Bishops of Spain: the laity, called to deliver the love of God as “political charity”

On the occasion of the Day of Catholic Action and the Secular Apostolate, which is celebrated on June 8, Spanish bishops have disseminated a message in which they encourage the laity to be brave witnesses of Christian hope in public life.

“Laity, by virtue of their vocation, are called to deliver the love of God that has been shed in each of us by the Holy Spirit, as political charity, being present in public life, witnessing Christian hope with courage and missionary ardor,” said the Episcopal Commission for the laity, family and life of the Spanish Episcopal Conference (CEE).

Prelates also thank God “for so many laity Catholics who, personally or associated, are signs of hope with their Christian and ecclesial commitment in the places of mission, in the workers’ neighborhoods, in prisons, in the world of education, in politics, in the economy, in the media, in the digital continent, etc.”.

In line with the motto of this day – “Witnesses of hope in the world” – the bishops point out that the Holy Spirit has led the history of humanity “gradually and pedagogically, feeding hope against all the difficulties and failures of humanity.”

“Only who is discovered, every day, loved by God, is prepared to wait in him,” says the Spanish bishops in their message. This certainty, they explain, allows us to understand that the Christian hope “is not reduced to a passive waiting of the future, nor is it conformist resignation, nor naive optimism”, but an active attitude, rooted in faith and open to the transformation of reality.

Thus, the hope “springs from the trust we have in God, which has loved us in Christ and that lives in each of us through the gift of the Holy Spirit that we have received,” emphasizes the episcopal message.

For bishops, if the Catholic Church wants to be a sign of hope, especially within the jubilee year focused on this theological virtue, “you have to lose your fear of getting outward and inhabit in geographical and existential peripheries, where there are perhaps winds and storms, but we have the safe anchor, which is Jesus Christ.”

Specify the commitments

In it REFLECTION MATERIAL Prepared by the EEC for this day, it is reiterated that “in a world marked by uncertainty and suffering, we are called to be signs of hope, promoting justice, peace and fraternity.”

This circumstance is understood as “an opportunity for all Christians to reflect on our role in the creation of a more fair and hopeful world.”

Therefore, the prelates underline, “we must specify our commitments, which each layman must assume, in our own environments”

“In Pentecost, the Holy Spirit renews the Church and strengthens its mission. Today more than ever, it is necessary that we laughed our vocation generously and commit ourselves to the evangelization of the world knowing part of this Synod Church, with hope, and making us present in our day to day as an example that we can live life from the values ​​of the Gospel,” they conclude.