Holy Mass for Lay People Engaged in the Apostolate (4 November 1982)

On Thursday, 4 November 1982, in Toledo, the Holy Father celebrated Holy Mass for Lay People engaged in the Apostolate. In his homily, the Pope declared that "lay people "incorporated into Christ with baptism and constituted as the People of God and, to their extent, made participants in the priestly, prophetic and royal office of Christ are called to holiness and are sent to announce and bring about the Kingdom of Christ until he returns."

Mr Cardinal,
dear brothers and sisters.

1. In the words of the Gospel that we have proclaimed, Christ himself highlights at the same time the dignity and responsibility of the Christian. When the Lord exclaims: "You are the salt of the earth" ( Mt 5:13), he underlines at the same time that salt must not lose its flavor if it is to be useful to man. And when he states: "You are the light of the world" ( Mt 5, 14), he indicates as a consequence that this light "illuminates all those in the house" ( Mt 5, 15). And, immediately afterwards, he insists: "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven" ( Mt 5, 16).

It is difficult to find a more suitable and beautiful evangelical metaphor to express the dignity of the disciple of Christ and his consequent responsibility. The Second Vatican Council itself was inspired by this evangelical text, when speaking about the apostolate of the laity; that is, of their mission with which they participate in the life of the Church and in the service of society (cf. Apostolicam Actuositatem , 6).

You are the salt of the earth!

You are the light of the world!

“The Christian vocation is, by its very nature, a vocation to the apostolate” ( Apostolicam Actuositatem , 2).

2. In light of this dignity and responsibility, proclaimed by the Gospel and the Magisterium of the Church, I wish to greet all the representatives of the laity of Spain and, from this historic primate seat of Toledo, send them a message that illuminates the paths of the apostolate of lay people in this hour of grace.

I greet, first of all, the Cardinal Archbishop of this diocese, as well as the Pastors and all the People of God of Toledo and its ecclesiastical Province present here.

The headquarters of Toledo is a favorable place for this meeting, due to the fact that it is intimately linked to important moments of the faith and culture of the Church in Spain. We cannot forget the Toledo Councils which were able to find adequate formulas for the profession of the Christian faith in its fundamental Trinitarian and Christological contents.

Toledo was a center of dialogue and coexistence between people of different origins and religions. It was also a crossroads of cultures that crossed the borders of Spain, to strongly influence the culture of Western Europe. It is a city of great Christian tradition which is reflected in its artistic monuments and in the pictorial expression of artists of universal stature such as El Greco.

These traditional values ​​continue to have a positive influence on the life of the Toledo people who preserve the memory of their great medieval shepherds, such as Saint Eugene and Saint Ildefonso. It is the memory of a tradition that extends through many generations of Christians who have spread throughout the country, animating generous missionary movements on other continents.

In this regard, I cannot fail to greet here, in this imperial city, its illustrious Mozarabic community, heir to the heroic Christians of centuries ago, whose parishioners keep alive, under the direct responsibility of the Cardinal Primate, the spiritual heritage of their venerable liturgy of great theological and pastoral richness, without forgetting that in the post-conciliar liturgy the singing of the "Our Father" throughout Spain is precisely that of the Mozarabic liturgy.

3. From this living tradition that nourishes your faith and stimulates your responsibility as Christians, we return to the source of the Word, proclaimed in this celebration. It is the same Apostle of the Gentiles who speaks to us to teach us what it means to be apostles of Christ; he challenges us to show us what participation in the mission of the Church requires.

Paul teaches with special vigor that we are witnesses of God in Jesus Christ, and Christ “crucified” ( 1 Cor 2, 1-3). He who recognizes and confesses him as Lord is under the manifestation and power of the Spirit (cf. 1 Cor 2, 4).

All Christians are called to constantly renew their profession of faith, with word and life, as a full adherence to Christ, the Son of God made man, crucified for our salvation and risen by the power of God.

Such is the "divine, mysterious wisdom that remained hidden, which God preordained before the ages for our glory" ( 1 Cor 2:7). This is the fundamental nucleus of the Gospel that Christ entrusted to his Church and transmitted by her in the living tradition that the Magisterium of the apostolic succession teaches, thus enriching the heritage of the People of God who possess the "sense of faith", under the assistance prompts of the Holy Spirit.

The nucleus of the announcement and testimony of the Christian faith is rooted here. For this reason, the first attitude of the witness of faith is to profess this same faith that he preaches, allowing himself to be meekly converted by the Spirit of God and conforming his life to this divine Wisdom.

4. As God's witnesses, we are not owners who can dispose of the announcement received as they please; we are responsible for a gift that must be transmitted faithfully. With fear and trembling for his own fragility, the Apostle trusts in the manifestation of the Spirit, in the persuasive force of the "power of God" ( 1 Cor 2, 4-5).

