We often hear the Church is not concerned to relate the Christian life to our daily life. The concern in the teaching appears to be Sunday Mass, belonging to a parish group, and attending the different parish events.
One of the priests in a neighboring diocese mentioned in the Pastoral Newsletter what a big change came over one of his parishioners after attending the small village groups in the parish. He did not miss one of them and said although he only has a rough draft of what it's all about he realized you can't separate daily life from our faith. Click to get to an earlier blog on small village groups.
He goes on to say, Jesus has given us instructions in Matt. 28:20- "Teach them to carry out everything I have commanded you." There are times that our Catholics have no critical consciousness concerning divorce, abortion, fetal experiments and many other moral issues. They accept what they hear in the mass media; without conscientization we move with the flow of events without thought.
Laypeople have to be aware of the problems, make judgments and together with others of good will do what they can to bring about a healthier society. The difficulties we face in the family and in society are the areas in which our laypeople have to be involved or the Church will not accomplish her mission. We are not only to become holy but to be a leaven, yeast and light in society. Our Catholics have to take an active part in the society in which they find themselves, in the farming area concerned with farms, in the city with city life, each person participates with his or her own gifts, the competence will come.
In recent years we express our work of Evangelization with the words of our Holy Father:
New Evangelization, Reevangelization and Evangelization of Society. This requires that our laypeople become prepared to do this and encouraged to use their talents to accomplish this.
The Church has been explaining this approach to mission for many years now and most of our Christians would be familiar with the threefold aim of evangelizing. It is not only to get new Catholics but also to bring back those who have left and to try to evangelize the society in which we live. This work will depend on the participation of our laypeople.
Those of us who have pastoral rolls prepare the atmosphere in which this becomes possible and the morale that brings enthusiasm to the work.
