The Lay Apostolate
Apostolate refers to the activity by which the Church, through all her members, carries out Christ’s mission in the world. It comes from the same root as apostle, meaning “one who is sent.”
There is nothing more amazing and rewarding than being sent. It is an extraordinary grace.
When God sends us, He does not work only through us for the benefit of others — He also works in us for our own salvation. The Holy Spirit uses us to transform the world, and in doing so, He transforms us from within, for:
“The Holy Spirit is the Master of the interior life.” (CCC 1995)
The lay apostolate is the mission entrusted to the lay faithful.
For the laity, this mission is exercised especially in the world. We are not called to withdraw from society, but to make Christ present within it.
The lay apostolate therefore goes beyond parish activity. In fact, the Church states that the particular field of the lay apostolate is the temporal order: the world of human activity, responsibility, decision-making, structures, relationships and culture. It is exercised in the ordinary circumstances of daily life: family, work, relationships, culture, social life, economic activity, civic responsibility and public life.
To exercise the lay apostolate is to act intentionally for Christ where God has placed you. It means allowing your presence, choices, work, relationships and responsibilities to bear witness to Him. The lay faithful are called to be salt and light in the world, so that the places in which they live and act may be touched by the Gospel.
This responsibility cannot simply be delegated to institutions, organisations or charitable structures. Institutions can serve, but they cannot love in your place. Structures can support good work, but they cannot bear witness to Christ by the witness of your life. The lay apostolate requires the personal presence, responsibility and action of the baptised. Through the lay faithful, Christ is made present in places and circumstances where only they can witness to Him.
The lay apostolate is our mission to serve Christ in the world: to make Him present, to act for Him, and to help renew the temporal order according to God’s Will.
“The apostolate in the social milieu, that is, the effort to infuse a Christian spirit into the mentality, customs, laws, and structures of the community in which one lives, is so much the duty and responsibility of the laity that it can never be performed properly by others.”
“The laity, by their very vocation, seek the kingdom of God by engaging in temporal affairs and by ordering them according to the plan of God. They live in the world, that is, in each and in all of the secular professions and occupations. They live in the ordinary circumstances of family and social life, from which the very web of their existence is woven. They are called there by God that by exercising their proper function and led by the spirit of the Gospel they may work for the sanctification of the world from within as a leaven.”
