men.  [897-913, 940-943]

The Linskey July 4 family picnic in western Wisconsin in earlier years. …..139

A lay person is not a second-class Christian, for he shares in the priestly ministry of Christ (the universal priesthood).  He sees to it that the people in his walk of life (in school, family and work) come to know the Gospel and learn to love Christ.  Through his faith he leaves a mark on society, business, and politics.  He supports the life of the Church, for instance, by becoming a lector or an extraordinary minister, by volunteering as a group leader, or by serving on church committees and councils (for example, the parish council or the board of directors of an institution).  Young people especially should give serious thought to the question of what place God might want them to have in the Church.

Laity (from Greek laos=people): the common state of life in the Church: baptized, non-ordained Christians who belong to the People of God.

Clergy (from Greek kleroi=share or inheritance): the state of ordained men in the Church.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord, “plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”  Jeremiah 29:11

[897-913, 940-943]

THE LAY FAITHFUL

897 "The term 'laity' is here understood to mean all the faithful except those in Holy Orders and those who belong to a religious state approved by the Church. That is, the faithful, who by Baptism are incorporated into Christ and integrated into the People of God, are made sharers in their particular way in the priestly, prophetic, and kingly office of Christ, and have their own part to play in the mission of the whole Christian people in the Church and in the World."( Lumen gentium 31)⁴³⁰ –Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition

The vocation of lay people

898 "By reason of their special vocation it belongs to the laity to seek the kingdom of God by engaging in temporal affairs and directing them according to God's will. . . . It pertains to them in a special way so to illuminate and order all temporal things with which they are closely associated that these may always be effected and grow according to Christ and may be to the glory of the Creator and Redeemer."(Lumen gentium 31 § 2)⁴³¹ –CCC

899 The initiative of lay Christians is necessary especially when the matter involves discovering or inventing the means for permeating social, political, and economic realities with the demands of Christian doctrine and life. This initiative is a normal element of the life of the Church:

Lay believers are in the front line of Church life; for them the Church is the animating principle of human society. Therefore, they in particular ought to have an ever-clearer consciousness not only of belonging to the Church, but of being the Church, that is to say, the community of the faithful on earth under the leadership of the Pope, the common Head, and of the bishops in communion with him. They are the Church.(Pius XII, Discourse, February 20, 1946:Acta Apostolicae Sedis 38 (1946) 149; quoted by John Paul II, Christifideles laici 9)⁴³² –CCC

900 Since, like all the faithful, lay Christians are entrusted by God with the apostolate by virtue of their Baptism and Confirmation, they have the right and duty, individually or grouped in associations, to work so that the divine message of salvation may be known and accepted by all men throughout the earth. This duty is the more pressing when it is only through them that men can hear the Gospel and know Christ. Their activity in ecclesial communities is so necessary that, for the most part, the apostolate of the pastors cannot be fully effective without it.(compare Lumen gentium 33)⁴³³ –CCC

The participation of lay people in Christ's priestly office

901 "Hence the laity, dedicated as they are to Christ and anointed by the Holy Spirit, are marvelously called and prepared so that even richer fruits of the Spirit may be produced in them. For all their works, prayers, and apostolic undertakings, family and married life, daily work, relaxation of mind and body, if they are accomplished in the Spirit - indeed even the hardships of life if patiently born - all these become spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. In the celebration of the Eucharist these may most fittingly be offered to the Father along with the body of the Lord. And so, worshipping everywhere by their holy actions, the laity consecrate the world itself to God, everywhere offering worship by the holiness of their lives."(Lumen gentium 34; compare Lumen gentium 10, 1 Peter 2:5)⁴³⁴ –CCC

902 In a very special way, parents share in the office of sanctifying "by leading a conjugal life in the Christian spirit and by seeing to the Christian education of their children."(Codex Iuris Canonici, can. 835 § 4)⁴³⁵ –CCC

903 Lay people who possess the required qualities can be admitted permanently to the ministries of lector and acolyte.(compare , Codes Iuris Canonici. 230 § 1)⁴³⁶  When the necessity of the Church warrants it and when ministers are lacking, lay persons, even if they are not lectors or acolytes, can also supply for certain of their offices, namely, to exercise the ministry of the word, to preside over liturgical prayers, to confer Baptism, and to distribute Holy Communion in accord with the prescriptions of law."(Codex Iuris Canonici, can. 230 § 3)⁴³⁷ –CCC

Participation in Christ's prophetic office

904 "Christ . . . fulfills this prophetic office, not only by the hierarchy . . . but also by the laity. He accordingly both establishes them as witnesses and provides them with the sense of the faith [sensus fidei] and the grace of the word"(Lumen gentium 35)⁴³⁸ –CCC

To teach in order to lead others to faith is the task of every preacher and of each believer.(St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae. III,71,4 ad 3)⁴³⁹  –CCC

