To Be a Lay Person – What’s the Big Deal?
Sister Joyce Candidi, OSHJ
Welcome back to my series of blogs titled, Have You Ever Wondered? In my last blog we explored our God-given purpose in life which ultimately is to love, or as one author puts it, to “dare to transform the world one [kind] deed at a time.”[1]
The primary mission that Jesus gave to His Body – the Church – you and me, is to transform culture, to reveal a new world order – God’s Kingdom. Jesus entrusted His mission to all of the baptized but in different capacities. The majority of God’s people will hear and respond to God’s call to the lay state that is marriage or the committed single life.
The lay person has the unique gift, ability, yes, “call” by God to be the leaven in society (Mt 13:33), the salt of the earth (Mt. 5:13), the key cooperator with Christ in revealing His Kingdom of love and justice. In fact, that is why God has called the vast majority of His children to the lay state either as married couples or as committed single persons, equipped or capacitated to literally bring about a world of peace, justice and love – a reality already accomplished by Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, yet needing to be made visible primarily by those great disciples – YOU – called to the lay state.
God is calling you to begin this transformation by doing one kind deed at a time, first within your family, then your neighborhood, then your workplace, your school, within your political decisions, and finally your interest in and love of your suffering brothers and sisters across the globe through your prayer and concrete acts of charity. God has called you to directly fulfill the primary mission of His Church.
This is not always easy for many reasons. You might ask, “How can I accomplish such supernatural feats of loving, especially when it means loving my enemy, the one who scorns me, goes out of her/his way to hurt me and/or my family? The answer is that God has called some others to a vocation whose purpose is to equip you the laity with all of the spiritual strength you need to fulfill your great call. My next blog will talk about this awesome vocation.
[1] Lawrence G. Lovasik, The Hidden Power of Kindness (Manchester: Sophia Institute Press, 1962), Subtitle.