Cristina InogésI perceive that the 'hour of the laity' is closer than ever".Pilar RíoThe laity, men and women "of the world at the heart of the Church" : The laity, men and women "of the world at the heart of the Church".The involvement of the laity in the mission of the Church is one of the recurring aspects that, as it could not be otherwise, has been at the heart of the synodality that Pope Francis wants to promote. All Christians must be equally committed to the mission of the Church, each one in the part of the Kingdom that corresponds to us according to our vocation.
But for this to become a reality, for there to be a true involvement of the laity in the life of the Church and in her mission in the midst of the world, it is necessary to form them for it. This has been the passion of many priests over the last hundred years, and it was ratified in a special way by the Second Vatican Council.
One of these promoters of the laity is the Jesuit priest, the Venerable Tomás Morales, who dedicated the best of his energies and teachings precisely to the formation of the laity, which he summarizes in his work "The Laity and the Society of Jesus".Laity on the move". In this book, from the experience accumulated over the years, he offers advice for the mobilization of lay Catholics. His great passion emerges here. He believes that the Church needs lay Christians, who are the vast majority, to discover the dignity of their baptism. From this discovery will come a new attitude that will lead them to take an active part in the life of the Church.
The lay person is not, as one person used to say with grace, the one who is at the "side" of the priest. The laity are not simply the long hands of the priest, to reach where he does not reach. The laity has all the dignity of the baptismal consecration, and therefore is priest, prophet and king. And he has an irreplaceable mission: to build this world according to the heart of Christ, to make it as God dreamed it.
But where to start?
Morales S.I. does not get lost in the casuistry of the different temporal realities to be evangelized, but goes to the heart of the action and offers six pieces of advice on which to base a true and effective mobilization of the Catholic laity. Six pieces of advice that can also be useful for us educators of the 21st century.
Do-do
The first piece of advice he gives us is to learn to involve others. It's easier to do like ten people than to get ten people to do something, he says. And it's true, we know from experience. It takes less work to do something ourselves than to try to get ten people to do the same thing, because they will have to learn, they will want to do it their own way, they will do it worse than we already know how, and so on.
And yet, it is precisely in this way (by doing everything ourselves) that we end up turning our employees into children who can only, at best, follow our instructions to the letter, do what we tell them to do, lend us a hand. But this way they don't grow, they don't take it as their own, they don't mature.
The challenge of every mobilizer of the laity is to enter into this school of doing-doing. And that, in turn, these same people involved learn this technique. Thus the action is multiplied exponentially. Because each subject is responsible and autonomous in undertaking evangelization in his or her environment. And he spreads this responsibility to others.
With this way of working, people grow. And this is the main thing we are looking for. Not so much that the specific work turns out well, but that those involved have an opportunity to learn, grow as people and develop specific qualities. Once again the person at the center!
Giving up the rush
The second piece of advice alerts the new apostle to a great temptation: haste.
In a society in which we want immediate results, we are forced to present large numbers - and soon - to demonstrate the effectiveness of the evangelizing proposal we are carrying out. And haste has never been a good counselor!
Because, carried away by this haste, we can easily fall into making dangerous concessions, end up making pacts with the criteria of the world in order to attract more people. Perhaps in the end we will have more people around us, but the question we have to ask ourselves with sincerity is whether the divine life is really reaching them, whether their hearts are really being transformed.
The growth of persons is slow, at the rhythm of life, and cannot be forced. The most solid tool of evangelization is the one that is given in the soul to soul contact, as Fr. Morales liked to express, in the conversation of friendship, in the serene dialogue, in the intimate confidence. But the way of the heart is slow, friendship is forged in adversities, intimacy is not generated immediately or with just anyone.
We must cultivate a vision of faith. Especially when we see the magnitude of the enterprise at hand, a world that we would almost say crushes us and we do not embrace. Then the double temptation can come: either we try to evangelize the world by "quick" methods, using the same methods the world uses to sell its products; or we get discouraged and throw in the towel. But both are temptations.
The path proposed to us by this tireless apostle is different. To form a minority that transforms the dough, as yeast does. To spend all the necessary time in the formation and education of each young person. Not to be in a hurry, not at all; simply because God is not in a hurry.
As the Italian proverb says, "Chi va piano va lontano"..
Do not be dazzled by social or political messianism.
Precisely the third council has much to do with this haste to transform society. Father Morales had to live through different social and political messianisms to which many succumbed. All of them passed. Today we also have this risk, to think that what we have to do is to organize a political party, win the elections and from the power to change society. We believe that the key is to mobilize people in the street, to have mechanisms of power to influence the masses, to have powerful means of communication and propaganda. That is why the indication of not being dragged by social or political messianisms is still totally current.
