As the fiftieth anniversary of Vatican II draws to a close, I want to bring our attention to LG ch. 5 concerning the universal call to holiness. My comments focus on the role of the laity in light of LG ch. 4. Vatican II’s teachings on the universal call to holiness are often misunderstood. I focus here on the laity because prior to the Council it was taken as obvious that the religious and clergy had some hope in achieving real holiness, not least because they had sacrificed marriage, and, for the religious, they had given up the world in order to live in a state of perfection. The newness of Vatican II’s teaching is that this “perfection” could be realistically achieved by laity. Thus, we no longer hear as much about “states of perfection,” but rather the emphasis is on “perfection in state.” I have encountered three different but related mistakes concerning the universal call to holiness: (1) ignoring the secularity proper to the majority of Catholics; (2) misreading the “call” as a “declaration”; (3) assuming such holiness is attained with little effort.

The first mistake is not that far removed from the pre-conciliar clericalism LG ch. 5 moved beyond: the closer one is to functioning like a priest, the holier one is. The universal call to holiness is thus interpreted almost completely as a call for the laity to distribute the Eucharist, or to do parish work. Certainly some lay people will serve at a parish, and this is good. Such activity, as important as it is, is not what characterizes the role of the laity in the Church. Nor does belonging to some lay movement, as wonderful as that might be.

LG very clearly underscores, “What specifically characterizes the laity is their secular nature” (31). It is their natural location in the heart of the world, in the ordinary activities of daily work and family life, and not parish life, lay movements, or other churchy activities, that typifies the laity. Everyone is called to holiness (LG 39-40, 42), as we read in LG 40: “all the faithful of Christ of whatever rank or status, are called to the fullness of the Christian life and to the perfection of charity.” But for most, this will be in their ordinary lives, as mothers and fathers, husbands and wives, single persons, working away as librarians, home makers, teachers, cab drivers, physicians, fire fighters, landscapers, etc. Again, as LG famously reads:

“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” (31).

The next mistaken interpretation is when people read it as a universal “declaration” of holiness, as opposed to a universal “call” of holiness. One example of this is when someone makes the comment, “I can go to Mass on Sunday, or I can play basketball instead…it’s the same thing.” The universal call to holiness means that everyone is called to become a saint. It doesn’t mean that everyone is already holy, or that everything is already holy. Playing basketball can become holy, but not by ignoring the Sacraments. Rather, it is through the Sacraments, and striving to put the Sacraments into practice in a life of charity, that playing basketball can become holy (LG 34). LG envisions the Sacraments as necessary components of the universal call to holiness (33, 42). Finally, the idea that holiness is “easy,” that if it’s not a given that everyone is holy, then at least it doesn’t take much effort. The universal call to holiness does not mean that holiness is a given. It takes effort, not simply performing a list of pious actions. It takes love, and such love involves sacrifice.

Pope Francis gets all of this. He understands the secularity of the laity, even regarding evangelization (Evangelii Gaudium 119-121, 127). He understands the centrality of prayer (EG 259, 262, 264, 281), recourse to Scripture (EG 152, 175), the Eucharist (EG 57; and Laudato Si 236-237), and of Confession (EG 44). He understands the goodness of the secular, of the world created by God and for which we are responsible (see his entire encyclical, LS). He understands the importance of the sanctification of work (LS 98, 124-126, 128, 237). The universal call to holiness is a wakeup call to everyone that becoming a saint is possible, and that striving for it is an obligation (LG 42). The work of Pope Francis points the way forward so that this teaching of Vatican II can bear even more fruit in the future.