Meeting with the Catholic Laity (12 May 1982)

On Wednesday, 12 May 1982, the Holy Father addressed the Catholic laity in the Lisbon Cathedral, where he spoke on their “vocation, responsibility and mission as lay people.”

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Many thanks, brothers and sisters, for the friendship and joy of this meeting, here, in the heart of Lisbon, ancient and noble, full of history and powerful with life.

I thank Your Eminence, Mr. Cardinal Patriarch, Dom António Ribeiro! With grateful words he wanted to greet me and interpret the feelings, not only of those present, of the Church of this Patriarchate of Lisbon - represented here so distinctly - but of those who wished to take part in this meeting with the Pope, the first on a strictly ecclesial level, in 'illustrious "Lusitana house". It is a moment of jubilation and gratitude, Your Eminence said; and I desire, with all my heart, that it also brings happiness and fullness to everyone, certain that the Lord is with us, gathered here "in his name" (cf. Mt 18, 20).

1. I come to you driven by the love of Christ, on a visit which is, by its nature, pastoral; and I come above all on a pilgrimage to Fatima, to celebrate there, in adoration and gratitude, "the mercies of the Lord", with Mary, the servant of the Lord. Every place and meeting - very grateful, without a doubt - also has the character of a stage in my pilgrimage in thanks to the Madonna and, with her and through her, in thanks to the Almighty who "did great things for me" (cf. Luke 1 , 49).

In preparing for this great meeting, in this beautiful ancient Cathedral, I thought of you and prayed for you with great affection; and, learning about this city, I tried to imagine the protagonists of the past and present, in this scenario, where little by little the Kingdom of Christ was established, well remembered by the imposing statue that now dominates the city, in gesture, not of power, but of offering: for Christ, reigning is serving and loving.

2. In my praise to God for the evangelizing work, completed or begun here, I thought of the solidity of the secular roots of the Catholics of Portugal, whose ancestors in carrying out the historical and religious mission inserted in universal history - which without such protagonists perhaps it would at least be different - they passed down a legacy to them, full of glory and responsibility; glory to which I pay homage of admiration, in this hour; and responsibility which, due to its ecclesial dimension, I want to highlight here. Allow me to address these reflections, in particular, to the Catholic laity.

Look, brothers and sisters who are here and represent this Laity, I have no doubt that you are aware of this past and that, in its light, you feel honored to live the present, committed to building the future, every day more according to plan of God the Creator, Redeemer and Lord of history. In this certainty, which is united with the certainty of the power of the Master and Lord of the Church, which is always "the stable principle and permanent center of the mission that God himself has entrusted to every man", Christ Jesus (John Paul II, Redemptor Hominis , 11), is the basis of the great hope with which I see the Catholic laity of your country.

The Church of God, in its entirety, and immediately that which lives, prays, fights and hopes, in all the blessed "Land of Saint Mary", trusts in you, willing to collaborate with Christ, who did not come to be served, but to serve (cf. Mt 20, 28), out of fidelity to the Father and fidelity to man.

3. You have made a choice: Christ, in the Church; choice made once and for all, with the acceptance of the priceless gift of Baptism, made conscious on the day of the First Communion, ratified with the sacrament of Confirmation and enlivened later with all sacramental life, whose "center and apex is always the 'Eucharist' ( Lumen Gentium , 11).

And what is your vocation, responsibility and mission as lay people? You know it well: the lay person is integrated into the People of God, who walk in this world towards their heavenly homeland. You have been conquered and sanctified by Christ, who redeemed you at a great price: it was not with gold or silver, but with his precious blood (cf. 1 Pt 1, 18). And you were called to holiness, having Christ himself as your model, in his integral donation to the Father and to your brothers: "As he who called you to holiness, so be holy in all your actions" ( 1 Pt 1, 15 ). But note that holiness, more than an achievement, is a gift that is granted to you: the love of God was spread in your hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to you (cf. Rom 5, 5).

From the beginning, Christians recognized themselves as the great favorites of the Lord. They gathered to give thanks, celebrating the gift par excellence - the Eucharist - in assembly. This meeting is so important that, little by little, Christians were called like it: they themselves are the Church. And as a symbol they also gave the meeting room the name of Church. You have been called by God to the life of community, of Church. And again, it is a grace: it was the Lord who gathered you into Church, who made you Church, united with the entire ecclesial body spread throughout the world.

The gift of God that was given to you is the sign that you are loved by him. Thus, being a Christian is not, first of all, taking on an infinity of commitments and obligations, but it is letting oneself be loved by God, like Christ himself who is loved and feels loved by the Father, in accordance with all his life and expressly says: “The Father loves me” ( Jn 10:17).

