Wednesday, May 8, 2013
(Acts 17:15.22-18:1; John 16:12-15)
In its Pastoral
Constitution on the Church, Vatican II wrestles with the question of atheism.
It says that many shut God out of their
hearts out of refusal to acknowledge the dictates of their consciences. But it also implicates Christians in the sin
of disbelief because we often fail to give testimony to the presence of God by
genuinely caring for one another. With this
kind of critical reasoning Vatican II exemplifies what Jesus means in today’s
gospel.
Jesus tells his disciples that the Spirit Advocate will
tell them the things that are coming. Jesus
does not mean that there will be a new revelation for he says that the Spirit will
reveal what is already Jesus’. What the
Spirit will do for the Church, as can be testified in the Vatican II documents,
is to interpret current events in light of Jesus’ own teaching.
Much has been said of the “spirit of Vatican II.” Some people think that it is acceptance of almost
every proposed change of belief or practice.
But such an interpretation defies the work of the council’s fathers who diligently
discerned what the Holy Spirit was saying to them by careful deliberation and
voting. Certainly Vatican II introduced changes
for which we should be grateful. But we
must also take care not to misinterpret the spirit of the council as promoting
change indiscriminately.
