Pope Leo XIV has begun a catechesis for the Church on the Second Vatican Council. He has encouraged Catholics to read the Council documents that continue to shape the life of the Church in the world today. In that spirit, a brief excerpt from the various documents will be posted for each day of Lent. In this penitential season, may the riches of the Council bring us to a deeper embrace of Church teaching and convert us to a stronger commitment to live the Gospel in the world today.
The reflections begin with one of the later documents of the Council, “Nostra Aetate,” the Declaration on the Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions. Some scholars propose that the work of the Council participants over three years (1962-1965) brought about their conversion to promote the document’s significant shift in the Church’s self-understanding.
Excerpts from the documents are taken from Austin Flannery, O.P., Vatican Council II, Volume 1, The Conciliar and Post Conciliar Documents, New Revised Edition, 1996. Edits have been made to reflect a more inclusive language.
“In this age of ours, when people are drawing more closely together and the bonds of friendship between different peoples are being strengthened, the Church examines with greater care the relations she has to non-Christian religions. Ever aware of her duty to foster unity and charity among individuals, and even among nations, she reflects at the outset on what people have in common and what tends to promote fellowship among them” (N.A. #1)
“People look to their different religions for an answer to the unsolved riddles of human existence. The problems that weigh heavily on the hearts of people are the same today as in the ages past… What is the meaning and purpose of life? What is upright behavior and what is sinful?… And finally, what is the ultimate mystery, beyond human explanation, which embraces our entire existence, from which we take our origin and towards which we tend?” (N.A. #1)
“The Catholic Church rejects nothing of what is true and holy in these religions. She has a high regard for the manner of life and conduct, the precepts and doctrines which, although differing in many ways from her own teaching, nevertheless often reflect a ray of that truth which enlightens all people. Yet she proclaims and is in duty bound to proclaim without fail, Christ who is the way, the truth, and the life (Jn 1:6). In him whom God reconciled all things to himself (2 Cor 5:18-19), people find the fullness of their religious life” (N.A. #2)
“As holy Scripture testifies, Jerusalem did not recognize God’s moment when it came (cf. Lk 19:42). Jews for the most part did not accept the Gospel; on the contrary, many opposed the spreading of it (Rom 11:28). Even so, the apostle Paul maintains that the Jews remain very dear to God, for the sake of the patriarchs, since God does not take back the gifts he bestowed or the choice he made. Together with the prophets and the same apostle, the Church awaits the day, known to God alone, when all peoples will call on God with one voice and serve him ‘shoulder to shoulder’” (Soph/Zeph 3:9; cf. Is 66:23, Ps 65:4; Rom 11:11-32) (N.A. #4).
We continue to reflect on the teaching of Vatican II. This week on Sunday we will have a final word from the document on Non-Christian Religions. Then we will have several excerpts from the Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation (D.V.).
“Indeed, the Church reproves every form of persecution against whomsoever it may be directed. Remembering then, her common heritage with the Jews and moved not by any political consideration, but solely by the religious motivation of Christian charity, she deplores all hatreds, persecutions, displays of antisemitism leveled at any time or from any source against the Jews” (N.A. #4).
“We cannot truly pray to God the Father of all if we treat any people in other than brotherly/sisterly fashion, for all people are created in God’s image… Therefore, the Church reproves as foreign to the mind of Christ, any discrimination against people or any harassment of them on the basis of their race, color, condition in life or religion” (N.A. #5).
“Hearing the Word of God with reverence, and proclaiming it with faith, the sacred Synod assents to the words of St. John who says: ‘We proclaim to you the eternal life which was with the Father and was made manifest to us – that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you may have fellowship with us; and our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ’ (I Jn 1:2-3)… For it wants the whole world to hear the summons to salvation, so that through hearing it may believe, through belief it may hope, through hope it may come to love” (D.V. 1).
“It pleased God, in his goodness and wisdom, to reveal himself and to make known the mystery of his will (cf. Eph 1:9). His will was that people should have access to the Father, through Christ, the Word made flesh, in the Holy Spirit, and thus become sharers in the divine nature (cf. Eph 2:18; 2 Pet 1:4). By this revelation, then, the invisible God (cf. Col 1:15; 1 Tim 1:17), from the fullness of his love, addresses people as his friends (cf. Ex 33:11; Jn 15:14-15), and moves among then (cf. Bar 3:38), in order to invite and receive them into his own company” (D.V. I, 2).
