Single Lay Vocation for Life and Single Parents: SINGLE BLESSEDNESS V OF V

SINGLE LAY VOCATION FOR LIFE

Perhaps the most misunderstood vocation in the Church is to be permanently single - to be present to the Lord for one’s entire life.  These are persons who are called by the Lord to be singularly focused, even consecrated to making the Lord Jesus present “on earth as it is in heaven.”  Although they are consecrated or set apart for God, they do not take the identity of being a lay religious brother or sister, but instead they are persons that God desires to leaven the temporal order with the riches of the Gospel.  How desperately we need this vocation today!  The world needs people who are doing what every body else is doing: teachers, doctors, lawyers, politicians, bankers, and every other profession, yet doing it with a single-minded focus of making Christ present in their sphere of influence.

In the country of Belize, there was such a witness, who greatly effected the history of this small country.  His name is George Cadle Price.  He was trained to be a Jesuit priest, then left the seminary to tend to his dying mother.  In the mean time, he saw the people of his country living in squalor, deprivation, and unrest, and God called him through life events to respond to the temporal situation by becoming what people today call him, 

“one of the principal architects of the country's independence, and is today referred to by many as ‘the Father of the Nation’”

While he lived in evangelical simplicity of life, attending daily mass and also attending to the needs of the poor, he wrote the constitution of the country.  In it, he included many of the key ideas of the social teachings of the Church - one of the primary works of the lay single vocation.  Reading this constitution is like reading, Rerum Novarum, the foundation of the teaching of Christ of the Church’s engagement in the modern secular order.   Since he was solely dedicated to the common good and the temporal order of Belize for over twenty years, the country’s modern foundation was set on sure footing.  This is an example what is possible for the single lay vocation.

SINGLE PARENTS, SEPARATED, 

DIVORCED, AND WIDOWED

Another group of persons that is frequently forgotten by the Church are the single parents.  How Christ loves you, single parents, and how the Church ought to draw near to you!  Great is your need of the consolation of the Gospel!  There are many who, although they set out on the pilgrimage of marriage with a companion, now find themselves alone through death, infidelity, or prolonged absence of the spouse.  They must figure out how to answer the call of Christ to be faithful to their marriage, that they are still very much bonded to the Lord despite the absence of their husband or wife, and need extra help to raise their children and help them depart on the road of life.

All too often these people are also misunderstood, misjudged even by well-intentioned catholics, and may feel forgotten by the Church, which is rightly intent on building up marriage and the family, yet may appear to neglect those in difficult situations.  To these people Blessed Pope John Paul reaches out in Familiaris Consortio, 83d:

“Loneliness and other difficulties are often the lot of separated spouses, especially when they are the innocent parties. The ecclesial community must support such people more than ever. It must give them much respect, solidarity, understanding and practical help, so that they can preserve their fidelity even in their difficult situation; and it must help them to cultivate the need to forgive which is inherent in Christian love, and to be ready perhaps to return to their former married life.

“The situation is similar for people who have undergone divorce, but, being well aware that the valid marriage bond is indissoluble, refrain from becoming involved in a new union and devote themselves solely to carrying out their family duties and the responsibilities of Christian life. In such cases their example of fidelity and Christian consistency takes on particular value as a witness before the world and the Church. Here it is even more necessary for the Church to offer continual love and assistance, without there being any obstacle to admission to the sacraments.”

Another group that is also forgotten about are the widowed.  However, these people, often quietly living out  their days in thanksgiving and praise in having lived a full life, are a great benefit to the Church.  Since the earliest of times consecrated widows have been a blessing to the Church, who live in imitation of Our Lady, in whose widowed years was a great intercessor and bullwark to the Church of God, by supporting and praying for the ministers of the Church, serving the poor, and by a witness of spiritual maternity matured by years.  In recent years there have been different expressions of consecrated widowhood.