It is not a question of adapting the Gospel to the wisdom of the world. With words that could translate Paul's experience, today we could say: it is not the analyzes of reality, or the use of social sciences, or the use of statistics, or the perfection of organizational methods and techniques - useful and valid tools, at times - which will determine the contents of the Gospel received and professed. And even less will it be connivance with secularized ideologies that will open hearts to the announcement of salvation. The apostle must not even allow himself to be seduced by the alleged wisdom of the "princes of this age" ( 1 Cor 2:6), founded on power, wealth and pleasure which, while proposing the mirage of human happiness, actually leads to a total destruction of those who succumb to his cult.

Only Christ! We proclaim it grateful and amazed. In him there is already the fullness of what "God has prepared for those who love him" ( 1 Cor 2, 9). It is the announcement that the Church entrusts to all those who are called to proclaim, celebrate, communicate and live the infinite Love of divine Wisdom. This is the sublime science that preserves the flavor of salt so that it does not become insipid, that feeds the light of the lamp so that it illuminates the depths of the human heart and guides its secret aspirations, its research and its hopes.

5. The Pope urges all lay people to assume their dignity and responsibility with coherence and vigor. The Pope trusts in the Spanish lay people, and expects great things from all of them for the glory of God and for the service of man! Yes, as I have already recalled, the Christian vocation is essentially apostolic; only in this dimension of service to the Gospel will the Christian encounter the fullness of his dignity and responsibility.

In fact, lay people "incorporated into Christ with baptism and constituted as the People of God and, to their extent, made participants in the priestly, prophetic and royal office of Christ" ( Lumen Gentium , 31), are called to holiness and are sent to announce and bring about the Kingdom of Christ until he returns.

If you want to be faithful to this dignity, it is not enough to passively collect the riches of faith handed down by your tradition and culture. You are entrusted with a treasure, you are offered talents that must be accepted with responsibility so that they bear fruit abundantly.

The grace of baptism and confirmation which the Eucharist renews and penance restores, possesses living energies to revitalize faith and to orient, with the creative dynamism of the Holy Spirit, the activity of the members of the mystical Body. Lay people are also called to this interior spiritual growth that leads to holiness, and to this creative apostolic dedication, which makes them collaborators of the Holy Spirit, who with his gifts renews, rejuvenates and brings the work of Christ to perfection (cf. Lumen Gentium , 4).

6. It will be necessary to confirm, once again, that the growth in the affirmation of the Christian identity of the lay person does not diminish or limit his possibilities; but rather does it define, nourish and strengthen this presence and this specific and original activity entrusted by the Church to her children in the various fields of personal, professional and social activity?

The same Gospel pushes us to share every situation and condition of man, with a passionate love for everything that concerns his dignity and his rights, based on his condition as a creature of God, "made in his image and likeness" ( Gen 1, 26), participant in divine filiation through the grace of Christ.

The Second Vatican Council rightly underlined that the main task of lay Catholics is to imbue and transform the entire fabric of human coexistence with the values ​​of the Gospel (cf. Lumen Gentium , 36) with the announcement of a Christian anthropology that derives from these values.

Paul VI, in his apostolic exhortation Evangelii Nuntiandi thus specifies the fields of the lay apostolate: "The proper path of their evangelizing activity is the vast and complex world of politics, society, economics, but also culture, science , of the arts, of international life, of the means of social communication, as well as other realities open to evangelization, such as love, family, the education of children and young people, professional work, suffering..." (Paul VI, Evangelii Nuntiandi , 70). There is no human activity that is extraneous to the responsible evangelizing task of the laity.

7. Among the most urgent commitments of the lay apostolate I would like to highlight some of greater importance.

I think concretely of the testimony of life and the evangelizing effort that the Christian family requires; to the fact that Christian spouses experience the sacrament of marriage as a participation in the fruitful and indissoluble union between Christ and the Church; that they are the founders and animators of the domestic church, the family, with the commitment to an integral, ethical and religious education of their children; that open the horizons of different Christian vocations to young people, as a challenge of fullness to the alternatives of hedonistic consumerism or atheistic materialism.

I turn my gaze to the vast field of the lay apostolate in the world of work, shaken by strong crises and nobly moved by aspirations of dignity, solidarity, fraternity, which are called, by their undeniable and sometimes unconscious Christian roots, to bear fruits of justice and authentically human development.

I also see the field of politics open to the lay Catholic, in which the most delicate decisions regarding the problems of life, education and the economy are frequently made; and, therefore, of the dignity and rights of man, of justice and peaceful coexistence in society. The Christian knows that starting from the luminous teachings of the Church, and without the need to follow a specific political or party formula, he must contribute to the formation of a more worthy and respectful society of human rights, based on the principles of justice and peace.