We will have to be attentive, therefore, to the new messianisms that may dazzle us.
It was not that Father Morales did not believe that society had to improve, and therefore that he despised social or political action. On the contrary, he encouraged anyone who felt called to politics to undertake this path of commitment based on the Gospel. But he was aware that the true reform of society does not pass so much through the change of structures as through the conversion of hearts. It is man who must be reformed. It is his heart that must be changed if we want to have a more just society.
Only transformed men will transform society.
And he uses all his strength to do so.
Do not become a fun organizer
The fourth temptation about which the apostle warns, especially among young people, is that of becoming an organizer of entertainment. This temptation comes from the belief that generating a healthy space where young people can have fun and socialize, with activities adapted to them, will end up bringing the masses closer to God.
There is some truth in this claim. A new culture must be generated, and this culture, which must permeate everything, also involves all human relations, including entertainment and recreation.
But we must admit that, as an evangelizing method, the risk of remaining in this stage of healthy fun is high, very high. It will not lead young people to God, if there are no others within that group of young people who help to raise their gaze beyond that world of fun. And it will not achieve anything more than to generate a good atmosphere, if that proposal does not already have in itself the seed of Christian life.
Because, in the end, what can be generated is that those young people attracted by this healthy entertainment end up looking for other amusements, without having changed their mentality. And in the end, in this matter of organizing entertainment, there are those who do it much better than we do.
Morales proposes to us is to place our expectations not on the means, but on the end. To seek that our actions bear fruit, not success. To have our head, and our heart, in its place, in God. Because when Jesus Christ is at the center of life, everything is put in its place and takes on its relative importance.
At the same time, Father Morales encourages young people to place in their hearts, as their greatest hope, that their companions in their studies or work come closer to Jesus Christ. May the apostolate be their best fun, the most exciting adventure, capable of catapulting the best of their energies.
Because if we all need our watering holes, as St. Teresa of Jesus repeated to her nuns, what we cannot allow is that our whole life goes down that watering hole of entertainment as the central objective of life. There is only one life and it is worth spending it for something great, for the Gospel!
Ecumenical breadth in mentality and action
The fifth piece of advice is to get out of the narrow vision of our group and raise our gaze to the mission of the universal Church. This is not easy, because we tend to "capillismo", to navel-gazing, to believing that our movement is better than the others, that in it lies the salvation of the Church.
The Church is much bigger than ourselves. And the Spirit gives rise to a myriad of charisms to bring divine life to the world. And we are asked to be militants of the Catholic Church, not of our own small group.
That ecumenical mentality that Father Morales lived with intensity in the post-Vatican II Council, must be exercised within the Catholic Church itself. We need ecumenism among Catholics. We must learn to value the brother and to live his charism as a grace that enriches the whole Church, a gift that belongs to me. Perhaps one of the contributions that we can make from this universal spirit is precisely to make family among the different charisms and movements in our environments. To unite us in the shared mission is to make Church.
And this, if possible, even more so in our present world in which the Church is in a minority in society, in which we all feel our weakness. We must learn that no one, no group or movement, has in itself the answers to all the needs of the world. We all need and complement each other. Some will contribute their capacity to worship, others their dedication to the most needy, the call to conversion or the creation of culture. Each one of us is like a precious piece in a mosaic. If a single pebble were missing, the mosaic would be incomplete.
Primacy of the inner life
The sixth and last piece of advice could not be other than to give primacy to the interior life. And very concretely, to cultivate affection for the Virgin, the great love of this apostle who was Tomás Morales.
Faced with an action that can get out of control, Thomas knows that the source from which all our actions flow is the personal encounter with Jesus Christ, the unconditional love that he has for us. A love that we cultivate especially in the life of the sacraments and in intimate daily prayer. He thus echoes a wisdom that he shares with all the saints. For this reason, St. Teresa of CalcuttaWhen the work with the sick and dying increased, she asked the sisters to increase their prayer life. How easy it is, if one's heart is not in the right place, to become distracted! We begin to believe, without realizing it, that prayer takes time away from the urgency of caring for those in need. And we end up leaving the source of life. And our soul ends up dry, withered, dead.
The ultimate secret for the mobilization of the laity lies precisely in this point, in cultivating an intense interior life, anchored in a deep love for Jesus Christ and Our Lady, which makes us overflow with life. May it turn our heart into a spring that wells up to eternal life.
Teaching Delegate in the Diocese of Getafe since the 2010-2011 academic year, he has previously exercised this service in the Archbishopric of Pamplona and Tudela, for seven years (2003-2009). He currently combines this work with his dedication to youth ministry directing the Public Association of the Faithful 'Milicia de Santa Maria' and the educational association 'VEN Y VERÁS. EDUCATION', of which he is President.
