Lay men and women fulfil their vocation to God’s kingdom precisely by engaging in temporal matters according to divine plan for creation

The secular nature of the lay vocation was the topic of the Holy Father's catechesis at the General Audience of Wednesday, 3 November. Continuing his discussion of the laity's role in the Church, the Pope stressed that they do not flee the world but seek to sanctify it from within, as the leaven of society. The Holy Father's address was the 77th in the series on the mystery of the Church and was given in Italian. 

1. It is well-known that in making a distinction among the Church's members between the laity and those belonging to the clergy and to religious institutes, the Second Vatican Council identified the lay state's secular character as its distinctive feature. "Their secular character is proper and peculiar to the laity", it stated (Lumen gentium, n. 31), thus indicating a state of life that identifies the laity's vocation and mission, as Holy Orders and the priestly ministry specify the clerical state and the profession of the evangelical counsels that of religious, on the basis of the baptismal consecration common to all. 

2. I t is a question of a special vocation, which further specifies the common Christian vocation by which we are all called to "work" according to the demands of our "being", that is, as members of the Mystical Body of Christ and, in him, as adopted children of God. Again according to the Council (ibid.), the ordained are called to carry out sacred functions by concentrating their life on God in a particular way in order to obtain spiritual goods for mankind: the truth, life and love of Christ. Religious, in turn, witness to the search for the "one thing necessary" by renouncing temporal goods for the sake of God's kingdom: thus they are witnesses of heaven. Lay people as such are called and destined to honour God by engaging in temporal matters and by working together for the temporal progress of society. In this regard the Council speaks of the secular character of the lay state in the Church. When it applies this expression to the laity's vocation, the Council shows its esteem for the temporal order and, we could say, for the world; but the way in which it then defines this vocation shows how the latter transcends temporal perspectives and worldly matters. 

Church does not think world is essentially evil

3. According to the conciliar text, in fact, there is present in the lay Christian, as a Christian, a true vocation, which, as a lay person, has its particular connotation: however, it always remains a vocation to the kingdom of God! The lay Christian is certainly one who lives "in the world", where he is concerned with temporal matters so as to provide for his own needs, at the level of the individual, the family and society, and to work with others, to the extent of his own possibilities and abilities, for the economic and cultural development of the whole community, of which he should feel a living, active and responsible member. In this type of life Christ calls and supports him, and the Church acknowledges and respects him. By virtue of his being in the world, he must "seek the kingdom of God" and "direct" temporal affairs according to God's plan. This is what the Council said: "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" (Lumen gentium, n. 31). And this was reaffirmed by the 1987 Synod (propositio 4, in Christifideles laici, n. 15, and Catechism of the Catholic Church, n. 898). 

The Council goes on to say in further detail that lay people "live in the world, that is, they are engaged in each and every work and business of the earth and in the ordinary circumstances of social and family life which, as it were, constitute their very existence" (Lumen gentium, n. 31). In this way they witness to the fact that the Church, faithful to the Gospel, does not consider the world essentially evil and unreformable, but capable of receiving the saving strength of the cross. 

4. At this point the vocation of the laity and the secular character of their state and mission raise a basic issue of evangelization: the Church's relationship with the "world", her judgement on it and the authentically Christian approach to salvation. Certainly, one cannot ignore the fact that in St John's Gospel the phrase "the world" often means surroundings hostile to God and the Gospel: that human world which does not accept the light (1:10), does not recognize the Father (17:25) or the Spirit of truth (14:17); it is burning with hatred for Christ and his disciples (7:7; 15:18-19). Jesus refuses to pray for this world (17:9) and drives out the "prince of this world", who is Satan (12:31). In this respect the disciples do not belong to the world, just as Jesus himself does not belong to the world (17:14, 16; 8:23). The sharp opposition is also expressed in the First Letter of John: "We know that we belong to God, while the whole world is under the evil one" (5:19). 

Nevertheless one must not forget that in the same Gospel of St John the concept of "world" also refers to the whole human realm for which the message of salvation is meant: "God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him may not die but may have eternal life" (3:16). If God loved the world, where sin reigned, through the incarnation and redemption this world receives a new value and should be loved. It is a world destined for salvation: "God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him" (3: 17). 

5. There are many Gospel texts showing Jesus' attitude of kindness and mercy toward the world, inasmuch as he is its Saviour: the bread coming down from heaven that "gives life to the world" (Jn 6:33); in the Eucharist, Christ's flesh is given "for the life of the world" (6:51). The world thus receives Christ's divine life. It also receives his light: indeed, Christ is "the light of the world" (8:12; 9:5). His disciples too are called to be "the light of the world" (Mt 5:14): they are sent, like Jesus, "into the world" (Jn 17:18). The world is thus the sphere of evangelization and conversion: the realm where sin exercises its power and makes it felt, but where redemption is at work, in a sort of tension which the believer knows is destined to be resolved by the victory of the cross, the victory whose signs have been seen in the world since the day of the resurrection. 

Lay people help sanctify the world

This is the perspective found in the Second Vatican Council, especially in the Constitution Gaudium et spes, which deals with the Church's relations with the world, understood as "the whole human family", where Christ's redeeming power is at work and God's plan is realized and gradually brought to fulfilment (cf. Gaudium et spes, n. 2, 2). The Council does not overlook the influence of sin on the world, but stresses that the world is good inasmuch as it was created by God and saved by Christ. It is understood, therefore, that the world, regarded in the positive value it receives from creation and redemption, constitutes "the place and the means for the lay faithful to fulfil their Christian vocation, because the world itself is destined to glorify God the Father in Christ" (Christifideles laici, n. 15). Thus, according to the Council, it is their particular responsibility to work so that the Redeemer's work is fulfilled in it. 

6. Therefore, instead of fleeing the world, lay people are called to be engaged in sanctifying it. We repeat this once again, citing a beautiful Council text that can serve as the conclusion for today's catechesis: lay people "are called by God that, being led by the spirit of the Gospel, they may contribute to the sanctification of the world, as from within like leaven, by fulfilling their own particular duties. Thus, especially by the witness of their life, resplendent in faith, hope and charity they must manifest Christ to others" (Lumen gentium, n. 31).