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I will speak about a very specific topic
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which we call the Secular Third Order of our Religious Family.
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“Third Order” because the First Order is the masculine branch (priests),
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the Second Order is the feminine branch (sisters)
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and the Third Order is the lay branch, the “secular branch”.
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What is the importance of the Third Order?
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What is the importance of the laity?
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In the first place, the importance of the laity is derived by reason of Baptism which is most important.
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It makes us members of the Mystical Body of Christ, of the Catholic Church
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and it makes us children of God.
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Since we are children of God, it entitles us to be heirs of glory, heirs of Heaven.
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This implies
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an ontological reality, unique to each of the baptized,
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since one is given a formal and physical participation
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in the very Divine Nature
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as the apostle St. Peter says in his letter in Sacred Scripture.
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It’s important because the laity
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have a mission that can only be performed by them;
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a mission
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that no one else can do it for them.
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What is this mission?
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The mission of the laity
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is to engage in the world’s temporal affairs and direct them according to God’s will.
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That is what we refer to as the affairs of the world
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in other words, what we commonly call the things of the world:
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marriage, family, politics, the economy, professions
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culture, and peace.
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Later on, we will have the opportunity to point out these things even if only briefly.
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1. The laity has this mission firstly because they have the power
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of offering, in the Holy Mass, the Divine Victim
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Jesus Christ
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to God the Father
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and to offer themselves
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with the Divine Victim to God the Father.
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In such way,
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through Jesus Christ,
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in the Holy Spirit
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everything in the life of the laity is ordered toward the heavenly Father.
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This full participation of the laity in the Holy Mass
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is made perfect when they partake in Holy Communion
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receiving the Body and Blood of our Lord
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who is the same Victim of the Sacrifice of the Cross.
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This is the most important work that the laity have.
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It is not a courtesy that humankind does.
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From our very own Baptism
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emerges the sacramental faculty
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to offer with the Priest
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and along with the priest
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the Divine Victim and oneself as victim
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to the Father.
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The second aspect of the mission of the laity
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and also resulting from the reality of Baptism
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is that a lay person imprints because of his baptism
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a Christian character on all of life’s activities
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whatever they may do
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, as long as they are willed by God.
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And this they offer to the Father.
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As it is being offered to the Father
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it is being Christianized.
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Let’s take for example a teacher
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who is conscious of her mission
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and fulfills what she does, not only
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because she wants to earn a living to give food to her own family
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which is something absolutely legitimate
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but she also has an even higher purpose
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and that is accepting that work, as a mission that God has entrusted to her
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so that through her work,
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others can also come to know
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the Blessed Trinity
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especially the only Son of God, Jesus Christ.
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This second aspect is very important
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so much so that the Church
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through the laity,
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is present in every place and home
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where people live following
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God’s will which He asks of us in Baptism.
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For that reason, the family is referred to as the “domestic Church.”
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Domestic comes from “domus” or home.
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The house wife, for example, who does all of her work,
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to provide all that is necessary
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for her husband and for her children
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whether it be for their clothing, health, rest, sport or whatever else they need.
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The house wife does all of these things impressing a Christian character on them.
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If the laity were not to do these things, who would do them?
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No one else can do them
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What the lay person does can not be done by the religious or the priest.
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In any case, the best they could do is within the limits of their parish.
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Whereas the lay person is the one who can produce that Christian effect
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in any person or need in all places in the world.
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In the third place,
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the laity, as a result of Baptism,
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can and ought to exercise the “common apostolate” of the Church.
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That is to say the lay person, sanctifying himself,
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becomes a sort of chalice full of Christ’s Blood,
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spilling over to others its super-abundance.
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We will have an opportunity to explore this in more detail.
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Where is the first place where the lay person exercises this common apostolate?
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It is in his family, in his house, with his wife, with his children, with his grandchildren, with his parents
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– the grandparents of his children, with his siblings, with all the rest of the family
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with his friends, in his work,
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in his office, in the university, in the union, in the armed forces, in the security forces,
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in the factory, in the sea, in the air, on the earth, on the subway, everywhere.
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By virtue of Baptism, the lay person must carry Christ with one’s own self and to others.
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4. A fourth place is by doing what is called the “mandated apostolate”,
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a special apostolate of Catholic Action
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or of societies similar to Catholic Action.
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5. The fifth place,
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he must Christianize, directly
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and immediately,
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his or her married life and family.
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Great task!
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This is already marking and with fire, the mission of the laity
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Who else can sanctify and Christianize marriage and family if not those who are part of them?
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Thus the II Vatican Council,
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states in Lumen Gentium number 33:
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“The laity are called in a special way to make the Church present and operative in those places
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and circumstances where only through them can it become the salt of the earth
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Thus every layman, in virtue of the very gifts bestowed upon him
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is at the same time a witness and a living instrument of the mission of the Church itself
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"according to the measure of Christ's bestowal".
