Jul 23 Thu - In the Mass, what is the Prayer after Communion?

 

Jul 23 Thu

In the Mass, what is the Prayer after Communion?

After Communion, the priest returns to the altar. He either completely consumes any consecrated hosts that remain or carries them to the tabernacle. He then collects any remaining particles, and standing at the side of the altar or at a side table, he purifies the paten or ciborium over the chalice, and then the chalice itself, drying it with a purificator. 

The vessels are then taken to a side table by a server. It is also permitted to leave them, properly covered and on a corporal, either at the altar or at a side table, and to purify them after the Mass. 

Afterward, if circumstances allow, the priest and the people may spend some time in silent prayer. If desired, the entire congregation may sing a hymn, psalm, or some other song of praise.

At this moment, we can tell our Lord how much we love him. At other times, however, we will feel as if God is hiding from us. In such moments, we will have to advance like blind men feeling their way, like little children learning to walk. Sometimes, it will be our own fault, even though our mistakes may seem to us to be nothing at all. Our pride then leads us to justify what has no justification. 

Then, standing at the altar or at the chair and facing the people, the priest, with hands outstretched, says, “Let us pray.” There may be a brief period of silence, unless this has already been observed immediately after Communion. The priest recites the Prayer after Communion, at the end of which the people respond, “Amen.”

In the Prayers after Communion, we find the characteristic features of the Roman Collects: a restrained style and an unobtrusive and quietly lyrical quality. From them, a theology of the effects of the Eucharist can be compiled: graces for the soul, an increase in the theological virtues, and in the gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit; a remedy for the body; the unity of the Mystical Body; and eternal life. The expressions used (“bread of life,” “life-giving food,” “spiritual food,” etc.) formally state the doctrine of the real presence of our Lord in the Eucharist.

We have been nourished with the “bread of life,” the food that is the source of our fortitude. This virtue of fortitude enables us to sustain the daily combat against our passions and weaknesses. 
According to the teachings of St. Thomas, the virtue of fortitude is found in one: 
- who is ready to face danger;
- who is ready to put up with adversities for a just cause, for truth, or justice. 

The Gospel often repeats: “Fear not.” It teaches man that, for a just cause, for truth, for justice, one must be able to “lay down one’s life.”

We can profit a lot from these Prayers by using them as inspiration for personal reflection during the course of the day.

When it seems fitting, some brief concluding words can be addressed after the Prayer after Communion. 

Jul 22 Wed - How did the first generation of Christians live their faith?

 

Jul 22 Wed

How did the first generation of Christians live their faith?

"We must get to know and imitate the life of Jesus' disciples, of those who knew Peter and Paul and John, and who were close witnesses of the Master's Death and Resurrection." Among these, many first-generation Christians were chosen by God to bear the supreme witness of martyrdom; they paid with their blood for their faith in Christ.

The early Christians did not live in the catacombs, except occasionally, perhaps during an attack. They were ordinary people and citizens of the capital of the Roman Empire who lived in ordinary houses and walked along the streets. Each family was an "ecclesia domestica", a part of the Church.

They lived faithfully to our Lord in the midst of earthly affairs. Each community of the faithful gathered people from all social strata and all backgrounds. They were people converted to the faith of Christ, which kept them together. All professions were represented in these communities: there were doctors such as Luke; lawyers such as Zenas; financiers such as Erastus; academics such as Apollo; craftsmen such as Alexander; businessmen, small and great; jailers and their families; soldiers and officials; a proconsul, Sergius Paulus, etc. They were poor and rich; slaves and freemen; civilians and military men, like Sebastian.

A great diversity of personal circumstances enriched the Christian communities from the first moment. Upon contemplating this reality, St. Josemaría wrote: “How clear was that general calling to sanctity, within one's profession, without leaving one's own environment!” 

