“Mountaineers of the spirit”

Consecrated lay people, at the centre of the modern soul tension

I have recently read some contributions from the Magisterium of the Church on the website of the World Conference of Secular Institutes, https://www.cmis-int.org/it/, therefore I wish to offer some hints for reflection on secular consecration.

In particular, I focused on some documents produced on the occasion of the Latin American Congress “Evangelization and Secular Institutes in the light of the apostolic exhortation Evangelii nuntiandi“. They are not recent texts, but they contain a great wealth of wisdom, so as, the  whole Magisterium of the church does. I was struck by the singular position attributed to this vocation: at the center of the modern soul tension, that is, in balance between the values ​​of the world and the profound donation of the heart to God. In fact, it is here, in the intimacy of the heart that the world – renewed by the leaven of the Gospel – is consecrated, offered to God in a work of evangelical transformation. Thus is Christian secularity found on a weighing plate, different than secularism, that is, the world life; on the other stands the spirit of consecration, an attitude which, through the evangelical counsels – poverty, chastity, obedience – allows to direct each reality to the Lord (Third General Conference of the Latin American Episcopate, Puebla, 1979, n.775).

Cardinal Pironio used a touching expression to indicate the strength of the testimony connected to secular institutes: in fact, he invoked, the “living God of hope” (Card. Eduardo Pironio, Message at the 2^nd Latin American Congress of Secular Institutes, 12 July 1979) . It is of him that we are witnesses, not a distant God, but a risen God who lives and runs through the path of men. However, the consecrated lay people are not disembodied witnesses, people who show the saving path to others from the ‘shore’. No. They are immersed, together with the others, in the stormy sea of ​​history with all its risks and difficulties. As Paul VI already pointed out, secularity and consecration are co-essential aspects. It is as if the consecrated lay person had constantly to mend a relationship, making sure that the worldly horizon does not stain the richness of the consecration, nor that the consecration takes him away from daily duties. However, the latter will be carried out, in the world and for the world, with the science that comes from the anointing received, from the total bond with Christ.

Consecration is a celestial imprint that permeates all the nuances of existence and daily occupations; it vivifies them, makes them dynamic, freeing them from selfish interests. However, it is only through grace, that it is possible to resolve the permanent and radical conflict between earthly horizon and belonging to the Lord and to climb this mountain as “mountaineers of the spirit” (Paul VI, 1^st International Conference of Secular Institutes, September 26, 1970, n. 12). A task that requires generous courage, discernment in the awareness that secular institutes are a comforting gift for the church, because they realize her presence in the various human and social realities in an original way: rather, they are an experimental laboratory that allows to verify in the church/world relationship in a concrete way. In fact, they put into motion the Christian potential, whish is hidden but present in the most varied dimensions (economic, cultural, etc.). For this reason, it is important to be prepared with competence and openness to the chosen profession:

The great forces that govern the world: politics, mass media, science, technology, culture, education, industry and work are precisely the fields where lay people have the specific competence to carry out their mission. If these forces are directed by people who are true disciples of Christ and who, at the same time, for their knowledge and talents, are competent in their specific fields, then the world will truly be changed from within by the redemptive power of the Christ (John Paul II, homily delivered in Limerick, October 1, 1979, quoted in Changing the world from within. Address to the II International Congress of Secular Institutes, August 28, 1980, the underlined in the text is mine).

A consecrated lay person can work in any area, but he must do it as an authentic disciple of Christ, combining commitment, skills and talents with the power of grace. He was not called to be sloppy and mediocre. In fact, lack of competence is not only a knowledge gap, but it is translated into the impossibility of being the charity of Christ. Only competence, illuminated by the Word of God, made fruitful by humility and poverty in spirit, allows to truly help others, even if only by giving those deep eyes that intercept the true needs of the brother. For John Paul II, consecration itself becomes a discerning factor of the secular state, that is, a spiritual compass that allows to separate positive from negative potential, enhancing the former and discarding the latter. This means that open-mindedness is an essential attitude, constitutive for the consecrated lay person. The world must also be taken seriously:

Therefore, you must consider yourself as a “part” of the world, as committed to sanctifying it, totally accepting its needs that derive from the legitimate autonomy of the world realities, its values ​​and its laws (J. Paul II, Changing the world from within cit., n.14).

The world must be sanctified, but it has a legitimate autonomy. It is necessary to gradually seek solutions to the practical problems that emerge, knowing that faith does not give pre-packaged solutions. Thus, the consecrated lay person will succeed in his mission if he maintains a high sense of the church and of communion with the Pastors, a theological existence and a contemplative dimension. The last two allow one to always breathe the transcendent presence of the Lord and give the freedom that, even in the tempests of life or, simply, among the tight rhythms of daily and professional occupations, he knows how to find islands of active prayer and of listening to his own Lord. Because only by listening to the breath of the heart of Christ does one not lose the spirit of the personal consecration.

Anna Guzzi