Laity ministers
must serve
and
never become
self-referential
Pope Francis addresses participants in
Plenary Assembly of the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life and reflects on
the meaning of ministeriality in the Church and on the role of laypeople which
must be focused on mission and service.
By Lisa Zengarini
Laypeople in the Church can and must carry out many
instituted ministries, supplementary services, assignments, and offices, which,
however, should "never become self-referential”, but always tend "to
transform society" by bringing Christian values into the world.
Pope Francis made this remark on Saturday in his
address to the members of the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life as they
concluded their Plenary Assembly on the theme “The laity and ministeriality in
the synodal Church”.
Welcoming the participants in the Clementine Hall, the
Pope reaffirmed that "the willingness to serve the brethren, and in them,
to serve Christ" is the true motivation that must inspire any faithful who
assumes an ecclesial task and any commitment to Christian witness in the
reality where he or she lives”
The origin of the ministeriality of the Church
Referring to the theme of the three-day session, Pope
Francis reflected on the meaning of ministeriality in the Church and on the
role of laypeople in this context.
He noted that when we speak of Church ministries in
general, the thought immediately goes to “instituted” ministries such as the
ones of lector, acolyte, and catechist “which are all well-known”.
However, he said, these instituted ministries “do not
represent the full extent of the ministeriality of the Church, which is broader
and, ever since the first Christian communities, regards all the faithful”.
The common priesthood of all the faithful based
on Baptism
The Pope recalled that its origin lies in Baptism and
in the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
Indeed, the Sacrament is "the root of the common
priesthood of all the faithful which is in turn expressed in the ministries”.
This is because all the baptized – whether lay people,
celibate, married people, priests, religious – are Christifideles, that is
believers in Christ, “and are therefore required to take part in the mission He
entrusted to the Church, also through the assumption of specific ministries”.
The ministry of the laity in particular, the Pope
continued, also “stems from the charism that the Holy Spirit distributes within
the People of God for its edification”. This, the Pope said, explains even more
clearly why the ministeriality of the Church cannot "be reduced merely to
instituted ministries, but rather embraces a far vaster field”.
Participating in the prophetic and regal
function of Christ
Even today, "as in the first Christian communities,
faced with particular pastoral needs, without resorting to the institution of
ministries, pastors can entrust certain supplementary functions to laypeople,
that is, temporary services, as in the case of the proclamation of the Word of
the distribution of the Eucharist.”
Moreover, Pope Francis continued, “besides the
instituted ministries, supplementary services, and other regularly entrusted
offices, the laity can carry out a range of tasks, which express their
participation in the prophetic and regal function of Christ: not only within
the Church, but also in the environments where they live”, for example in
reaching out to those affected by old and new forms of poverty, including
migrants.
Family ministry
The Pope also mentioned the field of family ministry
which is all the more relevant today in light of the many challenges the family
is facing, and which was another focus of the Plenary.
Recalling the magisterium of Pope St. John Paul II and
of Pope St. Paul VI, Pope Francis highlighted, amongst other things, the
educational mission of the family as a ministry of evangelization.
Mission and service
All these ministries, services, assignments and
offices, the Pope emphasized, “must never become self-referential” and have two
fundamental things in common: "Mission and service", because they “are
an expression of the one mission of the Church and all are forms of service to
others”.
“I like to emphasize that at the root of the term
ministry there is the word minus, which means “minor”. And Jesus said so: those
who command should make themselves the smallest, otherwise they do not know how
to command. It is a small detail, but of great importance. Those who follow
Jesus are not afraid to make themselves “inferior”, “minor”, to place
themselves at the service of others. Indeed, Jesus himself taught us: “whoever
would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among
you must be slave of all” (Mk 10: 43-44).”
Only by serving the brethren “and in them, Christ”,
Pope Francis concluded, will “all the baptized be able to discover the meaning
of their own life, joyfully experiencing being ‘a mission on this earth’ that
is, being called, in different ways and forms, to ‘bring light, bless, enliven,
raise up, heal and free’.
ADDRESS
OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS
