Lay Life in a Year

52 Reflections on JPII's vision for the Laity

Week 1: The World Is A Vineyard

The world is not how it should be; the Church is not how it should be; I am not how I should be. 

Things are broken and seem to demand a solution. But every time one of us takes it upon ourselves to fix it, things only get worse. But that’s because the world is not a problem to be solved, it’s a place filled with souls waiting to be transformed. As Christ puts it, it’s a vineyard—His vineyard. 

The world doesn’t need a solution, especially not from one of us. It needs to be transformed in Christ, just as a vineyard needs to be transformed into wine. 

Only He can save the world, the Church, me. Only He can transform people into saints. And He doesn’t ask us to throw solutions at the world from afar. He points to all of humanity and to His Church and shows us that far from being an enemy to conquer or a problem to solve, it is a vineyard to be entered, nurtured, and transformed with love. 

Lay Life in a Year Overview

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Week 47 – A Dominican and A Fortune Cookie

In college, I once went to a Chinese restaurant with a Dominican priest.  I was part of a group that brought Catholic speakers to campus, and after one talk, Father graciously joined us for dinner. When the waiter brought out fortune cookies, Father began unwrapping...

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Week 46 – Holiness Found in Work

​​This nation was built by tireless, hardworking people—a spirit of determination we’ve proudly inherited. There’s a lot of goodness in that. But sometimes, without realizing it, this work ethic can lead us to a dangerous trap: believing our worth comes from how much...

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Week 45 – Human Dignity Can Never Be Taken Away!

A couple of weeks ago, I went on a pilgrimage to Rome, unsure what I was looking for—peace, clarity, maybe both. But as God often does, He surprised me. I met a priest who shared something that cut through the noise of life: no matter what divides us—politics,...

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