Category: A Better Me

     The officially recognized status of the Catholic lay person in the Church has taken a long time to develop.  This should not be surprising because, among other reasons, the status of the individual person in the civil political world has undergone a similar developmental stage of centuries of discoveries and expression.

      In the Church for almost 1800 years the focus was upon the finding and expression of the truths of faith, the nature of the Church, the Sacraments of the Church, the liturgy of the Church, the use of authority in the Church, hierarquical structure of the church, the unity of the Church and the missionary task of the Church.  

     In reality most of the investigation, debates and clashes of different approaches referred to the ordained ministers—popes, cardinals, bishops, priests, deacons-along with the consecrated priests, monks, and nuns, (sisters).  This should not come as a surprise since the western world has advanced through many cultural changes, and it became necessary to clarify the structure and at times to define and defend the structure in order to lead all Church members to holiness and salvation.

For centuries many of the learned people, that is, those who had received a full education, were clerics and monks and nuns.  After the invention of the printing press, this began to change quickly, but even the Code of Canon Law of 1917 defined the lay person as one who is neither a priest nor a consecrated religious.  Such a  definition was not exactly full of content.  

Continue reading “A Better Me: The Catholic Lay Person in the Church and the World (Part II)”

     An analysis of the baptized Catholic lay person is a four week trip.  The four weeks of letters have the following titles.

I.   Introduction

II.  The Catholic lay person in the Church.

III. The Catholic lay person in the world.

IV. The Catholic lay person’s role in changing the

      world.

     There is so much going on in the Church right now that it can be helpful to know where the lay person stands in the Church and what God wants and calls him/her to do in the world.  Our house has to be built on rock.  If we are building it, or have built it, on sand, it is going to get flooded, fall apart and get swept away (Mt. 7:24-27) by the rains, hurricanes and earthquakes that occur these days.  Obviously you don’t desire (e.g. will) this to occur, but if you don’t have a good understanding of the truth, (e.g., intellect), you may be vulnerable to the confusion that is occurring and run the risk of building on sand.

     That, we certainly do not want.  So let’s take a shot at presenting and  understanding the position of the lay person in the Church and the role that he/she has the world.

Continue reading “A Better Me: Where we are going – Introduction (Part I)”

It is interesting that many times when people are asked how often they pray each day, their answer is: once, twice, a few times, every once in a while….  If they are asked, “Why not more?”, their replies can be: “I don’t think of it,” or “I don’t have time for it,” or “I don’t make time for it,” or “I am often too busy in many necessary activities,” etc.

     It is true that they may realize that, being baptised Catholics, we are children of God the Father, living in the Mystical Body of Christ, and called to imitate Jesus Christ in each and every human action.  His words, thoughts, actions and reactions are the “good news” contained in the Gospels.  But the Gospels relate primarily the details of his “public life,” the few years that he spent with his Apostles and disciples.  His first thirty years has been called his “hidden life”, namely, his time living with Blessed Mary and St. Joseph.  In those years he lived a very ordinary life, working with St. Joseph.  

Continue reading “A Better Me #3: Sanctification of Work”