I think, finally, of the world of culture. Lay Catholics, in their work as intellectuals or scientists, educators and artists, are called to create anew, from the immense cultural richness of the peoples of Spain, an authentic culture of truth and goodness, of beauty and progress, which can contribute to the fruitful dialogue between science and faith, Christian culture and universal civilization.

8. No Christian is exempt from his evangelizing responsibility. No one can be replaced in the demands of his personal apostolate. Every lay person has a field of apostolate in their personal experience.

The Second Vatican Council strongly recommended the associative forms of the lay apostolate (cf. Apostolicam Actuositatem , 18-20).

The associative apostolate is fundamental for coagulating and expressing all the energies inherent in the Christian vocation, for reawakening and strengthening the presence and testimony of Christian life in the different environments and places of society. This associative apostolate has the duty to raise awareness and educate all the living energies, rich in faith and religiosity, which are in the soul and culture of your people.

I know that critical situations of associative identity are being overcome among you. The time has come to definitively overcome these situations with a clear analysis that allows you to identify the causes, and above all to reject any errors that may have infiltrated between you. However, I believe that the loyalty and renewed enthusiasm of your associations are much stronger, which the Pope wants to encourage today with his presence, with his affection and his prayer.

9. Today there are numerous and varied groups present, a sign of the vitality and fruitfulness of the faith of this land of Spain. Catholic Action is present in its various branches; spiritual movements, family groups, youth groups are represented... A vast panorama that enriches the vitality of the Body of Christ. I greet each and every one of the movements and associations represented.

And, faced with the impossibility of saying a specific word for each one, I would like to offer you some reflections centered on what characterizes you and at the same time unites you: your ecclesiality.

You are Church! From this fundamental characteristic arise the characteristics of a life, a love, a service and a presence that must be authentically ecclesial. Hence the need for a communion without fractures with the communion of the Church, of a life nourished by the sources of the sacraments, of an obedience imbued with love and responsibility towards the pastors of the Church.

You are Church! You must also demonstrate this with open communion and collaboration between your different charisms, the different forms of apostolate and service, promoting your integration in the particular Churches and parish communities, where the family of God gathers and is visibly gathered.

The priests, to whom the task of spiritual animation of groups and movements is entrusted, must represent among you this guarantee of ecclesiality and communion.

Counselors and assistants of the lay apostolate, dear priests who work in fraternal communion with the laity, I say to you: feel fully identified with the association or group that has been entrusted to you; share in his anxieties and concerns, be a sign of ecclesial unity and communion, educators of the faith, animators of the authentic apostolic and missionary spirit of the Church.

10. I would like to end with a special recommendation that I entrust to the Christian hearts of all the lay people of Spain.

No apostolate exists (both for priests and lay people) without interior life, without prayer, without a persevering tension towards holiness. This holiness, according to the words we proclaimed in this celebration, is the gift of Wisdom, which for the Christian is a particular implementation of the Holy Spirit received in baptism and confirmation: "May God grant me to speak according to knowledge / and to think in way worthy of the gifts received, / because he is the guide of wisdom and the wise receive guidance from him. / In his power are we and our words, / all intelligence and all our ability ”( Wis 7, 15-16).

You are all called to holiness! Just as magnificent testimonies of holiness flourished in the Spain of the Golden Age due to the Catholic Reformation and the Council of Trent, so now, in the era of the ecclesial renewal of Vatican II, new testimonies of holiness flourish, especially among the lay people of Spain. You need the abundance of the Holy Spirit to carry out with his Wisdom the new and original task of the lay apostolate! For this reason you must be united with Christ, to participate in his priestly, prophetic and regal function, in the difficult and wonderful circumstances of the Church and the world today.

11. Yes. We must be in his hands to be able to realize our Christian vocation!

In his hands to bring everyone to God!

In the hands of eternal Wisdom to participate fruitfully in the mission of Christ himself!

In the hands of God to build his kingdom in the temporal realities of this world!

Dear brothers and sisters.

Today I ask the Lord, for all of you, for all lay people, a holiness that flourishes in an original and creative apostolate, imbued with divine wisdom.

I implore him through the intercession of the Virgin, who here in Toledo, among other invocations, has the beautiful evangelical title of our Lady of Peace, so that you may be builders of the peace of Christ in the world.

Together with him I remind you of your dignity and your responsibility:
You are the salt of the earth!

You are the light of the world!

Before finishing, I want to invite you to raise your prayers for the latest victim and for all the victims of terrorism in Spain, so that the nation, which feels wounded in its profound aspirations for peace and harmony, may obtain liberation from the Lord from the painful phenomenon of terrorism and that everyone understands that violence is no solution to human problems, as well as always being anti-Christian. Amen.

© Copyright 1982 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana

Copyright © Dicastery for Communication - Libreria Editrice Vaticana