I love being in church, but most of my real life takes place outside of it. One of the gifts of faith is the ability to understand one’s vocation — the deep relationship of my spiritual life to my temporal world.
The Mass: Instruction in How to Live
We who are the laity are called to sanctify the world just as priests are called to sanctify the Church. How can we sanctify the world?
In baptism we were set apart for God. We were made for worship. By virtue of our baptism, every one of us is joined to everything that takes place at Mass. Baptism calls us to be active participants at Mass by responding to the One Who claims us for His own. It is where we freely give our whole selves to back to God. And this gift of self to one another — of God to us, and us to God — flows from the Mass and extends into our personal lives. Part of this divine mystery is the grace we receive to be people of prayer and people of service, which is exactly what sanctity is all about.
The Church has given the laity certain prescribed roles at Mass. It is instructive to reflect on how these roles mirror the kinds of service that light the world. They are “how-to” disciplines for ordinary, everyday life.
Loving God and Neighbor
We are people of prayer. Mass is the most important activity of the entire week. Vatican II calls it the “source and summit” of our faith. It is our great work and our greatest prayer. We should do it well — through spoken prayer, silent meditation, active listening, singing, responding, and respectful posture. Our attentive worship models the reality that prayer is the foundation of our relationship with God. Oswald Chambers wrote: “Prayer does not fit us for greater works, prayer is the greater work.”
Prayer is the bedrock under all the liturgical roles the laity may perform at Mass, including our service as greeters, lectors, Extraordinary Ministers of the Eucharist, music ministers, or altar servers. Even if you don’t participate in these roles, witnessing others perform these services can inspire you in the pew.
We are greeters. (My parish calls them greeters or the welcome team. They are also known as ushers.) They are servants of the community. They are the first faces you see when you enter the church. They offer a welcome and open doors. They lend assistance to the elderly and infirm. They take up the weekly offerings, show hospitality, and often work behind the scenes. Greeters are perfect models for mirroring how our week should look. We should be people who welcome others, especially those we do not know. We should greet one another warmly, not being afraid to reach out. It is a simple call to offer respect and friendship by being kind, polite, patient and accommodating.
Transforming Our World by Word and Deed
We are lectors. We are servants of the Word. We are called to proclaim it and live it. But we can't do either unless we first know it. So we must read and contemplate, and come to a deeper understanding of it. (Let me encourage all to read the Bible outside of Mass each week.) Lectors beautifully remind us that we must be attentive to the Word of God by hearing it, employing it, and being unafraid to speak the message of the Gospel to the world.
We are Extraordinary Ministers of the Eucharist. We are servants of the Body and Blood of Christ. And while some of us may have that specific role at Mass, we are all called to that holiness of life that stands in adoration of Christ while, at the same time, touching Christ. This is truly laying our lives down for one another. We serve Christ when we serve the poor, the needy, the lonely, the sick, the dying, the imprisoned, or the over-burdened. We serve best when we offer acceptance, not rejection, and healing instead of hurt.
We are music ministers. We are servants of worship. Praise and thanksgiving is our mission; instruments and voices are our tools. We are most effective by being people of joy: people with a song in our hearts, people who can encourage others, and people who can lift spirits and lighten situations. What a model for our world! All of us, with the grace we receive from the Eucharist, can be “a choir of angels” in daily life — even if we never sing or play a note!
We are altar servers. We are servants to our priests. Altar servers, be they children or adults, model prayer and service to the priests in our midst. Their example calls us to work in unity with our priests, and pray with them, in humility, for more vocations. This may be a radical suggestion to some, given the fallout from the Church-related sex scandals. And yet, another scandal occurs when disunity divides lay people from their priests. Humble altar servers help us to maintain perspective — by keeping our eyes keenly focused on the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar and not on human frailties. As Father John Corapi likes to remind us in his distinctive, penetrating, voice: “No priest, no Eucharist!”
The actions of liturgical worship quietly, yet dramatically, teach us how to be lights in the real world for all the times when we are not in church. Our worship leads us to sanctity and, indeed, leads us to sanctify the world. Jesus prayed that we would be ready for such a vocation:
As you sent Me into the world, so I sent them into the world. And I consecrate Myself for them, so that they also may be consecrated in truth. I pray not only for them, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word, so that they may all be one, as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. (John 17: 18-21 NAB)
© 2006 Patricia W. Gohn
Pat Gohn has been married to Bob for 23 years and has three children. Known to her friends as “majoring in carpooling and minoring in theology,” she is currently pursuing a Master's in Theology. She lives in Massachusetts and can be reached at [email protected]. Her monthly column “Ordinary Time” appears at www.catholicmom.com.
