On October 8, 1965 the great assembly of Vatican Council II finished. The council fathers, at the onset of the Council had sent a message to all men (21 October 1962) expressing their conviction of participating in a new Pentecost:

“We, the successors of the apostles, that form one sole apostolic body, the head being the successor of Peter, are gathered here in unanimous prayer with Mary, Mother of God, as mandate from our Holy Father John XXIII.”

In the closing section, on 7 December 1965, Paul VI evoked the trend of the Council and offered this reflection.

“The religion of the God who was made man, met up with religion - as religion itself is – of the man who was made God. What happened? Was it an encounter, a battle, a sentence? It could have been, but it did not happen. The old story of the Samaritan was the spiritual principle guiding the Council. An immense goodwill pervaded everyone. The discovery of human needs – and these are certainly immense  – attracted the attention of our synod. You modern humanists who renounce the transcendence of supreme things, grant us at least this merit and acknowledge our new humanism: even we – and more than anyone else – are promoters of man … the Council sent encouraging remedies to the contemporary world instead of prognosticating death: instead of fatal omens, messages of hope; values were not only respected, but honored, incessant efforts affirmed, aspirations purified and blessed.”

What did the Vatican Council represent and what has it signified for we religious? It would be a myopic perspective to discover the significance only in those texts dedicated explicitly to religious or consecrated life; that would be impoverishing, so much so as to reduce a symphony to a melody for one voice or for one instrument; how does one contemplate a monotone painting. Regardless of the rich affirmations of Vatican II on religious life, and the horizons these affirmations opened, are not in themselves the only message that we must listen to and make a reality. The Council has spoken to us through all is Constitutions, Decrees and Declarations. It asked us to open ourselves to a new way of understanding and to live the Mystery of the Church, considering her liturgy, her mission and rapport with the world. For this purpose the Council reflected on the various forms of life and ministry in the Church and then oriented its renewal: bishops, presbyters, those studying for the presbytery, religious, laity.  Moreover, it confronted the various aspects of the ecclesiastical mission: la mission ad gentes, the ecumenical mission, the oriental Catholic Churches, social communication, the educative mission and the defense of religious freedom. We understand the keys of the renewal and today’s religious life only considering the conciliatory project as a whole.

In our renewed constitutional texts, in our directories and our chapter decrees we have undoubtedly assumed the Council’s affirmations referring to religious life. But, have we made the same effort to integrate into our global perspective of reality, the complex intent of the Council?

In a multi-dimensional Mutuae Relationes, including all the gifts and ministries of the People of God of all Christian confessions, in the complex framework of our world, it becomes necessary for the religious life to evoke in the present what was planted as seed 36 years ago. From a linear reading of the council documents, we need to pass to a global reading, symphonic. From an analytical reading we need to pass to a synthetic reading. Interpreting what the Council said, we need to assess the Council wanted to say for the historical moment in which we are living.

We need to turn our gaze not only to what the Council said, ma also to the way in which it was said. The Council Fathers looked for truth together, together under he who has the gift of Catholic unity, the Pope. They looked for truth having as context the great story of humanity and the bi-millennium history of the faith. They had as horizon of their research, today’s world with all its complexity, cultures, mutual relationships. Optimism  and impassioned love for man was the style they chose to establish a “new evangelical endeavor”. They abandoned  the dogmas of prior years trusting in the force of announced shared truth. They knew to defend their own truth, defending man, particularly his inalienable rights, and taking place with the poor and oppressed.

The Pentecost of Vatican II was, above all, prophecy.

In 36 years many things have happened. The change of the age has become more tangible. We have begun the new millennium dramatically, with the great attack at the heart symbolic of the great scientific technological parade.

The Church is in a permanent Synod in order to remember the heritage of its last Council. New times require a new Council, that unites all forms of life and ecclesiastic ministry. A Council concerning with all forms of Christian life and ministry is the dream that rumbles in the head of many of us in remembering the magnificent occurrence of Vatican II, which was not lived as nostalgic but rather as prophetic.