Have you ever asked yourself these questions?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
How am I serving my parish? \u2026 How do I witness Christ in my family, workplace, and community?… What gifts has God given me that I can place at the service of others?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Well, if you haven\u2019t, then reflect on it for a moment, as you read about Lay Apostolate Sunday (27th<\/sup> September),<\/em>a special occasion on the last Sunday of September observed in Goa to recognize and celebrate the indispensable role of the laity in the life and mission of the Church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n The Church reminds us that every baptized Christian is called to be an apostle. While priests and religious have their unique role, the laity are entrusted with the mission of bringing the Gospel into homes, workplaces, schools, neighborhoods, and every sphere of society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In Goa, the Lay Apostolate is visible in countless ways. Parishioners generously serve as catechists, lectors, choir members, Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion, members of Parish Pastoral Councils, youth animators, and volunteers in various parish ministries. Many also dedicate themselves to visiting the sick, caring for the elderly, supporting the poor, and organising faith formation and social outreach programmes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The lay apostolate extends far beyond the walls of the Church. Every Catholic parent nurturing faith within the family, every teacher shaping young minds, every healthcare worker serving with compassion, every professional acting with integrity, and every young person standing up for truth and justice is living out the mission of the lay apostolate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As society faces increasing challenges from weakening family values to social divisions and indifference to faith, the witness of committed lay Catholics becomes ever more important.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lay Apostolate Sunday is an invitation for each of us to reflect on our own vocation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On this Lay Apostolate Sunday, let us thank all those who generously offer their time, talents, and resources for the growth of the Church. May we renew our commitment to be joyful witnesses of the Gospel, building communities of faith, hope, and love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Go into all the world and proclaim the Gospel to the whole creation.”<\/em> \u2014 Mark 16:15<\/p>\n\n\n\n -Louella Santimano Dias<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Have you ever asked yourself these questions? How am I serving my parish? \u2026 How do I witness Christ in my family, workplace, and community?… What gifts has God given me that I can place at the service of others?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3815","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-parish","category-pormoll"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stsebastianaquem.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3815","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stsebastianaquem.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stsebastianaquem.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stsebastianaquem.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stsebastianaquem.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3815"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stsebastianaquem.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3815\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3816,"href":"https:\/\/stsebastianaquem.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3815\/revisions\/3816"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stsebastianaquem.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3815"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stsebastianaquem.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3815"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stsebastianaquem.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3815"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}