Mission and the Laity (20 May 2015)

National Mission Conference

Sharing by: Rouquel Ponte

I. Introduction: Christ founded his Church to continue his saving mission on

earth. . The Church, endowed with the gifts of his founder, receives the

mission to proclaim and to establish among all peoples the Kingdom of Christ

and of God. (Catechism for Filipino Catholics 1412)

II. 1. PCP II describes the Church in the Philippines as a “Community in

Mission”. With this mandate, all of us are called to mission. It goes further on

to say that the particular mission of the lay faithful within the one universal

mission of the Church is its special vocation the make the Church present and

fruitful in those places and circumstances where it is only through them that

she can become the salt of the earth. (LG 5)

2. It then develops the mission of the laity in terms of being called to:

a. a community of families - The family is truly the “school of humanity”

which is much needed today. (Gaudium et Spes, 52)

b. Christian presence in the world

c. service and evangelization

d. social transformation

3. Couples for Christ in the New Evangelization. CFC now on its 34th

year is

to do mission with greater zeal, stronger commitment and missionary

dynamism.

a. St. John Paul II proposes his idea of the New Evangelization: “The

Church today ought to take a giant step in her evangelization effort,

and enter into a new stage of history in her missionary dynamism …”

b. Missionary outreach is a clear sign of the maturity of an ecclesial

movement (Verbum Domini 95)

c. In Evangelii Gaudium, Pope Francis reaffirmed that the New

Evangelization is a summons addressed to all that is carried out in

three principal settings (No. 14)

i. The first is the area of pastoral ministry, which is “animated by the

fire of the Holy Spirit, so as to inflame the hearts of the faithful who

regularly take part in community worship and gather on the Lord’s day

to be nourished by his word and by the bread of life.” Ordinary

pastoral ministry seeks tp help believers grow spiritually so that they

can respond to God’s love ever more fully in their lives.

ii. The second is that of “the baptized whose lives do not reflect the

demands of their Baptism” – who lack a meaningful relationship with

the Church and no longer experience the consolation born of faith.

iii. Third, we cannot forget that evangelization is first and foremost

about preaching the Gospel to those who do not know Jesus Christ or

who have always rejected him. This is the Church’s “missio ad gentes”.

4. Framework of CFC’s Mission in the 2nd

Generation:

a. Listening, so as to look at the reality of the family today in all its

complexities, both lights and shadows;

b. Looking, our gaze is fixed on Christ to ponder with renewed freshness

and enthusiasm, what revelation, transmitted in the Church’s faith,

tells us about the beauty, the role and dignity of the family; and

c. Confronting the situation, with an eye on the Lord Jesus, to discern the

ways in which the Church and society can renew their commitment to

the family founded upon the marriage between a man and a woman.

III. Sharing on Couples for Christ Spirituality

1. Marital (Family) – as CFC, whose rootedness is the spirituality of the

“couple”, we look forward with deeper appreciation of the richness of its

eschatological representation – Christ as the Bridegroom, we the Church

and part of the Church will experience wedded bliss in the fullness of time

(Rev. 19:9)

2. Contemplative (Prayer) – evangelization is a journey that involves

proclamation, transmission and witnessing to the Gospel. The

proclamation and transmission seeks to open the door wide to Christ and

authentic witness aims to elicit the desired response in people because we

try to live our life as “another Christ” to them.

a. The first step is to abide in Christ and be like Him. (John 15:4)

b. The second is a deep love for the Eucharist. In His real presence,

we can sense His loving gaze and being with Him becomes a

life-changing experience and leads to personal conversion and

holiness.

c. The third is to be fed by His Word and live accordingly. Before

we go out and encounter another person, let us have a

meaningful encounter with Christ first.

3. Missionary – CFC takes its mandate from the Great Commission in

Matthew 28:19-20)

a. We share in the “mission strategy” of the first Christian

community in Acts 1:8. In fact, the whole Book of Acts

chronicles the first part of the history of our apostolic Church

which is the story of a Spirit-led community and a Spirit-guided

spread of the Word of God.

b. In 1981, we began to spread to new territories and places for

mission. In fact, the call of our times is to go beyond our

“comfort zones”, spread to places to the outskirts of our daily

existence and even reach-out to the discarded, the left-over and

the outcasts.

c. We are called to make the Gospel present and alive. To

evangelize is to make the kingdom of God present in the world.

(EG 176) It is not enough to evangelize persons but the

prevailing culture as well.

IV. Conclusion:

1. The first and most fundamental aspect of the call of the lay faithful is the

vocation to “perfection of charity”. Christifidelis Laici points out the

consequences of this call, “neither family concerns nor other secular

affairs should be excluded from their religious program of life”.

2. Finally, where there is union with God, there is openness to others. It is in

looking beyond us and our self-interests in order to have a genuine

encounter with others that we become Christ-like. At times, there is a need

to die to ourselves so we can be life-giving to others and we become more

fruitful in our pastoral ministry. (John 12:24-26)

We will be true to our theme: GIFTED TO GIVE (after having been gifted

with the faith, it is now the turn of the Philippine Church to give)