Vatican II and the Laity

Part Two

by CAPP-USA

In earlier articles, The Role of Laity Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4, we explored the role of the laity as presented in the Church’s social teaching.

Here we will continue examining the laity’s role in light of Vatican II documents (Lumen Gentium, Apostolicam Actuositatem, Gaudium et Spes), and the specific teachings on the laity of Pope Saint Paul VI and Pope Saint John Paul II (Evangelii Nuntiandi, Christifideles Laici) and Pope Pius XI (Divini Illius Magistri)

Having established in Part 1 the laity’s special role; where that special role comes from; what, exactly, is the laity’s job, what makes it so special and how we are to fulfill it (Vatican II and the Laity Pt. 1) we turn here to understanding the ends we are directed to and what that means — for me.

Toward What End?

“Service to society on the part of the lay faithful finds its essence in the socio-economic question” and “the lay faithful have the responsibility of being in the forefront in working out a solution to the very serious problems” found there. (Pope St. John Paul II, 43)

“The Church regards as worthy of praise and consideration the work of those who…dedicate themselves to the public good of the state and undertake the burdens of this task”. (Gaudium et Spes, 75)

What constitutes these “public goods”? “[T]he good things of life and the prosperity of the family, culture, economic matters, the arts and professions, the laws of the political community, international relations, and other matters of this kind”. (Apostolicam Actuositatem, 7)

The Temporal and Spiritual Aspects of the Laity’s Role

“The true Christian does not renounce the activities of this life…he develops and perfects them, by coordinating them with the supernatural. He thus…secures for it new strength in the material and temporal order, no less than in the spiritual and eternal.”(Divini Illius Magistri, 98)

“[F]or the lay faithful, to be present and active in the world is not only an anthropological and sociological reality, but in a specific way, a theological and ecclesiological reality as well.” (Pope St. John Paul II, 15)

THE TEMPORAL

The Laity are “to make a gift of themselves so as to serve, in justice and in charity, Jesus who is himself present in all his brothers and sisters”. (Pope St. John Paul II, 14)

“[T]hrough her individual members and the whole community, the Church believes she can contribute much to make the family of man and its history more human”. (Gaudium et Spes, 40)

“In discovering and living their proper vocation and mission, the lay faithful must be formed according to the union which exists from their being members of the Church and citizens of human society.” (Pope St. John Paul II, 59)

THE SPIRITUAL

“[The Laity] are also called to allow the newness and the power of the gospel to shine out every day in their family and social life, as well as to express patiently and courageously in the contradictions of the present age their hope of future glory.” (Pope St. John Paul II, 14)

“To be able to discover the actual will of the Lord in our lives always involves the following: a receptive listening to the Word of God and the Church, fervent and constant prayer, recourse to a wise and loving spiritual guide, and a faithful discernment of the gifts and talents given by God, as well as the diverse social and historic situations in which one lives.” (Pope St. John Paul II, 43)

Therefore “our evangelizing zeal must spring from true holiness of life…which is nourished by prayer and above all by love for the Eucharist.” (Evangelii Nuntiandi, 76)

“The vocation to holiness must be recognized and lived by the lay faithful…an essential and inseparable element of the new life of Baptism, and therefore an element which determines their dignity.” (Pope St. John Paul II, 17)

What this Means for Me

“It is not a question of simply knowing what God wants from each of us in the various situations of life. The individual must do what God wants”. (Pope St. John Paul II, 58)

“In fact, in their situation in the world God manifests his plan and communicates to them their particular vocation of ‘seeking the Kingdom of God by engaging in temporal affairs and by ordering them according to the plan of God’.” (Pope St. John Paul II, 15)

“The fundamental objective of the formation of the lay faithful is an ever-clearer discovery of one’s vocation and the ever-greater willingness to live it so as to fulfil one’s mission.” (Pope St. John Paul II, 58)

“They are mistaken who…shirk their earthly responsibilities; for they are forgetting that by faith itself they are more than ever obliged to measure up to these duties, each according to one’s vocation”. (Gaudium et Spes, 43)

“[T]he lay faithful must accomplish their work with professional competence, with human honesty, and with a Christian spirit, and especially as a way of their own sanctification.” (Pope St. John Paul II, 43)

It Means Living an Integrated Life

The “split between the faith which many profess, and their daily lives deserves to be counted among the more serious errors of our age“. (Gaudium et Spes, 43)

“There cannot be two parallel lives: on the one hand, the so-called ‘spiritual’ life, with its values and demands; and on the other, the so-called ‘secular’ life, that is, life in a family, at work, in social relationships, in the responsibilities of public life and in culture. The branch, engrafted to the vine which is Christ, bears its fruit in every sphere of existence and activity.” (Pope St. John Paul II, 59)

This is why “formation will act as the best antidote to the not infrequent cases of inconsistency and even corruption marking socio-political structures. Conversely, if this evangelization of the leadership sector is neglected, it should not come as a surprise that many who are a part of it will be guided by criteria alien to the Gospel and at times openly contrary to it.” (Pope St. John Paul II, 67)

Some Caveats

“Economic development must remain under man’s determination and must not be left to the judgment of a few men or groups possessing too much economic power or of the political community alone or of certain more powerful nations.” (Gaudium et Spes, 65)

“[P]olitical authority, both in the community as such and in the representative bodies of the state, must always be exercised within the limits of the moral order and directed toward the common good—with a dynamic concept of that good—according to the juridical order legitimately established or due to be established….Accordingly, the responsibility, dignity and importance of leaders are indeed clear.” (Gaudium et Spes, 74)