Holiness, Formation and Evangelization

Catholic News Agency reports on the Pope's message after Sunday Mass in Vatican City. He explains the importance of a life of holiness combined with a commitment to an apostolate:

The Pope specifically recalled the importance given by Vatican Council II to the role of the laity, to whom, he noted, that it dedicated "an entire chapter, the fourth, of the Constitution 'Lumen gentium'“

He said that this document defined “their vocation and their mission, which are rooted in Baptism and Confirmation and oriented towards 'engaging in temporal affairs and ... ordering them according to the plan of God'."

The Fathers of the second Vatican Council, said the Pope, also approved a specific decree on the apostolate of the laity, called 'Apostolicam actuositatem.'

This document, he said, highlights how "the 'success of the lay apostolate depends upon the laity's living union with Christ,' in other words, it depends on a robust spirituality, nourished by active participation in the liturgy and expressed in the manner of the evangelical Beatitudes."

"For the laity,” the Pope stressed, “professional competence, a sense of family, public spirit and social virtues are also of great importance.”

He said however that “if it is true that they are called individually to offer their personal witness - particularly valuable wherever the Church's freedom is impeded - the Council still insists on the importance of an organized apostolate, which is necessary in order to influence common attitudes, social conditions and public institutions.”

He recalled that his predecessor, John Paul II, saw this idea as so important, that he dedicated the Synod of 1987 to exploring the vocation and mission of the laity.

Out of this, Benedict said, came the Apostolic Exhortation 'Christifideles laici'.

His counsel echoes the wisdom many Cursillistas will recognize. Do we not recognize the dynamic interaction of Holiness and Evangelization as two of the three pillars of our relationship with God? For how can we live authentic holiness if we're not bearing Christ's presence in our lives to others? How can we hope to offer such a witness unless we commit to prayer and celebration of the sacraments, through which we can cooperate with God's grace and manifest holiness? How can we make such a commitment without a thorough maturation in our understanding of and relationship to the Lord and his Church? Holiness, formation and evangelization strengthen each another, and so allow us to live lives of genuine Faith.

If our Faith is to influence the world, then we must be sure to nourish the foundation on which our Faith stands. When we commit to living the cornerstones of our response to God, then we're living the relationship that transforms hearts and unites the enshadowed world to the Everlasting Light. Let us always live this commitment to the full. The world counts on us!