Each according to our gifts
"There are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good." [1 Corinthians 12:4-7]
"Each one of you has received a special grace, so , like good stewards responsible for all these different graces of God, put yourself at the service of others. If you are a speaker, speak in words which seem to come from God; if you are a helper, help as though every action was done on God's orders; so that in everything God may receive the glory, through Jesus Christ, since to him alone belong all glory and power for ever and ever. Amen." [1 Peter 4:10-11]
"All are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills. Just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptised into one body." [1 Corinthians 12:11-13]
Pope Francis speaks of the Church as a ‘great orchestra in which there is great variety, where the Holy Spirit blends the variety into harmony. Each person is different. Each person brings their own special God-given gift to enrich the others'. [General Audience, St Peter’s Square, 9 October, 2013]
"Just as each of our bodies has several parts and each part has a separate function, so all of us, in union with Christ, form one body, and as parts of it we belong to each other. Our gifts differ according to the grace given us. If your gift is prophecy, then use it as your faith suggests; if administration, then use it for administration; if teaching, then use it for teaching." [Romans 12:4-7]
The Holy Spirit also enriches the entire evangelizing Church with different charisms. These gifts are meant to renew and build up the Church.(cf. "Lumen Gentium", n.12 ) [Evangelii Gaudium, 130]
​Lumen gentium ("The Light of Nations")
Dogmatic Constitution on the Nature of the Church, from the Second Vatican Council
​© The Holy See
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CHAPTER II - ON THE PEOPLE OF GOD
12 It is not only through the sacraments and the ministries of the Church that the Holy Spirit sanctifies and leads the people of God and enriches it with virtues, but, "allotting his gifts to everyone according as He wills,(1 Corinthians 12:11) He distributes special graces among the faithful of every rank. By these gifts He makes them fit and ready to undertake the various tasks and offices which contribute toward the renewal and building up of the Church, according to the words of the Apostle: "The manifestation of the Spirit is given to everyone for profit". These charisms, whether they be the more outstanding or the more simple and widely diffused, are to be received with thanksgiving and consolation for they are perfectly suited to and useful for the needs of the Church.
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17 The obligation of spreading the faith is imposed on every disciple of Christ, according to his state.
Cf. Apostolic Letter "Maximum illud" ("That Momentous [and holy] Charge"), (Benedict XV, 1919);
Encyclical Letter "Rerum Ecclesiae" ("Church Matters") on Catholic Missions (St Pius XI, 1926);
Encyclical Letter "Fidei Donum" ("The Gift of Faith") on the condition of Catholic missions (Pius XII, 1957)
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​​​​CHAPTER IV - THE LAITY
31 The term laity is here understood to mean all the faithful except those in holy orders and those in the state of religious life specially approved by the Church. These faithful are by baptism made one body with Christ and are constituted among the People of God; they are in their own way made sharers in the priestly, prophetical, and kingly functions of Christ; and they carry out for their own part the mission of the whole Christian people in the Church and in the world.
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What specifically characterizes the laity is their secular nature... The laity, by their very vocation, seek the kingdom of God by engaging in temporal affairs and by ordering them according to the plan of God. They live in the world, that is, in each and in all of the secular professions and occupations. They live in the ordinary circumstances of family and social life, from which the very web of their existence is woven. They are called there by God that by exercising their proper function and led by the spirit of the Gospel they may work for the sanctification of the world from within as a leaven. In this way they may make Christ known to others, especially by the testimony of a life resplendent in faith, hope and charity.
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32 By divine institution Holy Church is ordered and governed with a wonderful diversity. "For just as in one body we have many members, yet all the members have not the same function, so we, the many, are one body in Christ, but severally members one of another".(Romans 12:4-5) Therefore, the chosen People of God is one: "one Lord, one faith, one baptism"(cf. Ephesians 4:5); sharing a common dignity as members from their regeneration in Christ, having the same filial grace and the same vocation to perfection; possessing in common one salvation, one hope and one undivided charity. There is, therefore, in Christ and in the Church no inequality on the basis of race or nationality, social condition or sex, because "there is neither Jew nor Greek: there is neither bond nor free: there is neither male nor female. For you are all 'one' in Christ Jesus".(Galatians 3:28, cf. Colossians 3:11)
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In their diversity, all bear witness to the wonderful unity in the Body of Christ. This very diversity of graces, ministries and works gathers the children of God into one, because "all these things are the work of one and the same Spirit".(1 Corinthians 12:11)
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33 The laity are gathered together in the People of God and make up the Body of Christ under one head. Whoever they are they are called upon, as living members, to expend all their energy for the growth of the Church and its continuous sanctification, since this very energy is a gift of the Creator and a blessing of the Redeemer.
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CHAPTER IV
38 Each individual layman must stand before the world as a witness to the resurrection and life of the Lord Jesus and a symbol of the living God. All the laity as a community and each one according to his ability must nourish the world with spiritual fruits.(cf. 1 Peter 4:10) They must diffuse in the world that spirit which animates the poor, the meek, the peace makers—whom the Lord in the Gospel proclaimed as blessed.(cf. Matthew 5:3-9) In a word, "Christians must be to the world what the soul is to the body."(Epistle to Diognetus, 6 )
You can access the full Constitution on the Vatican website:
from the Epistle to Diognetus (author unknown)
CHAPTER 6
1 In a word, what the soul is in a body, this the Christians are in the world.
2 The soul is spread through all the members of the body, and Christians through the divers cities of the world.
3 The soul hath its abode in the body, and yet it is not of the body. So Christians have their abode in the world, and yet they are not of the world.
4 The soul which is invisible is guarded in the body which is visible: so Christians are recognised as being in the world, and yet their religion remaineth invisible.
5 The flesh hateth the soul and wageth war with it, though it receiveth no wrong, because it is forbidden to indulge in pleasures; so the world hateth Christians, though it receiveth no wrong from them, because they set themselves against its pleasures.
6 The soul loveth the flesh which hateth it, and the members: so Christians love those that hate them.
7 The soul is enclosed in the body, and yet itself holdeth the body together; so Christians are kept in the world as in a prison-house, and yet they themselves hold the world together.
8 The soul though itself immortal dwelleth in a mortal tabernacle; so Christians sojourn amidst perishable things, while they look for the imperishability which is in the heavens.
9 The soul when hardly treated in the matter of meats and drinks is improved; and so Christians when punished increase more and more daily.
10 So great is the office for which God hath appointed them, and which it is not lawful for them to decline.
[from: Apostolic Fathers, Lightfoot & Harmer, 1891 translation]