905 Lay people also fulfill their prophetic mission by evangelization, "that is, the proclamation of Christ by word and the testimony of life." For lay people, "this evangelization . . . acquires a specific property and peculiar efficacy because it is accomplished in the ordinary circumstances of the world."(Lumen gentium 35 § 1, § 2)⁴⁴⁰ –CCC

This witness of life, however, is not the sole element in the apostolate; the true apostle is on the lookout for occasions of announcing Christ by word, either to unbelievers . . . or to the faithful.(Apostolicam actuositatem 6 § 3; compare  Ad gentes 15)⁴⁴¹  –CCC

906 Lay people who are capable and trained may also collaborate in catechetical formation, in teaching the sacred sciences, and in use of the communications media.(compare Codex Iuris Canonici, cann. 229; 774; 776; 780; 823 § 1)⁴⁴²  –CCC

907 "In accord with the knowledge, competence, and preeminence which they possess, [lay people] have the right and even at times a duty to manifest to the sacred pastors their opinion on matters which pertain to the good of the Church, and they have a right to make their opinion known to the other Christian faithful, with due regard to the integrity of faith and morals and reverence toward their pastors, and with consideration for the common good and the dignity of persons."(Codex Iuris Canonici, can. 212 § 3)⁴⁴³  –CCC

Participation in Christ's kingly office

908 By his obedience unto death,(compare Philippians  2:8-9)⁴⁴⁴  Christ communicated to his disciples the gift of royal freedom, so that they might "by the self-abnegation of a holy life, overcome the reign of sin in themselves"(Lumen gentium 36)⁴⁴⁵  –CCC

That man is rightly called a king who makes his own body an obedient subject and, by governing himself with suitable rigor, refuses to let his passions breed rebellion in his soul, for he exercises a kind of royal power over himself. And because he knows how to rule his own person as king, so too does he sit as its judge. He will not let himself be imprisoned by sin, or thrown headlong into wickedness.(St. Ambrose, Psalm. 118:14:30:Patrologia Latina 15:1476)⁴⁴⁶  –CCC

909 "Moreover, by uniting their forces let the laity so remedy the institutions and conditions of the world when the latter are an inducement to sin, that these may be conformed to the norms of justice, favoring rather than hindering the practice of virtue. By so doing they will impregnate culture and human works with a moral value."(Lumen gentium 36 § 3)⁴⁴⁷  –CCC

910 "The laity can also feel called, or be in fact called, to cooperate with their pastors in the service of the ecclesial community, for the sake of its growth and life. This can be done through the exercise of different kinds of ministries according to the grace and charisms which the Lord has been pleased to bestow on them."(Paul VI, Evangelii nuntiandi 73)⁴⁴⁸  –CCC

911 In the Church, "lay members of the Christian faithful can cooperate in the exercise of this power [of governance] in accord with the norm of law."(Codex Iuris Canonici, can. 129 § 2)⁴⁴⁹    And so the Church provides for their presence at particular councils, diocesan synods, pastoral councils; the exercise of the pastoral care of a parish, collaboration in finance committees, and participation in ecclesiastical tribunals, etc.( compare Codex Iuris Canonici, cann. 443 § 4; 463 §§ 1 and 2; 492 § 1; 511; 517 § 2; 536; 1421 § 2)⁴⁵⁰  –CCC

912 The faithful should "distinguish carefully between the rights and the duties which they have as belonging to the Church and those which fall to them as members of the human society. They will strive to unite the two harmoniously, remembering that in every temporal affair they are to be guided by a Christian conscience, since no human activity, even of the temporal order, can be withdrawn from God's dominion."(Lumen gentium 36 § 4)⁴⁵¹  –CCC

913 "Thus, every person, through these gifts given to him, is at once the witness and the living instrument of the mission of the Church itself 'according to the measure of Christ's bestowal."'(Lumen gentium 33 § 2; compare Ephesians 4:7)⁴⁵²  –CCC

IN BRIEF

940 "The characteristic of the lay state being a life led in the midst of the world and of secular affairs, lay people are called by God to make of their apostolate, through the vigor of their Christian spirit, a leaven in the world" (Apostolicam Actuositatem 2 § 2). –CCC

941 Lay people share in Christ's priesthood: ever more united with him, they exhibit the grace of Baptism and Confirmation in all dimensions of their personal family, social and ecclesial lives, and so fulfill the call to holiness addressed to all the baptized. –CCC

942 By virtue of their prophetic mission, lay people "are called . . . to be witnesses to Christ in all circumstances and at the very heart of the community of mankind" (Gaudium et Spes 43 § 4). –CCC

943 By virtue of their kingly mission, lay people have the power to uproot the rule of sin within themselves and in the world, by their self-denial and holiness of life (compare Lumen Gentium 36). –CCC

People  Picnic

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