Matthew 10:16
Douay-Rheims
16 Behold I send you as sheep in the midst of wolves. Be ye therefore wise as serpents and simple as doves.
An insight into the call of the laity consoled me greatly today. We are not priests who work with the converted. They are the shepherds. We have to leave the sheepfold. We leave and come back and leave and come back.
We are gifts given to the world. When I was in Tyburn, I heard God clearly say He was sending back out into the world, I was saddened to leave the beauty and silence of the monastery. I still have great love for those nuns.
I wanted the life of the rhythm of prayer and work, work and prayer.
But, in front of the Monstrance, in front of the Presence of Christ, I heard clearly, twice, "I am sending you out to pray and to write."
But, God is revealing more than that to me slowly, but surely. Be a layperson is not about doing only but about being. be-ing in the world.
The laity, including little old me, are wonderfully made gifts to the world, which is starving for beauty, rational discourse, the Truth of the Catholic Church. Some have communities, and some have Catholic families. Some do not.
But, we are not merely called to our families. This is a grave error in the thinking of many Catholics. In fact, we are most likely not called to evangelize our families, if they need conversion, as most family members are closed to their own relatives regarding change.
We are called to catechize our children, of course, and lead our spouses to heaven, if we are in a marriage.
That is the main job of the lay life, but not the only.
Those who are single by choice or by accident absolutely must be in the world, bringing Christ to the world
To be called into the world is not to have, what I use to call in my first blog, "moat mentality".
"Put the alligator in the moat and pull up the drawbridge!"-No, no,no.
We carry Christ into the world. And, more than ever, the world needs each one of us desperately.
Be leaven, be in the world but not of the world. Do not hide. If you are not strong enough, surround yourselves with strong Catholics.
God will lead you.