Lay Life in a Year
52 Reflections on JPII's vision for the Laity
Discover the Lay Vocation
What does it actually mean to be a lay person in the world? How are we to serve God, His Church, and His world? How are we to reach holiness?
A lot of the answers we hear can be boiled down to one of two misguided views:
Mistake 1: “The laity can just sit back and do the bare minimum. Most of the work is for the bishops, priests, and religious.”
OR
Mistake 2: “The laity needs more authority and power and we really don’t need these bishops and priests telling us what to do.”
The issue? Neither of these takes are what the Church actually teaches. For years, there has been extreme confusion about what it means to be a lay person, which is why Pope St. John Paul II wrote Christifideles Laici.
52 Weekly Reflections
This is his Apostolic Exhortation on the Mission and Vocation of the Lay Faithful and it has gone largely unread! In it, he shows how the lay life is central to God’s plan for the world and how it is meant to lead us to the height of holiness.
The lay life, like priestly and religious life, is designed to make us saints who transform the world and renew the Church.
Here at reCatholic, discovering Christifideles Laici has lit a fire in our hearts and transformed how we live out our lay vocation to help serve Jesus. And we want to make this treasure accessible for you too.
Sign up to discover the lay life in a year as we break open John Paul II’s vision for the laity in 52 short, weekly reflections.
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Read Past Reflections
Week 13: Rediscovering Baptism
We might not remember our own Baptism, but we often remember the Baptism of our loved ones: the joy of being surrounded by family and friends, the good food, conversation, and community. It can be a wonderful event. But, reading through Christifideles Laici, John Paul...
Week 12: It Begins With Jesus
John Paul II knew pain and suffering. He experienced it personally. His mother and father died when he was young, many of his friends were killed during World War II, and he had to live his vocation in a time of oppression, watching his flock deal with injustice on a...
Week 11: The Front Lines of the Church
We have seen that the laity is called to bring Jesus into society. And John Paul II drives home this point by telling us that it is through the lay faithful that the world is introduced to Jesus. We are on the Church’s front lines. Each interaction someone has with...
Week 10: The Unique Character Of The Lay Faithful
Last week we looked at Christifideles Laici’s teaching that the laity belong to the Church. But, in the same paragraph, John Paul II quickly goes on to teach us that while we belong to the Church the laity does have a distinct call. We are meant to follow Jesus too,...
Week 9: The Laity Belong To The Church
Last week we saw that the laity is a source of hope and love. This leads us to paragraph No. 9 of Christifideles Laici and John Paul II’s next teaching that the laity belongs to the Church and is responsible for helping Her to thrive! The laity plays an important and...
Week 8: The Laity Is A Source Of Hope And Love
The challenges are immense, even overwhelming. Facing the sheer depth of despair, anxiety, helplessness, and fear in the world and in the Church can make us discouraged. Very quickly we begin to hear the lie creep in, “This is all too much. What can you do? You are...