The Role and Mission of the Laity: Priest – Prophet – King

Over the past number of weeks we have been looking, in some detail, at the Ministerial or Ordained Priesthood. We have seen that it shares in the Priesthood of Jesus Christ, who is in fact the High Priest, we have seen that the primary role or function of the Ministerial priest is to offer sacrifice, namely the sacrifice of the Holy Mass, Re-Presenting, not representing, the Sacrifice of Jesus on Calvary. Today we will begin to look at the role and mission of the Laity, drawing from the documents of Vatican II and, of course, the Catechism. The laity, as defined by the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC), is: “all the faithful except those in Holy Orders and those who belong to a religious state approved by the Church.” (CCC 897). The laity have a “special and indispensable role in the mission of the Church.” (AA 1). The Mission of the Church, as given by Jesus in the Gospel of Mark 16:15, is to spread the kingdom over the whole world. Every activity of the Church is at the service of this mission and is referred to as the ‘Apostolate’. “…the Church exercises it [the apostolate] through all it’s members.” (AA 2). “The laity derive the right and duty to the apostolate from their union with Christ the head; incorporated into Christ’s Mystical Body through Baptism and strengthened by the power of the Holy Spirit through Confirmation, they are assigned to the apostolate by the Lord Himself.” (AA 3) As in all things we are not abandoned to our own devices we are aided by the Holy Spirit who “…gives the faithful special gift…” (AA 3). The role and mission of the Laity is an onerous one, it is given by Christ Himself. It is not one of merely ‘helping father’, but it is rooted in our baptism, affirmed and Confirmed by the Church and supported by the Holy Spirit by the means of “special gifts”. The mission of the Church is the mission of Christ, and being incorporated into Christ through Baptism we share in that same mission, that is the Priestly, Prophetic and Kingly mission of Christ. Over the next few weeks we will explore what it means for the laity to be Priest, Prophet and King.