Apostolate of the Laity, excerpts
Here is our lovely Ambrosian Rite Pope Paul VI.What is the point of this website, and of my ministry in general? The Second Vatican Council released a document entitled Decree on the Apostolate of the Laity or Apostolicam Actuositatem. Promulgated by Pope Paul VI in 1965, this document builds upon Lumen Gentium's understanding of the role of the Laity in the Church by speaking directly to the activity of the laity in spreading the Gospel and living it out.
This document, in my opinion, is deep, timely, and prophetic, but is largely forgotten from Vatican II history. I think, more so than anything I have come across lately in Church documents, this Decree on the Apostolate of the Laity sums up the mission and purpose of LayEvangelist.com and what I believe my mission is for the Church today.
From the first paragraph, the Council Fathers state their intent for this document:
In this decree the Council seeks to describe the nature, character, and diversity of the lay apostolate, to state its basic principles, and to give pastoral directives for its more effective exercise. All these should be regarded as norms when the canon law, as it pertains to the lay apostolate, is revised. (AA, 1)
Events, Talks and Discernment
Jesus Christ is utterly humble, preaching his message by washing the disciples' feet. How humble are we, the preachers of his gospel?Whenever we give talks and lead conferences for youth we often approach it with programs centered around talks and framed by our own expectations. The danger lies in two things with this approach that must be re-evaluated in order to keep our talk, event or conference Christo-centric.
First, we all may think that discipleship lies in talking. Speech making is not the essence of living the Christian life. Listening to God in loving contemplation ought to be the center, not listening to me. There are two remedies for this from my perspective. For the speaker, all of our talks have to be drenched in prayer: from the topic, the placement, the outline, rough drafts and the final product to its opening and closing, as well as peppering the talk itself with the always-anointed words of Scripture. For the audience, especially teens, all of our talks have to lead them to better prayer, whether that is within the talk, as a challenge during the talk, or as meditative food-for-thought later on.
Traveling for Christ
It is central to a modern lay evangelist to be a traveling speaker, to board planes, trains and automobiles in order to reach whatever audience Christ sends our way.
But I'm newly married and a new dad, so every time I have to head out to the airport for the weekend or a week, it is always painful. I love my family and my daughter is so new to the world that every day becomes a new experience for her, and loads of joy for Shannon and me, so I always feel like I'm missing out on her life.
Tonight I arrived in Kansas City, MO for the diocesan KC youth conference. It's going to be a lot of fun and I will have ample opportunity to be with young people and to preach Christ. My first time hosting a summer camp was for middle school teens in Rockyvine, MO. The teens that I got close to were Diane Pichert's kids from the old KC. They will be coming to this event as juniors and seniors in high school, and I am starting to feel old.