“’The obedience of faith’ (Rom 16:26; cf. Rom 1:5; 2Cor 10:5-6) must be given to God as he reveals himself. By faith one freely commits their intellect and will to God, making ‘the full submission of his intellect and will to God who reveals’ and willingly assenting to the revelation given by him. Before this faith can be exercised, one must have the grace of God to move and assist them; one must have the interior helps of the Holy Spirit, who moves the heart and converts it to God, who opens the eyes of the mind and ‘makes it easy for all to accept and believe the truth’” (D.V. I, 5).
“In order that the full and living Gospel might always be preserved in the Church, the apostles left bishops as their successors. They gave them ‘their own position of teaching authority.’ This sacred Tradition, then, and the sacred Scripture of both Testaments are like a mirror, in which the Church, during its pilgrim journey here on earth contemplates God… The Tradition that comes from the apostles makes progress in the Church, with the help of the Holy Spirit. There is a growth in insight into the realities and words that are being passed on” (D.V. II, 7).
“Sacred Tradition and sacred Scripture, then, are bound closely together, and communicate one with the other. For both of them flowing out from the same divine well-spring, come together in some fashion to form one thing, and move toward the same goal… Sacred Tradition and sacred Scripture make up a single sacred deposit of the Word of God, which is entrusted to the Church. By adhering to it the entire holy people, united to its pastors, remains always faithful to the teaching of the apostles, to the ‘brotherhood’, to the breaking of bread and the prayers” (Acts 2:42).
“Seeing that, in sacred Scripture, God speaks through human beings in human fashion, it follows that the interpreter of sacred Scriptures, if they are to ascertain what God has wished to communicate to us, should carefully search out the meaning which the sacred writers really had in mind, that meaning which God had thought well to manifest through the medium of their words… Indeed, the words of God, expressed in the words of humans, are in every way like human language, just as the Word of the eternal Father, when he took on himself the flesh of human weakness, became like human beings” (D.V. III, 12 & 13).
“God, with loving concern contemplating, and making preparation for, the salvation of the whole human race, in a singular undertaking chose for himself a people to whom he would entrust his promises. By his covenant with Abraham and, through Moses, with the race of Israel, he did acquire a people for himself, and to them he revealed himself in words and deeds as the one true, living God, so that Israel might experience the ways of God with human beings” (D.V. IV, 14).
“The Word of God, which is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith is set forth and displays its power in a most wonderful way in the writings of the New Testament. For when the time had fully come, the Word became flesh and dwelt among us full of grace and truth. Christ established on earth the kingdom of God, revealed his Father and himself by deeds and words; and by his death, resurrection and glorious ascension, as well as by sending the Holy Spirit, completed his work. Lifted up from the earth he draws all people to himself, for he alone has the words of eternal life” (D.V. V, 17).
“Ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ” (St. Jerome)… Let them (the faithful) remember, however, that prayer should accompany the reading of the sacred Scripture, so that a dialogue takes place between God and human beings. For, “we speak to him when we pray; we listen to him when we read the divine oracles” (St. Ambrose) (D.V. VI, 25).
“The Vatican Council declares that the human person has a right to religious freedom. Freedom of this kind means that all people should be immune from coercion on the part of individuals, social groups and every human power so that, within due limits, nobody is forced to act against their convictions nor is anyone to be restrained from acting in accordance with their convictions in religious matters in private or in public, alone or in association with others” (D.H. I, 2). The Council at the same time, “leaves intact the traditional Catholic teaching on the moral duty of individuals and societies towards the true religion and the one Church of Christ” (D.H. 1).
“The search for truth, however, must be carried out in a manner that is appropriate to the dignity of the human person and their social nature, namely by free enquiry with the help of teaching or instruction, communication and dialogue. It is by these means that people share with each other the truth they have discovered, or think they have discovered, in such a way that they help one another in the search for truth. Moreover, it is by personal assent that people must adhere to the truth they have discovered” (DH I, 2).
