Laity and the mission of the Church

 This morning's reflection on the laity in the church was an interesting one.   Just when I thought and was getting ready to listen to a long series of thoughts we all know, but are unwilling to practice, I was in for a surprise.  

Fr Albert Johnson, citing Christifideles Laici, reminded us that as priests and religious we DO NOT SHARE the mission of the Church with the laity.  Hell, we do not own it for ourselves in the first place!! The laity (defined as those called to holiness in their own way of life in the secular realities of the world) own the Church, as much as priests and religious.  The latter do not have the monopoly over the Church! 

As priests and religious we have a particular role and responsibility to fulfil - the religious aspect of the mission.  Similarly the laity have their role and responsibility clearly cut out by the Church - the temporal sphere or aspect of the mission.  (I guess, the clarity is in the documents and among some sensible people. Most bishops, priests, religious and even lay people themselves are not aware of neither the definition nor the mission!).  But together our collective mission, that of the whole Church is, evangelisation (the Kingdom of God).  

The clergy and religious carry out the pastoral and sacramental dimension of this mission.  The laity carry it out in the temporal or the secular sphere of the world.  The mode and the place are different, but the mission is one and the same!