Man according to Vatican II
From the
pontificate of Pope Leo XIII, the Church has striven for relevancy of its
message in a world that was changing, though not without a certain nostalgia
for the halcyon days of popular piety. As Blessed Pope John XXIII made clear,
the essentials may be eternal but they must be taught in a language as varied
as the available milieu. Either this or be a stranger in one’s own
surroundings. The ecclesial apparatus must serve the peace and justice of the
world rather than bolster the Church’s own status. Opening the Church to the
new humanism, the Council fathers recognised the autonomy of earthly affairs
and modern science. This was a healthy sign of the Church’s readiness to
discern the signs of the times as the ongoing manifestations of the Spirit’s
concern in the events of today’s world.
The very first
words of the first chapter of the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the
Modern World reveal the Council’s intention of elaborating the place and role
of the People of God in today’s world. The frontiers of Church and world are
fluid, the life of Faith and temporal works kiss and mingle. The Introductions
of four Constitutions are mutually complementary and immediately put forward
the aim of the Second Vatican Council, at once positive and pastoral, and no
less founded on the Word of God and the theological virtues:
Sacrosanctum
Concilium (SC): on the Liturgy,
Dei Verbum (DV):
on Revelation,
Lumen Gentium
(LG): on the Church, and
Gaudium et Spes
(GS): on the Church in the Modern World.
As if to say in
epitome: “The sacred Council speaks to the world of God which is the Light of
the nations in order to bring them Joy and Hope” (C. Moeller, Commentary, Vol. V, pg.84).
One will discern
the Council’s desire and programme for a new world in Jesus Christ, not without
the accompanying tension as a necessary condition of man’s being and growth in
freedom, a fellow pilgrim to his Father’s dwelling.
The paradoxical
union between human and divine, existing in time and pointing beyond history,
spells out in large letters the tension milieu of man. Far from canonising the
past or consecrating the present, he prepares for the future, that abiding City
which is the goal of the messianic people living in and loyal to the present
(LG 9). This is continuous with the Messiah who takes nothing away from
temporal welfare, but rather elevates and purifies it. By their very concrete
duties done in history (LG 36), men deliver creation from the slavery of corruption,
and thereby cooperate to bring about the promised restoration already begun in
Christ whose death and resurrection have invoked the final age upon us (LG 48).
Man has to maintain his integral personality in the tenuous person-society
interdependence (LG 25), and while he thirsts for a fuller life (GS 9), in
trying to decipher God’s purpose (GS 15), he has to admit that his heart is the
theatre of conflicting forces (GS 13). All this is part of the world’s crisis
of growth (GS 4), the conflict with evil (GS 37), and the rebellion against
death, instigated by the seed of immortality within him (GS 18), planted at the
original creation and reinforced by the paschal mystery into which man is
plunged, especially by baptism (GS 6).
The conflict is
implicit in the liturgy and kergyma whereby the Church reveals to men the real
truth about their condition and their total vocation (AG 8), presenting to them
the Gospel which is the catalyst of their progress in human history. Like its
first missionary activity, the Church’s liturgy vibrates between the first and
second coming of Christ (AG 9), unfolding the mystery of Christ for each
generation and maintaining in men’s hearts the hopes and future of the Lord (SC
102).
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