A Nonpolitical Post Election Thought

Pope John Paul II’s Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Christifideles Laici should be read by all Catholics who are upset about the direction of our country after the recent elections. In reading the exhortation Catholics will find hope, words of encouragement and a blueprint for the path they must follow as Catholics for at least the next four years.

            We live in a world that appears to be rapidly deteriorating. Christifideles Laici points out that we live in a world that is becoming more secularized, rejecting religion, violating human dignity, rising men to the rank of God and committing extreme acts of violence. The negative growth of our world has its affect on the Church which lives in the world. This affect on the Church is apparent when we look at the decreased number of people in the pews and the number of Catholics who hold views that conflict with the teachings of the Church. While seeing this decline is painful it should not be a cause for despair, Jesus Christ has promised that he will never leave His Church, the Church will never fall. No matter how bad things get the Church will remain the light on the mountain top guiding all who want to follow to the heavenly Father.

While the Church, being in the world, is affected by the world it also at the same time has the ability to affect positive change on the culture. For the Church to have an effect on the world no person can sit idle. The Post Synod Apostolic Exhortation reminds us that there is enough labor for everyone.

While the clergy are essential to the Church, after all without the priests there would be no Eucharist and without the Eucharist there would be no Church, the lay faithful carry the burden of the work. It is the laity who are out in the world, who see and work amongst the evils of the world. If the world is going to be transformed it is going to be because of the laity.

What then is this labor that is to be done by the laity. I think and Christifideles Laici seems to support that Christians must remain people of joy and hope. We can never forget that no matter how bad things get the battle has already been won. Christ has died and opened the gates to eternal life, our destiny. Joy and hope are contagious. As Christians live out their lives faithfully according to the example of Christ and the teachings of the Church in a spirit of joy and hope other people will be attracted to that joy and hope and realize that it is the Christ through the Church that brings true joy and happiness to the world.