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It would be foolish to neglect the fact that the lay faithful comprise 99% of the Church. Therefore, formation of the laity is the most effective means of evangelizing society and the world.
“Each community is “mature” when it professes faith, celebrates it with joy during the liturgy, lives charity, proclaims the Word of God endlessly, leaves one’s own to take it to the “peripheries,” especially to those who have not yet had the opportunity to know Christ,” Francis says in his message for the 87th World Mission Day which will be celebrated next October 20, just after the end of the Year of Faith.
The document of Vatican II on the Laity, Apostolicam Actuositatem 7, says: “God’s plan for the world is that men should work together to renew and constantly perfect the temporal order” which includes “the good things of life, prosperity of the family, culture, economic matters, the arts and professions, the laws of the political community,” international relations and development and progress. In this endeavor, the Church’s concern does not limit itself to those of the members alone. On the contrary, Christian believers must join hands together with those of other persuasions and work “for the rightful betterment of this world in which they all alike live” (The Church in the Modern World, (GS 21). They must remain attentive to the diverse views of their times and learn to draw profit even from opposition (GS 44).
Refugees and displaced persons are so many. Their situation, usually related to conflicts and mass exodus, is so dramatic and diverse that sometimes people feel that they are responding to a severe drought with a glass of water. Nevertheless, the Comboni Missionary Fr. Mike Barton, serving in the always problematic area of South Sudan, says: “Yet, my greatest joy was the investment in their children’s education which was the key to their long-term future. Their generosity to me and to each other also inspired me greatly.”
“Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”
– Read Acts 9:1-19a
