2023 The Year of The Council
The Second Vatican Council emphasised the universal call to holiness. Pope Francis called on all Catholics to return to the four Constitutions of the council – Sacrosanctum Concilium, Dei Verbum, Lumen Gentium, and Gaudium et Spes. Scroll down on this page to find resources to help you dive deeper into the constitutions. There are videos of expert theologian guiding you through each of the constitutions, as well as introductions and reflection questions to help you reflect on the themes within them. Links to the full constitution documents are also provided.
SACROSANCTUM CONCILLIUM
The Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy
with Fr. Tim Menezes
Sacrosanctum Concilium is the Vatican II document on the liturgy, the public prayer of the Church. It was the first major document to be written at Vatican II in November 1963. In the first 20 paragraphs of this document, you will see that the liturgy is always infused with hope. It is a prayer of the Trinity. It is the priestly prayer of Jesus Christ. And we are called to fully conscious and active participation whenever we gather for the liturgy.
As Fr. Tim reminds us in his opening remarks of the video, anyone under the age of 65 is unlikely to be aware of how the liturgy was celebrated before Vatican II because they will not have experienced it and so making comparisons is neither easy nor particularly necessary. However, it is good to reflect on what we do experience on a weekly basis. In what ways does the celebration of our Mass inspire us? How does it continue to transform us as we participate in the Paschal Mystery of Christ?
Reflecting on Sacrosanctum Concilium will deepen our understanding of the Liturgy and, as Fr. Tim tells us, help us come to appreciate fully the truth of the Liturgy as an act of glorifying God.
DEI VERBUM
The Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation
with Sr. Hyacinthe Defos Du Rau OP
How can we know anything about God with certainty? Why should we trust what the Church tells us about God? How do we make sense of the Bible? The answer to these three questions is in this very short document called Dei Verbum.
God Speaks to Us
In this beautiful, short but very rich document the Church helps us to understand that God speaks to us personally. It explains how God speaks to us and why God would want to speak to us. In essence Dei Verbum is about Divine Revelation – how God willed us into being and chose to reveal God’s self to us. At the very heart, the Word of God is given to us. It is not something that the Church did. As Sr. Hyacinthe tells us we have received the Word as a gift. God chose to reveal God’s self to us, to ‘speak to humanity’. He chose to do this in a particular way.
LUMEN GENTIUM
The Dogmatic Constitution on the Church
with Fr. Jan Nowotnik
The Light of the Nations – The Mystery of the Church
The Introduction to Lumen Gentium teaches us that the Church is a mystery imbued with the hidden presence of God. The Church is a sacrament – a sign to the world of Jesus Christ.
The primary role of the Church, through the power of the Holy Spirit, is to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ – so that all may have an opportunity to receive Christ.
Chapters two to six of the Constitution provide a picture of the Church rooted in our identity as the People of God. Each different group – priests, bishops, laity and religious has their own role to play in the mission that Christ has given us.
Generally, we tend not to speak about holiness in relation to ourselves, but Lumen Gentium teaches us that we are call called to holiness. Holiness is not reserved to the saints or those who give a lifelong commitment to the Church, such as priests and religious. All of us are called to holiness in the very different ways we live our Christian life.
GAUDIUM ET SPES
The Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World
with Mary McCaughey
Gaudium et Spes is the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World from the Second Vatican Council. The words Gaudium et Spes mean the joys and the hopes. The document is trying to remind Catholics that they can be open to the world, to dialogue with the world, because the joys, hopes and the sorrows of human beings are of their concern.
Gaudium et Spes is a pertinent document because it addresses the entire human family, regardless of religious affiliation or none. Despite the fact that it was written in 1965, the thrust of it is very relevant to our own times, continually calling the whole Church to enter into and maintain a dialogue with the whole human family. The goal of Gaudium et Spes is to shed light on the human mystery and seeks to contribute to the solutions required to solve contemporary problems.
As Mary McCaughey comments in her opening remarks of the video, the document has been described as having a ‘positive openness’. She goes on to say that it answers the question ‘why’ and also the question ‘how’ should the Church be interested in the modern world? The why relates to the fact that the world is God’s creation and is good – whatever goes on in the world, God does not and never will abandon it. This is the world into which Christ came to redeem and to break the power of sin. We are called, therefore, to be open to the world, even if that doesn’t mean embracing everything that the world offers.