“Nevertheless, for centuries, the majority of Christians did not understand this: the ascetical phenomenon of many people seeking sanctity without changing their professional situation; rather, sanctifying their profession and sanctifying themselves by means of their profession. And very soon the doctrine was forgotten, on account of not being lived."

Yet “By raising up his Work in these times, the Lord has willed that the truth about everyone having the duty to reach holiness would never again be unknown or forgotten... and that the majority of Christians should sanctify themselves in the world, through ordinary work."

“Opus Dei’s spirit is both as old as the Gospel and, like the Gospel, new. The very nature of our vocation prompts us to speak of divine things in the very language of men, to uphold the same wholesome social customs as everyone else, and to share the same honest mentality. We see God from the same secular and lay viewpoint from which others see the more transcendent questions of their lives. God can never be a cold or distant model, to be admired but not loved."

The members of Opus Dei work like everyone else and live in the midst of the world, just as they did before they joined. 

Thank God, it is becoming ever clearer in new environs that, “to follow the footsteps of Christ, the modern apostle does not come to reform anything nor much less to separate himself from the historical reality surrounding him... It is enough for him to act as the first Christians did, enlivening their own environment."
Quiet and modest, but vibrant with divine impetus, let us walk in the newness of life. 

Jul 21 Tue - Can I encounter God when I am tired or discouraged?

 

Jul 21 Tue

Can I encounter God when I am tired or discouraged?

These words marked the beginning of their life as apostles: “Put out into the deep, and let down your nets for a catch.” Jesus called them in the midst of their work, and not on just any day. It was the end of a shift marked by failure: they had labored through the night and caught nothing.

Jesus did not wait until they were rested, self-assured, or filled with enthusiasm. He stepped into their boat, into their weariness and their work, and from there called them to a divine adventure.

Saint Josemaría taught that the tiredness and fatigue that come with work can also be a place of encounter with God. Not because the weariness disappears, but because we have the certainty that the Lord sees us, accompanies us, and is by our side. “If we ever experience lack of peace or anxiety or restlessness, we go to our Lord and tell him that we place ourselves in his hands, like a small child in the arms of his or her father.”

The certainty that we have a God who is Father — who cares for us and sustains us — fills our daily struggles with hope, even when the tiredness of work weighs us down, as it did the apostles.

It is there, in the middle of the world, in our daily tasks and struggles, with their successes and their failures, that we are called to bring the message of Christ: in the honest fulfilment of our work, in service to those around us, in care for our family and for those who share our lives, in the way we face ordinary difficulties… When we do all of this out of love for God, we are sowing the Good News of the Gospel in every environment. We are fulfilling the divine commission to cultivate the earth and care for it.

We must be sowers of peace and joy. Recently, the Pope invited us to be “witnesses and prophets of unity, of welcome, of harmony and of peace, even at the cost of sacrifice and renunciation.” Let us never see ourselves as enemies of anyone. Those who know themselves to be children of God cannot look upon others as adversaries, because they see them as brothers and sisters and recognize the love that the Lord has for them.

In an often-fragmented world, all Christians are called to rebuild bonds with their brothers and sisters, beginning with those closest at hand. And this can be done by recognizing, first of all, that what unites us is far more decisive than anything that might divide us.

The first Christians were mistreated, persecuted, and put to death. Yet there are countless testimonies of love not only among themselves, but toward their persecutors as well. And it was thus, through charity, through a love capable of reaching even an enemy, that they helped to transform the structures of society.

Let us ask the Virgin Mary to help us allow Jesus into our boat. May she teach us to live with the confidence of children of God.

Excerpts from Prelate of Opus Dei, Msgr. Fernando Ocáriz 

Jul 20 Mon - What about tattoos?

 

Jul 20 Mon

What about tattoos?

In the past, some people disliked tattoos because they viewed them as defacements, a form of body modification that detracted from natural beauty. Aesthetically, I must admit I agree. The prevalence of tattoos, especially among women, is something I find particularly unattractive.

