Franciscan Laity in the Mission of the Church - Carlo Dallari OFM

1. Called to follow Christ in the Church's mission

a) The dignity and the ecclesial mission of the Christian laity

It is already thirty years since Vatican II. Its "rich doctrinal, spiritual and pastoral patrimony" continues to nourish a deep reflection on the "nature, dignity, spirituality, mission and responsibility" of the Christian laity in the Church and in the world.

This global rethinking, a true grace of the Spirit who leads the Church of Christ along the paths of history, is taken up by John Paul II and harmoniously proposed again by him in the Apostolic Exhortation Christifideles laici . The Pope's intention is to "stir and promote a deeper awareness among all the faithful of the gift and responsibility they share, both as a group and as individuals, in the communion and mission of the Church" ( CL 2).

Following the essential lines of this magisterial document, we will highlight the specific meaning of the gift and responsibility of the Franciscan laity within the mission of the Church.

1. Called to follow Christ in the Church's mission

The Franciscan laity live their proper ecclesial vocation "as baptized laity". Like all Christian laity, they have a precise ecclesial identity and dignity, and they participate according to their specific vocation in the mission of the Church.

a) The dignity and the ecclesial mission of the Christian laity

The theme of the ecclesial identity and dignity of the Christian laity is treated by the Church's teaching authority, particularly after Vatican II.

Within a renewed "ecclesiology of communion" one could begin to speak of the laity no longer in a negative way, saying what they are not, but rather positively, describing what they are for the Church and identifying their position within it. This step forward was made possible by some ecclesiological choices made by the Council: especially that of presenting the Church as the People of God, which one enters through faith and baptism; This choice allowed a strong resumption of the baptismal priesthood, affirmed as "common to all the baptized", before any other differentiation due to different charisms or ministries, given or raised up by the Spirit.

Another choice has led to the rediscovery of the service of the entire Church in favour of the world; the Church, as the People of God in pilgrimage through history towards the fullness of the blessed homeland, is essentially missionary: it owes the world the announcement of the Gospel and collaboration with all persons of good will for the realization of the Kingdom of God. So, gifted by the Holy Spirit with suitable charisms and ministries, it is called to exist not for itself but for Christ and for the world. All in the Church are responsible for this mission, according to their state or condition due to the particular vocation of each baptized person; all can bring about in themselves this holiness, with which the Holy Spirit has endowed his Church, by responding to their own vocation and committing themselves to the mission common to all.

In this full context, the dignity and the ecclesial role of the Christian laity are emphasized: they are no longer considered to be second rate (those who "are not" priests, those who "are not" religious...); but they have the same ecclesial dignity as priests and religious, since they are equal to them through baptism, they belong with full right to the Church of Christ. (...) In conclusion, as the Council says, the Christian laity are those who "by baptism are incorporated into Christ, are placed in the People of God, and in their own way share the priestly, prophetic and kingly office of Christ, and to the best of their ability carry on the mission of the whole Christian people in the Church and in the world" ( LG 31). This passage contains a series of indications of the way to deepen the identity of the Christian laity:

The first detects in the sacrament of Baptism the foundation of the title to ecclesial dignity for all the faithful, because "Baptism regenerates us in the life of the Son of God; unites us to Christ and to his Body, the Church; anoints us in the Holy Spirit, making us spiritual temples" ( CL 10). The Christian novelty, expressed first by Baptism, consists in the believers' participation in the life of God or better in the coming of God "who creates new things" in human history. What characterizes the Christian as such is therefore his welcoming God in faith, an event fully manifested in the sacramental celebration of Baptism.

The second indication is in the sense of the rediscovery of the common priesthood : "the lay faithful participate, for their part, in the threefold mission of Christ as Priest, Prophet and King" ( CL 14); they participate:
- in priestly service, because Baptism, uniting them to Christ and to the Church, makes them capable of offering themselves and all their activities as a spiritual sacrifice pleasing to God;
- in prophetic service, because it enables them to welcome his Word, to live it in themselves and to witness to it in the Church and with the Church in the world;
- in kingly service, because it makes them suitable for service to the Kingdom of God and to its mission in history: "They exercise their kingship as Christians, above all in the spiritual combat in which they seek to overcome in themselves the kingdom of sin, and then 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, especially in the very least" ( Ibid. ). Conformed to Christ "Lord and King of the universe", the laity have before them, as their final goal, to be like their Lord, who came to serve and to give his life for his brothers. This "kingly" service extends to all creatures, in so far as it belongs to the laity in particular to "restore to creation all its original value. In ordering creation to the authentic well-being of humanity in an activity governed by the life of grace, they share in the exercise of the power with which the Risen Christ draws all things to himself and subjects them along with himself to the Father, so that God might be everything to everyone" ( Ibid. ).

The third indication is in the sense of carrying out, for their part, the mission of all Christian people; in the Church, to which they belong through Baptism, indeed, they occupy themselves specifically with temporal realities and with witnessing to the Kingdom of God present in the world.

The dignity of the laity is further exalted by the fact that they, personally, aim at the final purpose of the Church itself, namely holiness : "We come to the 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" ( CL 16). It belongs to the blessed Trinity to make every baptized person "holy". Also the laity, in the Church, through Baptism, can therefore call themselves "saints", and so are enabled and committed to show holiness of being through holiness of doing. This doing is the expression of life in the Spirit, through faith, hope and charity, and its specific field is participation in the human activities proper to one who lives in the "secular".

In fact, the laity "must be sanctified in everyday professional and social life. Therefore, to respond to their vocation, the lay faithful must see their daily activities as an occasion to join themselves to God, fulfil his will, serve other people and lead them to communion with God in Christ" ( CL 17). So one can no longer consider, as the only way to achieve sanctity, "flight from the world", or attachment to the spirituality of a religious Order. Every Christian may stay in the ecclesial situation in which he is called to live his proper vocation, because whatever may be his condition, as such, he is an "active subject" of the mission of the Church and of the call to holiness (cf. CL 3). Thus, "Such a vocation ought to be called an essential and inseparable element of the new life of Baptism, and therefore an element which determines their dignity. At the same time the vocation to holiness is intimately connected to mission and to the responsibility entrusted to the lay faithful in the Church and in the world" ( CL 17). Therefore, also the Christian laity fulfil the mission of building up the Church by bringing to holiness that portion of the Church that they themselves are; and, in this sanctity, the Church finds the essential condition for bringing Christ to the world and the world to Christ.

To sum up, the Franciscan laity participate in the global mission of all the People of God, in the particularity of their own secular condition. As the baptized, they carry out the mission of being witnesses in the world of the Lordship of God, of his initiative of salvation and of the mysterious reality that all human history is oriented to Him. (...) In as much as they are called to holiness, the laity witness to others that since the Incarnation everything in the world is sacred, except sin, and that conversion to God can be fully realized without "fleeing" from secular activities.

(To be continued)