Our profession of faith begins with these words: “I believe in God the Father”. In them the whole Christian attitude is summarized: letting oneself be loved by God as Father. Each of us is loved by God and known by our name as a child of him. This is why it is always possible to go to him with confidence. It was Christ, as the older "brother", who taught us this.

4. Loved by God, therefore, you will certainly ask: "What is it that we have to do, as lay people?". The Christian can never limit himself to a purely passive attitude, only to receiving. Each is given a different "gift", in accordance with the outpouring of the Spirit, but for the common benefit.

From here, from the very nature of the baptized, derives the need for the apostolate in the Church, which is a sacrament constituted by Christ to reach all men, and for this reason it is continually vivified by the Holy Spirit.

Your mission as Laity, therefore, is fundamentally the sanctification of the world, through your personal sanctification, for the restoration of the world. The Second Vatican Council, which dealt so much with the laity and their role in the Church, accentuated their secular nature well. It is the Christian who lives in the world, responsible for the Christian construction of the temporal order, in its various sectors: in politics, in culture, in the arts, in industry, in commerce, in agriculture. . .

The Church must be present in all sectors of human activity and nothing that is human can remain alien to it. And it is you, mainly, dear lay people, who must point this out. When the Church is accused of being absent from some sector or of not caring about some human problem, it would be equivalent to grieving the absence of wise lay people or the non-implementation of Christians in that specific sector of human life. This is why I make a warm appeal to you: do not let the Church remain absent in any area of ​​the life of your dear Nation. Everything must be permeated by the ferment of the Gospel of Christ and illuminated by his light. It's your job to do it!

5. The individual lay apostolate, made up of personal activities and, above all, Christian testimony, must be joined by associated forms of apostolate, in which lay people come together to achieve certain objectives together. Instead of excluding each other, the two forms complement each other. No associated form of apostolate is effective without the personal testimony of each member. On the other hand, faced with modern needs, which far exceed individual capabilities, a united effort is required to bring the evangelical message to the heart of civilization.

There are many movements and forms of organization of the lay apostolate; all are important and useful if imbued with a true spirit of ecclesial and Christian service. Each has its own objectives, with its own methods in its sector and in its environment; but it is essential to be aware of the complementarity and establish bonds of esteem between them, so that the dialogue establishes a certain union of efforts and also real collaboration. We belong to the same Church. We must encourage each other to do good. We all need to work together for the same cause. Christ is only one. Even though there are many ministries and activities, we all contribute to the same goal: that Christ is proclaimed, that men encounter salvation, that the common good is served and, finally, that God is glorified in everything.

6. Generous feeling and courageous testimony of your identity, we know, transcends mere sociological qualifications; demands something profoundly personal, which inserts it into the "ontological" community of Christ's disciples, into the "life" that is Christ himself, to form "one thing" with him and with his brothers, and order a union of forces and intentions, for the human-divine fruitfulness of one's life to be shared and of the activity to be developed.

We can already glimpse them, as indeclinable imperatives: the cultivation of faith and divine life, the frequency of the sacraments and the duty of constant prayer; and the necessity, more than the simple advantage, of fidelity to the Chair of Peter, of deep communion with the Hierarchy, well inserted in the perspectives of the local Church, adhering to your Bishops and in harmony with the national Episcopal Commissions, in union with the clergy and with the religious; the need for associations realistically organized and shaped by love: "By this everyone will recognize that you are my disciples, if you love one another, as I have loved you" ( Jn 13, 34ff).

Dialogue, presence and insertion into the world, which the recent Council was so concerned with, can frighten or seduce. But you, brothers and sisters, know that the Lord was also thinking today in which we live, when he, with love, recommended: "Do not let your hearts be troubled!" ( Jn 14, 27). And turning to the Father, always in the same context, he prayed for each of us with these words: "Father, sanctify them in the truth, your word is truth" ( Jn 17, 17).

Faithful to the Truth, brothers and sisters, let us continue to participate in the kingship of Christ, serving, as he, Lord and Master, did and taught. This is the path: Christians in the warmth of personal intimacy; Christians within the hearth, as spouses, fathers and mothers and children of the family, in the "domestic church"; Christians in the street, as situated men and women; Christians in community life, at work, in professional and entrepreneurial meetings, in groups, in trade unions, in entertainment, in free time, etc.; Christians in society, whether they hold high positions or perform humble services; Christians in sharing the fate of less favored brothers; Christians in social and political participation; finally, Christians always, in the presence and glorification of God, Lord of life and history.

And so, with a heart full of trust and love, I wish, brothers and sisters, that “all that is honest, all that is right, and all that is pure . . . be the object of your thoughts. . . And the God of peace will be with you!” (cf. Phil 4, 8s).

Returning to your homes, bring the Pope's blessing for your families.

Courage! With affection in Christ, I give you the apostolic blessing.
 

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