Aesthetics should not dictate ethics. When considering the permanent and real mutilation that individuals undergo, whether through contraceptive sterilization or gender-based genital mutilation, I am less inclined to criticize tattoos.

Yet, there is another type of permanent marking: The three sacraments. Baptism, Confirmation, and Holy Orders imprint a spiritual "character" on the soul that cannot be erased. Consequently, these three sacraments are unrepeatable.

Furthermore, if I were to have something etched into my body, should it not be a well-considered decision rather than something randomly chosen from a tattoo parlor catalog after consuming excessive amounts of alcohol? If I am going to carry a tattoo on my skin for several decades, should it not express something vital about my identity?

This brings me back to the sacramental characters. Though they are not visible, they are no less real, effective, or permanent.

Yet, how many Catholics take their sacramental characters as seriously as they do a Mandarin character, such as 和平 (peace), which they tattoo on their bodies? Sacramental characters, after all, entail a lifelong role within the Body of Christ: being a child of God, a soldier of Christ, and an 'alter Christus'. For instance, the baptismal character is why a Catholic marriage must be a sacrament, and any attempt to marry outside the Church (without dispensation of form) is no marriage.

Maybe we can draw a parallel from that old tattoo. Although I got it without much contemplation, as it was "a dare" or because my friends were doing it, the 和平 no longer holds any meaning for me. Nevertheless, it has not disappeared; the fading and wrinkling ink remains, even if I no longer attribute the same significance to it as I did in my twenties. Is this not often the case with the sacramental character of Confirmation, for example?

The sacrament intended to complete full incorporation into the Church often becomes the last "sacrament" … until the wedding or the baptism of a first child arises. Moreover, I likely spent more time preparing to receive that character than the average person spends considering a Chinese character tattoo.

Or have I superficially regarded both equally?

Our actions and what society deems "beautiful" often reveal more profound underlying assumptions and values. Could the proliferation of tattoos, which often lose meaning over time, even though they continue to increase in popularity, indicate that many individuals are desperately searching for anything that may provide a sense of permanence and meaning of life? 

Jul 19 Sun - Will God ever abandon us to our weakness? Will He always be there for us?

 

Jul 19 Sun

Will God ever abandon us to our weakness? Will He always be there for us? 

One way God shows his power is by condemning sin. He is just.

Yet God’s power, justice, and mercy are one, so He judges with clemency and governs with compassion. “Love and truth will meet; justice and peace will kiss.” God accepts our sincere repentance.

We, too, ought to practice a similar quality: to be just, one must also be kind.

We sin, and so we need God’s “pity;” we are weak, and so we need God’s “strength.”

God wants what is best for us. When we want what God wants, the Holy Spirit expresses it within us. So even though we don’t “know how to pray as we ought,” the Holy Spirit prays for us, asking for what is best.

And yet there is evil. One reason God permits ongoing evil is that those who do evil or cause others to sin can repent.

At the moment of death, everyone will receive “his eternal recompense in his immortal soul.” This is the PARTICULAR JUDGMENT by Christ.

Following the example of Christ, the Church warns the faithful of the sad and lamentable reality of eternal death, also called ‘hell’. The burning and wailing and grinding of teeth are the punishment of eternal separation from God, in whom alone man can have the life and happiness for which he was created and for which he longs.

But both the Church and Christ want no one to be lost, and for God, all things are possible. Who can oppose His actions? Will He, who is all-powerful and good, ever abandon us to our frailty and leave us to wander at the mercy of our unfaithfulness?

Just as rain waters the earth, so God, through His grace, restores strength to those weighed down by the burden of sin and death. He is faithful and always keeps His word.
No power can stop the irresistible force of His mercy.

On the Day of Judgment, all men will appear in their own bodies before Christ’s tribunal to render an account of their own deeds. This is the general or LAST JUDGMENT.

The future Last Judgment calls us to conversion now, since everyone who hears about it, as Christ told the crowd in the parable of the weeds, still has time.

