Peace be with you!

Join Fr. Freeh and parishioners Vicki Phillips and Pat Henry in a discussion of the Second Vatican Council’s true purpose, and its meaning to us.

I wonder if you, too, were left scratching your head at just how thoroughly Vatican II’s true purpose has been highjacked.

As a child of Vatican II, I have no clear memory of the Mass in Latin. But I do remember the turmoil in the Church–in our parish–following the changes Vatican II brought. There was anger everywhere, because there were too many changes–or too few, depending on who was talking–and sometimes it seemed the lunatics were running the asylum. Remember clown Masses? Thank God, I never had to endure one of those. But the episode of middle-aged ladies dancing down the aisles in tutus for “liturgical dance” at a single Mass resulted in the departure of at leaset one family from the parish. Thank God, we missed that particular Mass.

Those years left their mark. If you had asked me why Pope John XXIII had declared Vatican II, I would have gone straight for the “open the windows of the Church and let some fresh air in” quote and never even thought of the declaration of our mission “to become the servant of humanity.”

The pope had never heard of a sound bite, and had no inkling he would be cited in support of an agenda to overhaul the Church to suit modern tastes and morals.

And all the while we were distracted with arguments about birth control and whether priests and nuns can marry, or women be ordained…we still failed to focus on the true purpose of Vatican II: to serve a hurting world.

I wonder what would have happened if John XXIII had said, “open the windows and let the fresh air out“?

Because the truth is, there’s precious little spiritual air in the modern world. There wasn’t so much even fifty years ago. Today, our secular culture denies even the existence of God–any Higher Power–and soul. And who needs salvation? Consciousness is an accident of eletrical-chemical processes arising from a complex arrangement of matter. This world is all there is, and there’s no meaning, no purpose to it.

Atheism can’t take away our trials and sorrows, but it certainly robs us of our hope and joy. The Church has the best antidote to “all the anxieties by which modern man is afflicted.” Why in Heaven’s name would we want to make ourselves over into the image of modern culture?

In an earlier post, I quoted Matthew Kelly of DynamicCatholic.org to point out that The Roman Catholic Church today feeds, clothes, educates, heals, and aids in disaster, more people around the globe than any other single organization. And that’s with the active support of only 7% of the Church.

This is the Church that understands and pursues the true mission of Vatican II. Pope Francis had a better sound bite: “The Church is a field hospital where wounds are treated.”

Sometimes it seems as if most Catholics see Catholicism as the safety net for their own soul. Their faith is perilously close to self-absorbed navel-gazing, and a narcissistic  spirituality that ends in self, ends in self-defeat. You have to lose your life to save it. Vatican II wasn’t about changing the doctrines of the Church. It was about reminding us who we are, and the mission we have.

The whole point of Christian spirituality is a love of God so powerful, we reach out to others in need. A spirituality that acts, as individuals, in concert with our parish, our whole Church, the Body of Christ, acting as the “servant of humanity.”

Imagine if every baptized Catholic reached out to just one other person. Fed one hungry child. Visited one lonely elder. Listened to one angry teenager. The list is endless, because the needs are. But what if…?

We would have become true servants of humanity, fulfilled the true dream of Vatican II…and renewed ourselves, the Church, and the world. Amen.

+ Ann

Readings for the Solemnity of the Ascension.

Readings for the Seventh Sunday of Easter, May 17, 2015.