Christ gave lay people a mission

	Answering summons Summoned to Serve is the diocesan theme for 2000-2002. The theme is an outgrowth of Renew 2000 and the Jubilee Year. It invites Catholics to put their faith and spirituality into action by serving others through charity and justice. This series will look at ways to do that.

Remember those first questions in the Catechism: Who made you? God made us. Why did God make you? To know, love and serve him. But is this enough? Perhaps the answer should be: To know him and help in making him known; love him and help in making him loved; serve him and help in bringing others to his service.

God created each of us for a special purpose that only we can fulfill. We learn that the people are the church, and the salvation of the world will come through Christ and us.

God the Father sent Christ with a missionary purpose, to win back the children of the Father and to become a child of man that men might become the children of God.

Now that Christ has won this life of grace for us and has united us all in the church, he sends us to continue his work. The church must therefore be a missionary church. All of us are to preach and live the Gospel daily.

When Christ established his church he gave us leaders to direct us. The work of the pope, bishops and priests is that of teaching, sanctifying and governing God's people. But the layperson too has an active role in the church. While it is necessary for dedicated lay people to work within the parish, we must also venture into a Christian service of the world.

The laity are called upon to expend their energy for the growth of the church and her continuous sanctification. The duty of working to extend the divine plan of salvation rests on all of us as apostles in Christ.

Today we are searching for a grasp of what it means to be church in the world. We used to think that we were sent to gain all men to Christ in a single church. Today the church has come to a new self-understanding, acknowledging a mission of unifying all Christians.

At baptism we became brothers and sisters of Christ. At Confirmation we are more perfectly bound to the church, obliged to spread it both by word and deed as true witnesses of Christ. We should not call ourselves Christians and then forget to go out and do something about it.

So what is our role as lay people? The question brings us to the heart of the mission of the church: To make men holy and united, and to make the good news known to them. When we know God and help others to know him, we are accomplishing that mission.

For most of us, our mission is right here in the everyday lives we lead. We fulfill this mission by dedicating each day to our Father, by offering him the work we perform, the thoughts we think and the words we speak. Whatever our abilities, every Christian can, and must, witness to Christ in every aspect of life.

This idea is encapsulated in the book You by Fr. Raymond, a Trappist: "You are one sent by God to manifest him in a manner no human before you, no human on Earth with you, no human who may come after you, could, or ever can, manifest him! You have something of God in you which no one else in creation can display."

It is not too difficult to live each day as it comes and take every opportunity as it presents itself, to fulfill our duties of a true Christian layperson. By our examples we can spread the love of Christ. Pastors should encourage the lay people to undertake projects on their own, and the laity should respond with enthusiasm in working on projects with their pastors.

It is the duty of the layperson to lead a real Christian life by becoming more Christ-like. A stirring reminder that every person in the world has an irreplaceable role to play on life's stage comes from the pen of Card. John Henry Newman: "God created me to do him some definite service; he has committed some work to me that he has not given to another. I have my mission."

Now, as Christian lay people, are we willing to accept our missions?

(Kempen is a member of Holy Name of Jesus Parish, Kimberly.)