Right now, therefore, this is the acceptable time, the day of salvation for us. This truth should inspire in us a holy fear of God and a commitment to the justice of the Kingdom of God, that is, to align our lives with the Gospel as soon as possible.

We must become fertile soil—free of thorns and stones, carefully plowed and weeded. It is up to us to be the good soil in which “one yields a hundredfold, another sixty, and another thirty.”

The world cries out that it thirsts for Christ. It calls for peace, but does not know where to find it. Only God can transform this arid, stony ground, full of thorns, into a fertile field, and the rain and snow of His help will fall from above.
Pic: Medieval parchment of the Final Judgment. 

The tryptic of true Love

 

Jul 18 Sat - What does true Love look like?

 

Jul 18 Sat

What does true Love look like?

Most people think more readily in pictures than in abstract concepts, and stories move and transform us more than logical arguments do. God, who, of course, knows this, has revealed Himself to us by becoming part of our story and, over the centuries, giving us a series of vivid images that are worth thousands of words.

Three of these images, or pictures, are closely related. The first and most ancient is the CRUCIFIX, a reminder of God’s willingness, out of incomprehensible love, to accept pain, and even death, to bring us out of eternal damnation. 
This is a symbol of God’s inexpressible love and mercy, and our horrifying sin. Can we learn more about God and human nature by contemplating the Crucifix than by reading dozens of theology and psychology books?

But God is also aware of our fathomless capacity to take even the best gifts for granted and to trivialize even the most sacred and profound things. Many centuries after Christ was crucified, He revealed to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque the image of His SACRED HEART, ringed with thorns, cross-crowned, a gash—the result of the centurion's spear—all aflame with love. 

Jesus’ Sacred Heart reveals his willingness to be despised and insulted, out of love for us, only to move us to go back to Him.
It directs our attention to Christ's sacrifice as an act of love, taking pity on humanity's rebelliousness and insensibility.

In the 20th century, God painted a third picture revealing His love and mercy, the DIVINE MERCY.

Harsh wounds do not appear in the Divine Mercy image, and the brutality inflicted on the Lord is only implied in a full-figure picture of Jesus pointing to His Heart. Two beams of light radiate out—one red, one white—representing the blood and water that flowed when the Roman soldier pierced Christ's heart as He hung on the Cross, representing also the sacraments of baptism (the water) and the Eucharist (the blood) as well as the love and mercy of God falling on us in a heavenly shower.

Inundated as we are with an ocean of Internet pornography and an endless barrage of advertising, how helpful to be washed in the rain of Divine Mercy by a picture painted by God Himself for His beloved children.

The Crucifixion happened 2000 years ago. The resurrected Christ has seen to it that it remains with us in these three vivid images: the most literal, the Crucifix itself; the second, the image of His wounded Sacred Heart; the third, a portrait of Himself pouring forth from that Heart what He will not keep to Himself: His infinite compassion and kindness, fathomless mercy, and love.

Each of those images speaks thousands of words, each word an expression of the Word that was from the beginning, that was with God, that was God, that became flesh and dwelt among us, a living picture of God, who is Love.

Put together these three images, and there you have what true Love is all about. 

Jul 17 Fri - Why do I desire to be happy?

 

Jul 17 Fri

Why do I desire to be happy?

In the depths of the human spirit, we find a longing for happiness that points to the hope of a home, of a definitive homeland. We are earthly, but we long for the eternal; we long for God —a God whom we can know with certainty as the origin and end of the universe and as the supreme good, starting from the world and the human person.

“Man is made to be happy as a bird is made to fly.” All men and women seek happiness, their own good, and direct their lives in the way that seems best-suited to achieve it. Being able to enjoy human goods that perfect and enrich us makes us happy. 

But in this life, happiness is always marred by a shadow. Not only because after obtaining something good we can get used to it, but more basically, because no created good is capable of fulfilling our longing for happiness and because all created goods are short-lived.

