Lumen Gentium: General Commentary

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Many Catholics assume that the theme of the Second Vatican Council was liturgical reform. When they recall the call of Pope John XXIII to aggiornamento, renewal and modernization of the Church, they equate these words with changes in the liturgy. However, is this really at the center of what the Second Vatican Council was all about? Of the sixteen documents that came out of the Second Vatican Council, only one was about such changes. Taken as a whole, the documents of Vatican II center around a much more global theme. The Council challenged the Church to perform an intense self-examination. It placed before the People of God the task of rediscovering what Jesus Christ intended His Body to be, and then performing an examination of conscience to examine how close the Church in the modern world was coming to the ideal that Christ set before it. The Dogmatic Constitution of the Church is a flagship document of this mission.

Lumen Gentium, the Latin title for this dogmatic constitution, comes from the first sentence, "Jesus Christ is the light of nations." This first sentence sets the theme and the tone of the entire document. Jesus Christ is at the center of the Church's identity. The Church exists because of Him, and it exists for the purpose of spreading His grace through the entire world. Any examination of the Church's identity must start with the contemplation of the face of Christ. To "be Church" is to be united to Christ and to fulfill His mission on earth.

Lumen Gentium begins with a short introduction to this theme. It proclaims that the purpose of the Church is to proclaim the Gospel and to reflect Christ's light to all the world. The first article then makes a bold statement, declaring that "the Church is in Christ like a sacrament or as a sign and instrument both of a very closely knit union with God and of the unity of the whole human race." It is tempting to write off such a statement as mere metaphor. After all, there are only seven Sacraments, and the Church is not one of them. However, once we recall to mind the definition of "sacrament," the beauty and accuracy of this statement comes to light. Let us examine this claim about the Church using the traditional definition given to us by the Baltimore Catechism. A sacrament is an outward sign, instituted by Christ, to give grace. Is the Church an outward sign? Certainly - the Church active in the world points the way to the love of Christ. The members of the Church reveal through their conversion the grace available through Christ. Was the Church instituted by Christ? Christ gave Peter the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven and commissioned the apostles to lead the Church in spreading the Gospel to the ends of the Earth. Without the institution of Christ, there would be no Church. Does the Church give grace? The Church is the primary vehicle through which God has chosen to distribute His grace to all people. By calling the Church a sacrament, the Council Fathers already give us something to contemplate. How effectively have we reflected the light of Christ to the world? How do we allow Christ to spread His grace to all peoples? How boldly have we gone out into the world to spread the gospel to all nations?

The first article of Lumen Gentium continues by laying before us the lofty goal of this document. It intends to lay before the whole world the inner nature of the Church and its universal mission. It will do this by inviting us to become immersed in a mystery. "Mystery" is a word that demands some clarification. Too often it is used as a smokescreen by those who are caught off guard by a piece of theology that they do not understand or cannot explain. "It's a mystery, and we won't know until God reveals it to us in heaven." However, the term mystery does not mean "unknowable." Rather, it means something that human reason could not know unless it was revealed to us by God. Through revelation, the Theological Virtue of Faith, and the Gifts of the Holy Spirit, we can grow in understanding of the mysteries of God. A mystery is not a puzzle to be solved. It is a truth to immerse ourselves in, to grow into according to God's time table. In heaven, we will fully enter into the mystery of God. We will not immediately know everything there is to know about Him, rather we will eternally come to know and love Him more. After all, God is inexhaustible Truth. If this is true of God, it must also be truth of the Body of Christ, the Church. The first chapter of the encyclical will challenge us to enter into the mystery of the Church - not to solve all of the questions of its identity, but to ask God for deeper understanding of the covenant completed in Christ. It is important to note that a mystery can never be relegated to the labels "conservative" or "liberal." Lumen Gentium makes this clear as it declares that it will present the mystery of the faith while remaining true to the previous teachings of the Church and contemplating the role of the Church in the face of present-day conditions. Let us, then, join the Second Vatican Council in its contemplation of its core question: Ecclesia, quid dicis de te ipsa? "Church, what do you say of yourself?"