July 10, 2011 – Catechism 934-945

It is a review day. The 12 paragraphs are a review of the last 60+ paragraphs. These have talked about the hierarchy of the Church, the Laity, and those Consecrated. Apostles were sent out to act in the Person of Christ because He was leaving the Earth. He entrusted leadership of the visible Church on Earth to St. Peter and those that succeed him as Bishop of Rome. All the Bishops succeed from the Apostles. I haven’t seen one, but evidently all Bishops have a “family tree” of sorts that they are given tracing their line of succession back to an Apostle, which received it from Christ. The laity are to be leaven for the world. To live their vocations in a way that brings Christ to the secular world and transform it into a better place. This is their responsibility and cannot be done by the clergy because they are not in the “world” like the lay people are. All the lay faithful are called to a priestly vocation, however not a ministerial priesthood. A video I watched talked of the hierarchy of priesthood established by Christ being a mirror of that in the Old Testament Israel. You had the high priest (bishops), the ministerial priest (local priest), then Israel was called to a function or participation in the priesthood (the laity’s call). Those that are consecrated have a special call in giving their lives for fully to God in order to become closer to Him. This is usually done by a public act of taking vows, but anyone that gives themselves more fully to God in their life are consecrated to God in a special way.