Growing in our knowledge of the world does not exhaust our capacity to know or our questions; we can always come to know new things and understand them in greater depth. 

And something similar happens with our capacity to love: no created good satiates us completely and forever; we can always love more deeply and love better things. And somehow, we feel spurred towards this: achieving new goals makes us happy. 

We try to attain this in our own lives and get depressed when we don’t achieve it. We have a “longing for complete fulfillment.” All this is a sign of greatness, of the fact that there is something infinite in us that transcends every concrete reality that is part of our life.

The world, however, is temporary. Deep down, we realize that material goods sometimes promise us happiness that they can only give for a while. 

We find, then, two different types of human longings that point to our “hunger for transcendence.” Our experiences of a transcendent good awaken in us a “longing for plenitude” (of being, truth, goodness, beauty, love). 
And our experiences of evil, of the loss of these goods, awaken in our heart a “longing for salvation” (survival, righteousness, justice, peace). These experiences of transcendence leave a longing for a reality beyond this world. 

Therefore, in the depths of the human spirit, a dissatisfaction is present, a longing for happiness that points to a secret hope: the hope of a home, of a definitive homeland in which the dream of eternal happiness, of a love that lasts forever, will be fulfilled. We are earthly, but we long for the eternal.

This longing does not in itself form the basis of a natural religion, but is rather a “pointer” to God. The desire for God is written in the human heart, because man is created by God and for God; and God never ceases to draw man to himself. Only in God will we find the truth and happiness we can never stop searching for. 

Jul 16 Thu - Is Mary the “Mother of God”?

 

Jul 16 Thu

Is Mary the “Mother of God”?

This is what early Christians believed; from a letter by Saint Cyril, bishop of Alexandria in Egypt from 412 to 444 A.D., written more than 300 years before Islam appeared.

"That anyone could doubt the right of the holy Virgin to be called the Mother of God fills me with astonishment. Surely, she must be the Mother of God, if our Lord Jesus Christ is God, and she gave birth to him!

Our Lord’s disciples may not have used those exact words, but they delivered to us the belief those words enshrine, and this has also been taught to us by the holy fathers.

The distinctive mark of holy Scripture is that it was written to make a double declaration concerning our Savior, namely,
– that He is and has always been God, since He is the Word, Radiance, and Wisdom of the Father; and
– that for our sake in these latter days He took flesh from the Virgin Mary, Mother of God, and became man.”

There have been many holy men, free from all sin. Jeremiah was sanctified in his mother’s womb, and John, while still in the womb, leaped for joy at the voice of Mary, the Mother of God.

The divinely inspired Scriptures affirm that the Word of God was made flesh, that is to say, He was united to a human body endowed with a rational soul. He undertook to help the descendants of Abraham, fashioning a body for himself from a woman and sharing our flesh and blood, to enable us to see in him not only God but also, because of this union, a man like ourselves.

Thus, there are in Him two entities, divinity and humanity. Yet our Lord Jesus Christ is nonetheless one, the one true Son, both God and man; not a deified man on the same footing as those who share the divine nature by grace, but true God who for our sake appeared in human form. We are assured of this by Saint Paul’s declaration: “When the fullness of time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law and to enable us to be adopted as sons."

We should express amazement at the wonders God has worked. Filled with immense joy, we must exclaim with the Church: ‘Mary gave birth to the King whose name is eternal; she united the joy as a Mother with the honor as a Virgin; such as this has never happened before, nor will it happen again.

Mary's divine motherhood is a dogma of our Catholic faith. It was solemnly defined early in the Church's history at the Council of Ephesus, in AD 431.

Blessed are you,
who love,
who serve,
who accept,
who laugh,
and weep.

You, who are not afraid
to stake everything
on God's card.

Blessed are you, 
who sing that greatness
etched
in small things.

