The laity - In the World
Lay people, whose particular vocation places them in the midst of the world and in
charge of the most varied temporal tasks, must for this very reason exercise a very
special form of evangelization,
Their primary and immediate task is not to establish and develop the ecclesial community
-this is the specific role of the pastors-but to put to use every Christian and
evangelical possibility latent but already present and active in the affairs of the world.
Their own field of evangelising activity is the vast and complicated world of politics,
society and economics, but also the world of culture, of the sciences and the arts, of
international life, of the mass media. It also includes other realities which are open to
evangelization, such as human love, the family, the education of children and adolescents,
professional work, suffering. The more Gospel-inspired lay people there are engaged in
these realities, clearly involved in them, competent to promote them and conscious that
they must exercise to the full their Christian powers which are often buried and
suffocated, the more these realities will be at the service of the Kingdom of God and
therefore of salvation in Jesus Christ, without in any way losing or sacrificing their
human content but rather pointing to a transcendent dimension which is often disregarded.
The laity
- In the Church
Diversified Ministries
The active presence of the laity in the
temporal realities takes on all its importance. One cannot, however, neglect or forget the
other dimension: the laity can also feel themselves called, or be called, to work with
their pastors in the service of the ecclesial community, for its growth and life, by
exercising a great variety of ministries according to the grace and charisms which the
Lord is pleased to give them.
We cannot but experience a great inner joy When we see so many pastors, religious and lay people, fired with their mission to evangelize, seeking ever more suitable ways of proclaiming the Gospel effectively. We encourage the openness which the Church is showing today in this direction and with this solicitude. It is an openness to meditation first of all, and then to ecclesial ministries capable of renewing and strengthening the evangelizing vigour of the Church.
It is certain that, side-by-side with the ordained ministries, whereby certain people are appointed pastors and consecrate themselves in a special way to the service of the community, the Church recognises the place of non-ordained ministries which are able to offer a particular service to the Church.
Evangelisation - With the Fervour of the Saints
Our appeal here is inspired by the fervour of the greatest preachers and evangelizers,
whose lives were devoted to the apostolate... They have known how to overcome many
obstacles to evangelization.
Such obstacles are also present today, and we shall
limit ourselves to mentioning the lack of fervour. It is all the more serious
because it comes from within. It is manifested in fatigue, disenchantment,
compromise, lack of interest and above all lack of joy and hope. We exhort all those who
have the task of evangelizing, by whatever title and at whatever level, always to nourish
spiritual fervour.
This fervour demands first of all that we should know how to put aside the excuses which
would impede evangelization. The most insidious of these excuses are certainly the ones
which people claim to find support for in such and such a teaching of the Council.
Thus one too frequently hears it said, in various terms, that to impose a truth, be it that of the Gospel, or to impose a way, be it that of salvation, cannot but be a violation of religious liberty. Besides, it is added, why proclaim the Gospel when the whole world is saved by uprightness of heart? We know likewise that the world and history are filled with "seeds of the Word"; is it not therefore an illusion to claim to bring the Gospel where it already exists in the seeds that the Lord himself has sown?
Anyone who takes the trouble to study in the
Council's documents the questions upon which these excuses draw too superficially will
find quite a different view.
It would certainly be an error to impose something on the consciences our brethren.
But to propose to their consciences the truth of the Gospel and salvation in Jesus Christ,
with complete clarity and with a total respect for the free options which it presents
-"without coercion, or dishonourable or unworthy pressure" - far from
being an attack on religious liberty is fully to respect that liberty, which is
offered the choice of a way that even non-believers consider noble and uplifting.
Is it then a crime against others' freedom to proclaim with joy a Good News which one has
come to know through the Lord's mercy? And why should only falsehood and error,
debasement and pornography have the right to be put before people and often unfortunately
imposed on them by the destructive propaganda of the mass media, by the tolerance of
legislation, the timidity of the good and the impudence of the wicked?
The respectful presentation of Christ and his Kingdom is more than the evangelizer's
right; it is his duty. It is likewise the right of his fellowmen to receive from him the
proclamation of the Good News of salvation. God can accomplish this salvation in
whomsoever he wishes by ways which he alone knows. And yet, if his Son came, it was
precisely in order to reveal to us, by his Word and by His life, the ordinary paths
of salvation. And He has commanded us to transmit this revelation to others with his own
authority. It would be useful if every Christian and every evangelizer were to pray about
the following thought: men can gain salvation also in other ways, by God's mercy, even
though we do not preach the Gospel to them; but as for us, can we gain salvation if
through negligence or fear or shame - what Saint Paul called "blushing for the
Gospel" or as a result of false ideas we fail to preach it? For that would be
to betray the call of God, who wishes the seed to bear fruit through the voice of the
ministers of the Gospel; and it will depend on us whether this grows into trees and
produces its full fruit.
Let us therefore preserve our fervour of Spirit. Let us preserve the delightful and comforting joy of evangelizing, even when it is in tears that we must sow. May it mean for us - as it did for John the Baptist, for Peter and Paul, for the other Apostles and for a multitude of splendid evangelizers all through the Church's history - an interior enthusiasm that nobody and nothing can quench. May it be the great joy of our consecrated lives. And may the world of our time, which is searching, sometimes with anguish, sometimes with hope, be enabled to receive the Good News not from evangelisers who are dejected discouraged, impatient or anxious, but from ministers of the Gospel whose lives glow with fervour, who have first received the joy of Christ, and who are willing to risk their lives so that the Kingdom may be proclaimed and the Church established in the midst of the world.
FROM
EVANGELII NUNTANDI
BY
POPE PAUL VI 1975