“The Church, therefore, faithful to the truth of the Gospel, is following the path of Christ and the apostles when she recognizes the principle that religious liberty is in keeping with human dignity and divine revelation and gives it her support… Although in the life of the people of God in its pilgrimage through the vicissitudes of human history there has at times appeared a form of behavior which was hardly in keeping with the spirit of the Gospel and was even opposed to it, it has remained the teaching of the Church that no one is to be coerced into believing” (DH II, 12).
“It is clear that with the passage of time all nations are coming into a closer unity, people of different cultures and religions are being bound together by closer links, and there is a growing awareness of individual responsibility. Consequently, to establish and strengthen peaceful relations and harmony in the human race, religious freedom must be given effective constitutional protection everywhere and that highest of human rights and duties – to lead a religious life with freedom in society – must be respected” (DH, II 15).
“The restoration of unity among all Christians is one of the principal concerns of the Second Vatican Council (Intro. 1)… This is the sacred mystery of the unity of the Church, in Christ and through Christ, with the Holy Spirit energizing its various functions. The highest exemplar and source of this mystery is the unity, in the Trinity of Persons, of one God, the Father, and the Son, in the Holy Spirit (I 2)… Nor should we forget that anything wrought by the grace of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of our separated brethren can contribute to our own edification” (I 3).
“There can be no ecumenism worthy of the name without interior conversion. For it is from newness of attitudes of mind, from self-denial and unstinted love, that desires of unity take their rise and develop in a mature way… The faithful should remember that they promote union among Christians better, that indeed they live it better, when they try to live holier lives according to the Gospel. For the closer their union with the Father, the Word, and the Spirit, the more deeply and easily will they be able to grow in mutual love” (II 7).
“For many centuries the Churches of the East and of the West went their own ways, though a brotherly communion of faith and sacramental life bound them together… From their very origins the Churches of the East have had a treasury from which the Church of the West has drawn largely for its liturgy, spiritual tradition and jurisprudence… From the earliest times the Churches of the East followed their own disciplines, sanctioned by the holy Fathers, by Synods, and even by Ecumenical Councils. Far from being an obstacle to the Church’s unity, such diversity of customs and observations only adds to her beauty and contributes greatly to carrying out her mission… (III, I 14, 16).
“A love and reverence… of Holy Scripture leads our brethren to a constant and diligent study of the sacred text. For the Gospel ‘is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith, to the Jew first and then the Greek (Rom 1:16)… While invoking the Holy Spirit, they seek in these very scriptures God as he speaks to them in Christ, the one whom the prophets foretold, the Word of God made flesh for us. In the scriptures they contemplate the life of Christ, as well as the teachings and the actions of the Divine Master for the salvation of people, in particular the mysteries of his death and resurrection” (III, II 21).
“By the sacrament of Baptism, whenever it is properly conferred in the way the Lord determined and received with proper dispositions of soul, one becomes truly incorporated into the crucified and glorified Christ and is reborn to a sharing of the divine life… Baptism, therefore, constitutes the sacramental bond of unity existing among all who through it were reborn. But baptism, of itself, is only a beginning, a point of departure, for it is wholly directed toward the acquiring of fullness of life in Christ… Baptism is thus ordained toward… a complete integration into eucharistic communion” (III, II 22).
“Although the ecclesial communities separated from us lack the fullness of unity with us which flows from baptism, and although we believe they have not preserved the proper reality of the eucharistic mystery in its fullness… nevertheless when they commemorate the Lord’s death and resurrection in the Holy Supper, they profess that it signifies life in communion with Christ and await his coming in glory… The Christian way of life of these brethren is nourished by faith in Christ. It is strengthened by the grace of baptism and the hearing of the Word of God. This way of life expresses itself in private prayer, in meditation on the scriptures, in the life of a Christian family, and in the worship of the community gathered together to praise God” (III, II, 22-23).
“For God willed that human beings should ‘be left in the hand of their own counsel’ (Eccl. 15:14) so that they might of their own accord seek the creator and freely attain their full and blessed perfection by cleaving to him. Human dignity therefore requires one to act out of conscious and free choice, as moved and drawn in a personal way from within, and not by blind impulses or by mere external constraint. A person gains such dignity, when, ridding the self from all slavery to passions, they press forward toward their goal by freely choosing what is good, and by diligence and skill, effectively secure for themselves the means suited to this end” (GS 17).
