Just a word before we go...Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time...October 16, 2022

This past week, on October 11, the church marked the 60th anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council.  In the words of Joseph Cardinal Bernardin, “The Second Vatican Council was the most important event in the life of the Catholic Church during the 20th Century.” 

In speaking about the need for a council, Pope John XXII used the word “aggiornamento,” meaning an opening of the windows, letting fresh air blow through the church.  This was a paradigmatic shift in thinking, and many in the Roman Curia were not happy (and still are not) about a pontiff who refuted their long-held suspicion of the world, one fueled by the notion that the church was a perfect society, and the world was the enemy.  (At this juncture in history, we know well that no perfect society exists.)  Specifically, in the Decree on Ecumenism, the council noted that, “in its pilgrimage on earth Christ summons the church to continual reformation of which it is always in need, in so far as it is an institution of human beings.” 

This statement reflected the retrieval of two very early images of the church as a pilgrim people...holy and yet, on the way to holiness...and the people of God, a re-imagining of the composition of the church.  Instead of viewing the church as the hierarchs, suddenly, we were the church.  The use of these biblical and historical images transformed the religious imagination of the people in the pews and inspired the development of a consciousness of the unifying force of baptism, in forming us all, clergy and lay, into the Body of Christ.  

Among the many other ideas promoted by the Council were those of dialogue, the promise of collegiality and collaboration, and the dignity of every person.

Our readings today reinforce the idea of collaboration; what Moses was unable to do on his own, Aaron and Hur enabled him to do. The woman in the Gospel who persisted against the judge’s obstinance was not only an example of pestering another to the point of exhaustion, but rather was claiming her inherent dignity and seeking justice. These readings and the Council itself, remind us that God works through the people and the circumstances of our lives, in order to bring about the reign of God.  Perhaps today we might consider how God is calling us, individually and collectively, to be catalysts for the unfolding of that reign.  Through prayer and by following the leadings of the Holy Spirit, as St. John XXIII and Pope Francis have done, we too can discern the role that God has for us.