28th Sunday in Ordinary Time
October 14, 2012
10 AM Liturgy
J.A. Loftus, S.J.
On Thursday of last week, October 11th, the church marked the 50th
anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council. With other
churches all over the world, we too are marking this celebration with special
emphasis today. And Pope Benedict has inaugurated an entire Year of Faith
to encourage reflection and prayer about the Council. (At least that’s what I
would like to think the faithful will use the Year of Faith to ponder.)
There are some of us who can remember the church on the eve of that
great moment in 1962. There are others who still wonder what all the
contemporary fuss is about. And there is a contemporary fuss as often
disparate and increasingly shrill voices seek to re-clarify, re-form, and reimplement some of the visions of the Council.
We still have among us “prophets of doom” who are convinced that
today’s church has accommodated itself far too much to a corrupt and
corrupting world culture. We have among us ecclesial “prophets of doom”
who fear that the rising tide of traditionalist interpretations of the Council
will ultimately destroy the church so many have come to love in the past 50
years.
But the Council began with a wise repudiation of all doom and with an
extraordinary confidence in the guidance of the Holy Spirit. To Pope John,
that was a Holy Spirit of Wisdom that he could count on absolutely. (The
same Wisdom described in today’s first reading!)
In his opening address to the Council, Pope John explicitly addressed
the question of how and why he called the Council together. He said: “The
decision to hold an ecumenical council came to Us in the first instance in a
sudden flash of inspiration.” That was it! One sudden flash.
The Pope communicated his decision to the College of Cardinals in
1959. And he goes on in his opening address: “The response was immediate.
It was as though some ray of supernatural light had entered the minds of all
present: it was reflected in their faces; it shone from their eyes. At once the
world was swept by a wave of enthusiasm, and men everywhere began to wait
eagerly for the celebration of this Council.” Such optimism!
Pope John knew in his heart that not all men everywhere really waiting
in hope. Some–even within his own walls in the Vatican–predicted disaster
both for the world and for the church.
In one of the most oft quoted passages from that same opening address
to the Council, the Good Pope John continued: “We feel we must disagree
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with these prophets of doom, who are always forecasting worse disasters, as
though the end of the world were at hand. Present indications are that the
human family is on the threshold of a new era. We must recognize the hand
of God....”
I urge you all in this Year of Faith to Google Blessed John’s opening
address. It was–and still is–a remarkable testimony to the hope in which that
Council was called, and in which we must continue to live as Christians.
There are still people, good people, frightened by any change, especially any
change in their church. But the Spirit of God will not–cannot–abandon the
new direction set by this remarkable Council.
As some of you may remember, the evening of October 11th 1962 found
thousands of the faithful gathered with torches in the piazza in front of St.
Peter’s in Rome. A huge full moon hung in the sky over the basilica. All eyes
were trained on the window of the apostolic palace waiting for John XXIII to
appear. The solemn Council had been opened earlier that day; he must have
been exhausted. But John did choose to join the faithful from his window.
He delivered one of his shortest but most memorable homilies. It’s come to be
called Il Discorso della Luna, The Sermon about the Moon.
This ever-gentle rotund man began: “Dear children, I hear your voices.
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Mine is one voice, but summarizes the voice of the whole world. Here the
whole world is represented. One could say that even the moon was rushed
tonight, to look at this show, which not even the Basilica of St. Peter, that has
four centuries of history, has ever been able to contemplate.” He talked to the
moon walked into the future that night.
The prophets of doom that Blessed John XXIII sought to reassure were
largely traditional, conservative folks like Cardinal Ottoviani who headed the
Holy Office at the time. The prophets of doom 50 years later are mostly more
liberal minded, more open to freshness and change. But they now fear that
the great bracing vision of Vatican II is being smothered by tepid
implementation and a no less powerful group of prelates than Pope John
faced.
My point to you today: there is still no place for prophets of doom in
our church. We have work to do. We have a Holy Spirit to heed. We cannot
be faint-hearted or soft-minded. Let me echo Professor Rick Gaillardetz in
his recent summary of the Council (NCR Special Edition “A Church
Reborn,” 2012). He describes the Council as having provided pillars of
conciliar teaching as “indispensable for the life of the church.” And he adds,
“they must be vigorously reaffirmed wherever Catholic complacency or
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ecclesiastical intransigence risks overlooking their significance or pastoral
implications.”
Rick finally says to us all, that “we must keep the deep wisdom of the
Council alive even in an inhospitable time.”
The insights and spirit of the Council are indeed pillars for this church
and for the future church. But the building is not yet finished. My brothers
and sisters, there is no time for doom! There is no reason for gloom. The
Wisdom of God continues to guide us. The Word of God is still “living and
effective, sharper than any two-edged sword” (Letter to the Hebrews). All
things are still possible for God (Mark’s Gospel). Peace!
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