The rediscovery of the beauty of being a Christian is a fundamental task for every lay person. The Fathers of the Church were great teachers in this regard. Saint Leo the Great encouraged the Christians of his time by saying: “Christian, recognise your dignity!”. Saint Ignatius of Antioch warned that “it is not enough to be called Christians; we must be Christians in fact”. Let us take note of how demanding it is to carry the name “Christian”! Saint Gregory of Nyssa wrote: “Since, by the goodness of God, we who are called ‘Christians’ have been granted the honour of sharing this name, the greatest, the highest, the most sublime of all names, it follows that each of the titles that express its meaning should be clearly reflected in us. If we are not to lie when we call ourselves ‘Christians’, we must bear witness to it by our way of living”. We, therefore, must be proud to be Christians and be free of any inferiority complex in the non-Christian world which surrounds us.
With our pride in being Christians, we must also discover anew how the Church is like a great family of God. It is a living communion in which each baptised person has a place and a task to carry out, in the local Church, parishes, associations, ecclesial movements and new communities. The mission of the Church involves us all – priests, laity and religious! The lay faithful must take full responsibility in carrying on the mission of the Church in the world. In the post-synodal apostolic exhortation Africae Munus, Pope Benedict XVI reminded us that the lay faithful are called to be “ambassadors of Christ” (2Cor 5:20) in the public sphere, in the heart of the world. Again this means “the leavening of the Gospel”, “salt of the earth”, “light of the world”. The great challenge for the lay faithful is to personally contribute to the building up of a society that grows in respect for the dignity of human beings and their fundamental rights, a society that is more in solidarity with the weak and the poor.
