On October 11, 1962, the first session of the Second Vatican Council began. Today I finished up some work on The Saint John’s Bible project at 11:35, with time to drive over to Saint John’s Abbey for noon prayer. I wasn’t really going for the prayer but to hear the ringing of the bells of the Abbey Church at noon. I slid into the church just as the first bell started moving, and then all four were ringing out for what seemed like five minutes.
I’m not sure I’ve ever been there when all four bells were operational, and I’m sure I’ve never heard them ring so long, although maybe I have at the Easter vigil. I sat up in the choir with the monks and a large tour bus of people who were visiting. As the bells rang, i felt really happy. I thought about the words Pope John 23 used about the Council: That it was throwing open the windows of the church to let in fresh air.
Before long I was saying to myself the words I love by Walt Whitman: “Unscrew the locks from the doors! Unscrew the doors themselves from their jambs!”
Liberation and chaos marked the Second Vatican Council. Now there are too many arguments about whether it went to far or didn’t go far enough. I found myself internally intoning, with the ringing rhythm of the bells, “Come in, Come in, Come in…” I actually felt teary and ecstatic. It wasn’t a demand or a protest, it was welcoming– the words almost didn’t have meaning. It was about opening and about a future that is coming whether people like it or not. The church windows are open, and we are in. The future of the church is in our hands. We are here. I can’t wait to see what we will do and what happens in the next fifty years.