Youcat commented through CCC – Question n. 139 - Part IX.

YOUCAT Question n. 139 - Part IX. What is the lay vocation?

(Youcat answer - repeated) The Laity are sent to engage in society so that the kingdom of God can grow among men.         

A deepening through CCC

(CCC 912) The faithful should "distinguish carefully between the rights and the duties which they have as belonging to the Church and those which fall to them as members of the human society. They will strive to unite the two harmoniously, remembering that in every temporal affair they are to be guided by a Christian conscience, since no human activity, even of the temporal order, can be withdrawn from God's dominion" (LG 36 § 4). (CCC 940) "The characteristic of the lay state being a life led in the midst of the world and of secular affairs, lay people are called by God to make of their apostolate, through the vigor of their Christian spirit, a leaven in the world" (AA 2 § 2).      

Reflecting and meditating 

(Youcat comment) A lay person is not a second-class Christian, for he shares in the priestly ministry of Christ (the universal priesthood). He sees to it that the people in his walk of life (in school, family and work) come to know the Gospel and learn to love Christ. Through his faith he leaves a mark on society, business, and politics. He supports the life of the Church, for instance, by becoming a lector or an extraordinary minister, by volunteering as a group leader, or by serving on church committees and councils (for example, the parish council or the board of directors of an institution). Young people especially should give serious thought to the question of what place God might want them to have in the Church.

(CCC Comment)

(CCC 913) “Thus, every person, through these gifts given to him, is at once the witness and the living instrument of the mission of the Church itself  ‘according to the measure of Christ's bestowal’” (LG 33 § 2; cf. Eph 4:7).    

(This question: What is the lay vocation? is continued)