- Feb 5, 2002
- 183,374
- 66,665
- Country
- United States
- Gender
- Female
- Faith
- Catholic
- Marital Status
- Married
- Politics
- US-Others
The “you” in the Sermon on the Mount is directed to all: “You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48).
For decades now there has been a concerted effort by many Catholics to consider the concept of vocation in broader terms than merely the calling to priesthood, diaconate, and forms of consecrated virginity lived out either in a religious community or alone.
There is a healthy aspect to this. There are also dangers.
The healthy aspect is that this conversation has made people think about the fact that all Christians have a primordial vocation to be holy before the Lord in their own lives. An unfortunate tendency throughout the Church’s history, on the part of some Christians, is to treat holiness as the business of priests, monks, nuns, and other religious—the “professionals.”
It has been said that the laity are called to “pay, pray, and obey,” or, in a more American formulation, “pay up, pray up, and shut up.” More entertainingly, as Msgr. George Talbot said in a letter to St. John Henry Newman: “What is the province of the laity? To hunt, to shoot, to entertain.”
Sayings that limit the laity to some personal piety and plunking envelopes in the collection basket or, worse, simply having a life of entertainment, miss the point. All are called to the fullness of holiness—something that people who read the Gospels, the Fathers, St. Francis de Sales, and countless other saints would know. The “you” in the Sermon on the Mount is directed to all: “You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48).
Yet these notions persist. That is why the Second Vatican Council’s dogmatic constitution Lumen Gentium dedicates a section to “The Universal Call to Holiness in the Church.” Here, we read, “The Lord Jesus, the divine Teacher and Model of all perfection, preached holiness of life to each and every one of His disciples of every condition.” Further, “it is evident to everyone that all the faithful of Christ of whatever rank or status, are called to the fullness of the Christian life and to the perfection of charity…” (LG 40).
We all “have a vocation” insofar as we are in Christ. We must be completely holy whether we are priests, nuns, presidents, postmen, parents, or any other state of life, rank, or status.
Continued below.
www.catholicworldreport.com
For decades now there has been a concerted effort by many Catholics to consider the concept of vocation in broader terms than merely the calling to priesthood, diaconate, and forms of consecrated virginity lived out either in a religious community or alone.
There is a healthy aspect to this. There are also dangers.
The healthy aspect is that this conversation has made people think about the fact that all Christians have a primordial vocation to be holy before the Lord in their own lives. An unfortunate tendency throughout the Church’s history, on the part of some Christians, is to treat holiness as the business of priests, monks, nuns, and other religious—the “professionals.”
It has been said that the laity are called to “pay, pray, and obey,” or, in a more American formulation, “pay up, pray up, and shut up.” More entertainingly, as Msgr. George Talbot said in a letter to St. John Henry Newman: “What is the province of the laity? To hunt, to shoot, to entertain.”
Sayings that limit the laity to some personal piety and plunking envelopes in the collection basket or, worse, simply having a life of entertainment, miss the point. All are called to the fullness of holiness—something that people who read the Gospels, the Fathers, St. Francis de Sales, and countless other saints would know. The “you” in the Sermon on the Mount is directed to all: “You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48).
Yet these notions persist. That is why the Second Vatican Council’s dogmatic constitution Lumen Gentium dedicates a section to “The Universal Call to Holiness in the Church.” Here, we read, “The Lord Jesus, the divine Teacher and Model of all perfection, preached holiness of life to each and every one of His disciples of every condition.” Further, “it is evident to everyone that all the faithful of Christ of whatever rank or status, are called to the fullness of the Christian life and to the perfection of charity…” (LG 40).
We all “have a vocation” insofar as we are in Christ. We must be completely holy whether we are priests, nuns, presidents, postmen, parents, or any other state of life, rank, or status.
Continued below.
Do we have vocations to marriage and singleness?
www.catholicworldreport.com
