50th Anniversary of the Second Vatican Council

     My whole religious life has been lived in the milieu of the Second Vatican Council. I professed my vows 50 years ago in August, 1962. The opening session of the council was convened October 11^th of the same year. Reading my well worn and highlighted copy of The Documents of Vatican II from 1966 still sets my heart on fire with the presence of the Holy Spirit in word and message. This anniversary of the council helps me to realize that the event and its resultant theology and guidance have powerfully permeated my life and ministry through all these years. I know that everyday and in every way, what happened at the council influenced me to be who I am today.

Here are a few of the highlighted texts in my copy of the documents:

• “Christ is the light of all nations…. By her relationship with Christ, the Church is a kind of sacrament or sign of intimate union with God, and of the unity of all mankind.” Dogmatic Constitution on The Church #1
• “For it is through the liturgy, especially the divine Eucharist, that the work of our redemption is exercised.” Constitution on The Sacred Liturgy # 2
• “The Fathers and Doctors of the Church held this view, teaching that all men are obliged to come to the relief of the poor, and to do so not merely out of their superfluous goods. If a person is in extreme necessity, he has the right to take from the riches of others what he himself needs.” Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World # 69
• “Government, therefore, ought indeed to take account of the religious life of the people and show it favor, since the function of government is to make provision for the common welfare…. Religious bodies are a requirement of the social nature both of man and of religion itself.” Declaration on Religious Freedom #4

     Join me in blessing God Who gave us more than we asked for or could have imagined through the wisdom of Second Vatican Council.

     Sr. Dorothy Schuette, OSB