Who risk
honor, history
and joy
by making
possible
the unthinkable.

Blessed are you,
Who turn
the wasteland
into a palace,
and the street
into a home.

You, who will make
of the womb 
a cradle,
and of your heart
a forge.

Blessed,
Mother
of hope
and love.

José María Rodríguez Olaizola 

Jul 15 Wed - In the Mass, should I join the singing?

 

Jul 15 Wed

In the Mass, should I join the singing?

The Mass is the center of our inner life, nourishing our piety. Our participation in the liturgical celebration effectively links us to the Holy Sacrifice of the Cross. Our whole being takes part: our understanding, our will, and our body too, through the actions and gestures we perform. 

In the liturgy, singing expresses the love and joy in our hearts. The Church offers us a very human way to express what we feel: singing. It is a need we feel, because as St. Augustine says, singing comes naturally to people in love, and we are in love.

Singing is an expression of joy, the genuine fruit of love. That is why our life, a life of love, needs to break out into songs of happiness. The full, ringing tones of our songs come from a heart is dedicated to God. 

The Second Vatican Council's documents emphasize the integral role of music in the liturgical celebration, highlighting the importance of the Church's musical tradition.

“The musical tradition of the universal Church is a treasure of inestimable value, greater even than that of any other art. The main reason for this pre-eminence is that, as a combination of sacred music and words, it forms a necessary or integral part of the solemn liturgy.” Song and music are closely connected with the liturgical action. The criteria for their adequate use are their expressive beauty as prayer, the assembly's unanimous participation, and the celebration's sacred character.

The documents encourage the preservation of inherited liturgical music traditions while also inviting composers and poets to create new sacred music that reflects the faithful's cultural traditions—music that fosters community, promotes understanding, and leads to deeper communion with God. The overarching aim is to ensure that the whole body of the faithful can actively participate in the liturgy, making it a more noble and expressive form of worship.

Still, Gregorian chant should have a place in liturgical acts together with vernacular songs, as we usually sing at solemn Masses, at Benediction, and at other ceremonies.

"Have veneration and respect for the Holy Liturgy of the Church and for each of its ceremonies. Carry them out faithfully. Don't you see that, for us poor humans, even the greatest and most noble things must enter through the senses?"

“The Church sings, it has been said, because speech alone would not suffice for its prayer. You, who are a Christian, should learn to sing liturgically." Thus, we must put loving care into singing as an expression of piety.

We can use the songs and chants of the liturgy for our prayer, because they are rich in doctrine. In the Creed, we proclaim our faith in God, One and Three, in God the Creator of all things, in Jesus Christ the Son of God. We praise him when we sing the Gloria; we acknowledge his supreme majesty in the Sanctus; we beg him to wash away our sins as we sing the Agnus Dei. 

Jul 14 Tue - Were the Apostles expecting the resurrection of the Lord?

 

Jul 14 Tue

Were the Apostles expecting the resurrection of the Lord?

Even when Jesus spoke directly about his upcoming death and resurrection, the disciples still tended to focus on his suffering and did not attend to the “third day” rising as they should have; their expectation was weak or confused

Origen describes this explicitly:

- “When the Savior mentioned his impending death, they were exceeding sorry, aware that He was about to be taken away, and that He would be killed, but not attending to the fact that He would rise on the third day…” 

It is interesting to consider that Jesus was the One responsible for revealing himself to the disciples. He made himself visible and came out to meet them. The appearances were neither the result nor the effect of the Apostles’ faith, of hope, or of a strong desire to see the Master.

It is not faith that produced the presence of Jesus. Rather, it was the Risen Lord who took the initiative, who chose to appear and then disappear again on each occasion.

Moreover, what can be concluded from the Gospel accounts is the continuity between the crucified Jesus of Calvary and the Risen Jesus who appeared in Jerusalem and in Galilee.

