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Office Of Readings | Week 21, Sunday, Ordinary Time | A Reading From The Second Vatican Council’s Pastoral Constitution ‘Gaudium Et Spes’ On The Church In The Modern World
‘A glimpse of what is to come.’
This passage from the Second Vatican Council’s Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World (Gaudium et spes) situates Christian hope within both the temporal and eternal dimensions of human existence. It speaks of the transformation of the universe, the destiny of humanity, and the relationship between earthly progress and the kingdom of God.
The first theme is the transitory character of the present world. The Council acknowledges the reality of sin and death, which leave creation disfigured and subject to decay. Echoing biblical language (cf. Rom 8:18–25; 1 Cor 15:42–54), the text points towards a future renewal: a ‘new earth’ where righteousness dwells, death is overcome, and creation is liberated. This eschatological vision is not speculative—’we do not know the time or the manner’—but is grounded in assurance that God himself is preparing this fulfilment.
Secondly, the text emphasises the resurrection of humanity in Christ. What is perishable will be clothed with incorruption, and the sons and daughters of God will be revealed in glory. At the centre of this transformation is love: of all that belongs to the present age, only love and its fruits endure. The permanence of love highlights its role as the true measure of progress, the essence of communion with God and with others.
The Council then turns to the question of earthly progress. Christian hope in a future kingdom does not negate responsibility for the present world. On the contrary, it gives urgency to efforts towards justice, peace, and human dignity. The constitution carefully distinguishes earthly progress from the growth of Christ’s kingdom—progress is not identical with salvation—but insists that it is significant insofar as it contributes to a more human ordering of society. In this way, earthly life provides a foreshadowing of the age to come.
Finally, the passage describes the consummation of the kingdom. At the end of time, Christ will hand over the kingdom to the Father, described in the liturgical formula as ‘a kingdom of truth and life, holiness and grace, justice, love and peace’. This kingdom is already present in mystery—revealed in signs within the Church and the world—but awaits its final transfiguration when Christ returns.
The text thus unites biblical eschatology, theological anthropology, and pastoral exhortation. It affirms both the provisional character of human history and its genuine value. The Church, therefore, lives in the tension of the ‘already’ and the ‘not yet’: working in the world for justice and dignity, while awaiting the full realisation of the kingdom.
A Reading From The Second Vatican Council’s Pastoral Constitution ‘Gaudium Et Spes’ On The Church In The Modern World
We do not know the time when earth and humanity will reach their completion, nor do we know the way in which the universe will be transformed. The world as we see it, disfigured by sin, is passing away. But we are sure that God is preparing a new dwelling place and a new earth. In this new earth righteousness is to make its home, and happiness will satisfy, and more than satisfy, all the yearnings for peace that arise in human hearts. On that day, when death is conquered, the sons of God will be raised up in Christ; what was sown as something weak and perishable will be clothed in incorruption. Love and the fruits of love will remain, and the whole of creation, made by God for man, will be set free from the frustration that enslaves it.
We are warned indeed that a man gains nothing if he wins the whole world at the cost of himself. Yet our hope in a new earth should not weaken, but rather stimulate our concern for developing this earth, for on it there is growing up the body of a new human family, a body even now able to provide some foreshadowing of the new age. Hence, though earthly progress is to be carefully distinguished from the growth of Christ’s kingdom, yet in so far as it can help towards the better ordering of human society it is of great importance to the kingdom of God.
The blessings of human dignity, brotherly communion and freedom – all the good fruits on earth of man’s co-operation with nature in the Spirit of the Lord and according to his command – will be found again in the world to come, but purified of all stain, resplendent and transfigured, when Christ hands over to the Father an eternal and everlasting kingdom: ‘a kingdom of truth and life, a kingdom of holiness and grace, a kingdom of justice, love and peace.’ On this earth the kingdom is already present in sign; when the Lord comes it will reach its completion.
Christian Prayer With Jesus Christ
God of truth and life,
you have promised a new heaven and a new earth
where justice and peace will dwell.
Strengthen our hope in what you prepare,
and guide our labour for the dignity of all people.
May our works of love on earth
become signs of the kingdom to come,
until the day when Christ hands over all things to you,
in holiness and grace,
justice, love, and peace,
for ever and ever.
Amen.
Glossary Of Christian Terms
Gaudium et spes: Latin for ‘Joy and hope’; the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, promulgated at the Second Vatican Council in 1965.
Eschatology: The theological study of the ‘last things’ – death, judgement, resurrection, and the fulfilment of creation.
New earth: Biblical phrase (cf. 2 Pet 3:13; Rev 21:1) referring to the renewal of creation in God’s final kingdom.
Resurrection: The raising of the dead at the end of time, patterned on Christ’s own resurrection, when what is corruptible is transformed into incorruption.
Love and the fruits of love: Refers to virtues and actions that express divine charity; unlike temporal achievements, these endure eternally.
Earthly progress: Human advancement in society, culture, and technology; valuable but distinct from the kingdom of God.
Kingdom of God: God’s reign of justice, peace, and holiness, already begun in Christ and the Church, to be fully realised at the end of time.
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