“All people are endowed with a rational soul and are created in God’s image; they have the same nature and origin and, being redeemed by Christ, they enjoy the same divine calling and destiny; there is here a basic equality and it must be given greater recognition… While there are rightful differences between people, their equal dignity as persons demands that we strive for fairer and more humane conditions. Excessive economic and social disparity between individuals and people of the one human race is a source of scandal and militates against social justice, equity, human dignity, as well as social and international peace” (GS 29).
In Chapter Three, Gaudium et Spes considers human activity in the world. Human beings as commanded by God care for the earth in a way that reflects the majesty of God. “This holds good also for our daily work. When men and women provide for themselves and their families in such a way as to be of service to the community as well, they can rightly look upon their work as a prolongation of the work of the creator, a service to their fellow human beings, and their personal contribution to the fulfillment in history of the divine plan… that the achievements of the human race are a sign of God’s greatness and the fulfillment of his mysterious design” (GS 34).
“The Council exhorts Christians, as citizens of both cities (City of God and City of Men) to perform their duties faithfully in the spirit of the Gospel. It is a mistake to think that, because we have here no lasting city, but seek the city which is to come, we are entitled to shirk our earthly responsibilities; this is to forget that by our faith we are bound all the more to fulfill these responsibilities according to the vocation of each one. But it is no less mistaken to think that we may immerse ourselves in earthly activities as if these latter were utterly foreign to religion, and religion were nothing more than the fulfillment of acts of worship and the observance of a few moral obligations. One of the gravest errors of our time is the dichotomy between the faith that many profess and the practice of their daily lives” (GS 43).
“The well-being of the individual person and of both human and Christian society is closely bound up with the healthy state of conjugal and family life. Hence Christians today are overjoyed, and so too are all who esteem conjugal and family life highly, to witness the various ways in which progress is being made in fostering those partnerships of love and in encouraging reverence for human life; there is progress too in services available to married people and parents for fulfilling their lofty calling: even greater benefits are to be expected and efforts are being made to bring them about… (The Council) hopes to encourage Christians and all people who are trying to preserve and to foster the dignity and supremely sacred value of the married state” (GS 47). The document likewise identifies the many challenges to marriage and family life.
“Many people, especially in economically advanced areas, seem to be dominated by economics; almost all of their personal and social lives are permeated with a kind of economic mentality… At the very same time when economic progress (provided it is directed and organized in a reasonable and human way) could do so much to reduce social inequalities, it serves all too often only to aggravate them; in some places it even leads to a decline in the position of the underprivileged and contempt for the poor. In the midst of huge numbers deprived of the absolute necessities of life there are some who live in riches and squander their wealth; and this happens in less developed areas as well. Luxury and misery exist side by side” (GS 63).
We end this week at the beginning: “The joy and hope, the grief and anguish of the people of our time, especially of those who are poor or afflicted in any way, are the joy and hope, the grief and anguish of the followers of Christ as well. Nothing that is genuinely human fails to find an echo in their hearts. For theirs is a community composed of people, of people who, united in Christ and guided by the holy Spirit, press onwards towards the kingdom of the Father and are bearers of a message of salvation intended for all people. That is why Christians cherish a feeling of deep solidarity with the human race and its history” (GS, 1)
“The Mystery of the Church”
“Christ is the light of humanity; and it is, accordingly, the heart-felt desire of this sacred Council, being gathered together in the Holy Spirit, that, by proclaiming his Gospel to every creature, it may bring to all people the light of Christ which shines out visibly in the Church. Since the Church, in Christ, is in the nature of a sacrament – a sign and instrument, that is, of communion with God and of unity among all people – she here proposes, for the benefit of the faithful and of the whole world, to set forth as clearly as possible, and in the tradition laid down by earlier Councils, her own nature and universal mission… [for] it still remains for people today to achieve full unity in Christ” (LG 1).