It is the same Jesus recognizable when He spoke and when He broke the bread. That is, the same man was manifest even in a physical aspect. Thus, Jesus asked Thomas to confirm this by letting Thomas touch him.

Jesus showed the wounds on his hands and his open side. One of these appearances took place on a mountain in Galilee, at the place Jesus had explicitly indicated to them to go. There, upon seeing him, they worshiped him as their God.

Adoration is recognizing that Jesus is my Lord, that Jesus shows me the way to take, and that I will live well only if I know the road that Jesus points out to me, and follow it. 

Therefore, adoration means saying, Jesus, I am yours. I will follow you always.
I never want to lose this friendship. 
Adoration is, essentially, an embrace with Jesus, in which I tell him, I am yours, and I ask you, "Please stay with me always.”

If people do not worship God, they will worship themselves in the various ways shown throughout history: seeking power, pleasure, wealth, science, beauty, without realizing that everything unconnected to the ultimate foundation that is God is short-lived.

Without the Creator, the creature would disappear. For that reason, in the task of the new evangelization, it is of primary importance to help those who live with us to rediscover the need and significance of adoration. 

Jesus came to them and dispelled the hesitation that may have still been present in their hearts, and gave them the command to spread the Christian faith to the whole world. “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me... Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations."

And he added these words, which would be of great comfort to his disciples throughout the ages. “And behold, I am with you always to the close of the age." 
What an ending for all that the gospel tells us about the Lord. 

Jul 13 Mon - What are the differences between ordinary Christian people, priests, and the religious?

 

Jul 13 Mon

What are the differences between ordinary Christian people, priests, and the religious?

In the Church, there is both a radical equality of dignity and a diversity of function among the faithful: a unity of mission and a diversity of ministries. These differences in the faithful, established by the Lord, achieve the unity and mission of his body. 

All baptized persons (the faithful) are equally called to the fullness of sanctity; they all enjoy equal dignity in the Church as God’s children born of Christ. All of them are equal in dignity and duties. All are equally called to seek sanctity and apostolate—this call is their unity or principle of equality.

Furthermore, “to shepherd the People of God and to increase its members without cease, Christ the Lord set up in his Church a variety of offices, which aim at the good of the whole body.” In the Church, there is a diversity of ministries sharing in the same mission: the laity, the religious, and the clergy.

- THE LAITY
Everything that is said of the People of God applies equally to the laity, the religious, and the clergy. Specifically, the Second Vatican Council described the laity:

“By reason of their special vocation, it belongs to the laity to seek the kingdom of God by engaging in temporal affairs and directing them according to God’s will. They live in the world, that is, they are engaged in each and every work and business of the earth and in the ordinary circumstances of social and family life, which, as it were, constitute their very existence."

To spread the divine message of salvation, laypeople do so either individually or by forming associations.

- THE SECULAR CLERGY
“Secular” (priests and laypeople) usually means “this person is not a religious.”
Secular clerics (usually diocesan clergy) are ordained but do not make a religious profession in an institution. They retain their own property (unlike religious, who renounce in the sense proper to vows), and their obedience is to the bishop in the way proper to clerical discipline. The priests of Opus Dei are included here.

- THE RELIGIOUS
Religious are Christians who belong to a Religious Institute (an order or congregation), such as a Dominican, Franciscan, or brother of La Salle; this also includes nuns. They are consecrated to God by vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, abandoning the world for love of him. 

They serve the Church through apostolic works like catechesis, education, and assistance to the sick. The religious life is a wonderful witness before the whole people of God to the supremacy of heavenly values.

Yet the words “religious” and “secular” don’t mainly mean “good vs. bad” or “pious vs. worldly.” They refer to different kinds of Church life and different canonical states—especially regarding consecration, vows, and how one lives in the world. 

To keep it clear:
Religious (in the usual sense) means belonging to a vowed, canonical, consecrated life; secular means living outside religious profession (either as diocesan clergy or as lay faithful), though all can be holy and both serve the Church.