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That is the irreplaceable mission of the laity.
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To make the Church present and operative in those places and circumstances where through them
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and only them, can it become the salt of the earth and the light of the world.
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In number 31,
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with even more strength
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“the laity, by their very vocation,
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seek the kingdom of God
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by engaging in temporal affairs
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and by ordering them according to the plan of God.”
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This is proper for the laity.
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For this reason we say that the mission of the priest, which is very important,
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is in similar value depended upon the laity:
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to give glory to God and to save one’s soul and other’s.
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In part, it is distinct because the mission of the priest
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should be exercised in the Church,
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while that of the laity
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should be exercised in the world.
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That is why Lumen Gentium continues saying, “They live in the world,
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that is, in each and in all of the secular professions and occupations.
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They live in the ordinary circumstances of family and social life,
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from which the very web of their existence is woven.
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They are called there by God
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that by exercising their proper function
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and led by the spirit of the Gospel,
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they may work for the sanctification of the world from within as a leaven.”
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from within
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as leaven
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they manage to ferment the dough to make it Christian.
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“In this way they may make Christ known to others,
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especially by the testimony of a life
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resplendent in faith,
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hope and charity.
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Therefore,
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since they are tightly bound up in all types of temporal affairs
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it is their special task to order and to throw light upon these affairs
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in such a way that they may come into being and then continually increase according to Christ
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to the praise of the Creator and the Redeemer.”
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This is what the II Vatican Council says with all clarity
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and it does so returning to the previous tradition of the Church
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because it is not an invention of the present.
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This comes from the time of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
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He not only chose the apostles, he also chooses the disciples,
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many of them were lay persons.
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They had as their responsibility to order the temporal affairs.
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What more important temporal affair can the laity have than to order his family!
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To seek to get along with her husband, with his wife,
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of understanding one another,
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of amiably cooperating in everything they have to work together in.
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In a special manner in the education of the children.
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In raising them and making them to be men and women of worth.
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Sixth place:
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the laity
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should sanctifying
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and Christianize
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in a direct and immediate way
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the economic life in its distinct aspects.
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In the first place
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in the use of private property,
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the meaning of work in the second place,
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the management of businesses in the third place
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and the practice of diverse professions in the fourth place.
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That is to say
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that all that is done in that enormous world of economy
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is entrusted directly
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and forthwith to the action of the laity
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so that they can put in that world the leaven of the Gospel.
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In this way that world is also ordered to the service of men,
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so that they can reach the common good
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and so that justice may be respected.
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Thus it should be in an economy
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that is truly not only human but also Christian.
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In seventh place:
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they should sanctify and Christianize
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in a direct and forthwith way
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all the distinct manifestations of the culture
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first in the printed word, literature,
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all types of good literature.
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In education:
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today the apostolic work of Christianizing education is absolutely necessary.
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Thirdly
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in the sciences,
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in philosophy,
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in technology,
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in the social means of communication.
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It is absolutely necessary that the laity does this
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because if they don’t do it,
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mixing in as the leaven in the dough culture,
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the culture will not be Christianized.
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Eight:
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they should sanctify and Christianize
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in a direct and forthwith way
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all the civic and political activities
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in all the distinct levels: in the municipal,
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national,
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state, an international level.
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Unfortunately,
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we also see today that politics is not at the service of man
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but rather at the service of a few.
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And it should be the contrary,
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politics has to be at the service of man.
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Jesus says it with a memorable phrase:
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man was not made for the Sabbath but the Sabbath was made for man.
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And we can apply it to all temporal realities:
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man was not made for economy
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but rather economy was made for man.
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Man was not made for politics but rather politics was made for economy.
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Man was not made for social affairs but social affairs were made for man.
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And in this way we will live other realities,
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different,
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just,
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more noble,
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for the greater benefit of all men.
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Ninth and lastly
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the laity have as a direct and forthwith mission
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in their lay state
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to consecrate the world to Jesus Christ.
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For this reason I said at the beginning,
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it is an irreplaceable mission.
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No one can do
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as the leaven does to the dough from within
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to Christianize the temporal realities
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as the lay man or woman must do.
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As those who ought to sanctify themselves
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in the world to improve the world.
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In order that the reign of justice, peace, love and truth may be made present.
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A kingdom that makes men treat one another as brothers
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because in the end they recognize the Father that is in the heavens.
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It is He who makes us treat one another as brothers.
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May God bless you
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and may we have a strong Third Order in the United States.
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Very much at the feet of Jesus and the Virgin
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to improve our world,
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to give the testimony that we ought to give.
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That the only name by which man can be saved
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is the name of Jesus Christ.
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Let it be so.
