Lay people have to love and serve God just as much as religious people or priests; their love for him is expressed in prayer and service.
Lay People bring the word of God to others by reading in church, doing missionary work, teaching etc. They also bring holiness to others by the example of their lives, by their prayer and by their example of public worship, such as retreat days.
Lay people have to show the Love of Christ in the way they treat their spouse and children – to be tolerant, forgiving, kind, patient, understanding, generous, encouraging, appreciative, self-controlled, and so on. If they can manage this, they show the love that Christ has for his Church.
Lay people act as stewards of the world in which God made, they use their talents to improve the world and aim to make it perfect.
They have a duty to be aware of the world around them, with all its faults, for example: violence, addictions to drugs and alcohol, crime, prejudice, unjust ways of governing and lack of human rights.
But most of all Lay people are called to love God and their neighbour. The Holy Spirit strengthens a person in faith, hope and love when baptism and confirmation are received.
Some Christians are called to follow Christ by belonging to a Religious Order of Congregation, a man or a woman can choose to belong to a contemplative or an apostolic order.
Religious life in a contemplative order involves a hidden life of prayer and work. Their members are monks or nuns. They live in a monastery or abbey. They withdraw completely from the outside world. The members have enclosure, which usually means that they do not go out of the community they have joined. Examples are Carmelites and Poor Clare’s for women and Carthusians for men. Each day is broken, several times, by prayer together.
Religious life in an apostolic order also involves a life of prayer and work, but the work is public like caring for the sick, the poor, the old, the handicapped; preaching, counselling and education. Their members usually call each other ‘Brother’ or ‘Sister’. They have withdrawn from the world but usually work in the world. Some of them are missionaries. Many of them have jobs such as, teachers, nurses or parish workers. Examples are sisters of Notre Dame for women and Christian Brothers for men.
All religious men and women are consecrated to God by three vows. They are:
- Poverty
- Chastity
- Obedience
Poverty means, if any of these Religious People had a paid job they would not keep any of the money they earn. The money they earn goes to their religious institute.
Chastity means Celibacy. So they do not marry or have families. Instead they live with other members of their institute.
Obedience means, they have to pray regularly, to know God better, and to become more like Jesus. They pray together, as well as privately, each day.
The role of deacons, priests and bishops is that of the apostles – to mould the community into a communion of love, to serve the people of God. All share in the priesthood of Jesus Christ who called his apostles to share in his priesthood. The 12 apostles responded to his call by leaving everything behind to follow him.
The celibacy of priests and bishops and some deacons is a sign, which enables them to devote themselves more freely to the service of God and mankind. Many people would argue that married priests could have an important role to play in Church, but celibacy is following the model of Jesus who did not marry. Priests are expected to do many things,such as: follow the example of Christ, preach about Jesus and God, visit the sick, to comfort them, pray privately each day, teach people how to pray, care for the dying and console those who grieve, listen to those who are agitated and distraught, understand and help those who are in broken spirit, live a simple life ( even though they don’t take a vow of poverty).