“Established in this last age of the world, and made manifest in the outpouring of the Spirit, it [the Church] will be brought to glorious completion at the end of time. At that moment, as the Fathers put it, all of the just from the time of Adam, ‘from Abel, the just one, to the last of the elect’ will be gathered together with the Father in the universal Church” (LG, 2).
“Likewise, in the sacrament of the eucharistic bread, the unity of believers, who from the one body in Christ, is bother expressed and brought about. All people are called to this union with Christ, who is the light of the world, from whom we go forth, through whom we live, and towards whom our whole life is directed” (LG, 3).
“In the Old Testament the revelation of the kingdom is often made under the forms of symbols. In similar fashion the inner nature of the Church is now made known to us in various images. Taken either from the life of the shepherd or from cultivation of the land, from the art of a building or from family life and marriage, these images have their preparation in the books of the prophets” (LG, 6).
These are the images:
The Church is a sheepfold, the sole and necessary gateway to which is Christ. Likewise, the Church is a flock under the care of human shepherds, and always under the Good Shepherd. The Church is a cultivated field where ancient olive tree grows rooted in the prophets and calling for the reconciliation of Jews and Gentiles; Christ the true vine.
The Church is often called the building of God; Christ the stone which the builders rejected, but now the cornerstone; the house of God where his family dwells, the household of God in the Spirit, the dwelling place of God, God’s holy temple. As the New Jerusalem the living stones of the Church are built into a holy city that comes down from God. This Jerusalem from above is likewise “our mother” as well as the spotless spouse of the spotless Lamb.
This Church is the Body of Christ, the members forming one Body with Christ as its head. “Really sharing in the body of the Lord in the breaking of the eucharistic bread, we are taken up into communion with him and with one another” (LG 7).
“At all times and in every race, anyone who fears God and does what is right has been acceptable to him. He has, however, willed to make people holy and save them, not as individuals without any bond or link between them, but rather to make them into a people who might acknowledge him and serve him in holiness. He therefore chose the Israelite race to be his own people and established a covenant with it. He gradually instructed this people – in its history manifesting both himself, and the decree of his will – and made it holy unto himself. All these things, however, happened as a preparation and figure of the new and perfect covenant which was to be ratified in Christ, and the fuller revelation which was to be given through the Word of God made flesh… finally established as ‘a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation… who in times past were not a people, but now are the People of God” (LG, 9).
“It is not only through the sacraments and the ministrations of the Church that the Holy Spirit makes holy the People, leads them and enriches them with virtues. Allotting his gifts according as he wills, he also distributes special graces among the faithful of every rank. By these gifts he makes them fit and ready to undertake various tasks and offices for the renewal and building up of the Church, as it is written, ‘the manifestation of the Spirit is given to everyone for profit.’ Whether these charisms be very remarkable or more simple and widely diffused, they are to be received with thanksgiving and consolation since they are useful for the needs of the Church… The Spirit is, for the Church and for each and every believer, the principle of their union and unity in the teaching of the apostles and fellowship, in the breaking of bread and prayer” (LG, 12, 13).
“Amongst those various offices which have been exercised in the Church from the earliest times the chief place, according to the witness of tradition, is held by the function of those who. Through their appointment to the dignity and responsibility of bishop… are regarded as transmitters of the apostolic line… In that way, then with priests and deacons as helpers, the bishops received the charge of the community, presiding in God’s stead over the flock of which they are the shepherds in that they are teachers of doctrine, ministers of sacred worship and holders of office in government… [W]hoever listens to them is listening to Christ…” (LG, 20)
“The faithful must, then, recognize the inner nature, the value and the ordering of the whole of creation to the praise of God. By their secular activity they help one another achieve greater holiness of life, so that the world may be filled with the spirit of Christ and may the more effectively attain its destiny in justice, in love and in peace. The laity enjoy a principal role in the universal fulfillment of this task. Therefore, by their competence in secular disciplines and by their activity, interiorly raised by grace, let them work earnestly in order that created goods through human labor, technical skill and civil culture may serve the utility of all people according to the plan of the creator and the light of his word. May these goods be more suitably distributed among all people and in their own way may they be conducive to universal progress in human and Christian liberty. Thus, through the members of the Church, will Christ increasingly illuminate the whole body of human society with his saving light” (LG, 36).