Much has been said about the eighteen century “Age of Enlightenment” as a world phenomenon as well as it’s impact on American history. Let’s (for the moment) accept this historical movement in it’s entirety as a credible passage into a new era of understanding, including the hidden gems and also the down side of it’s assumptions, dead ends and shallow rhetoric. At the same time, let’s give ourselves credit for being in another era of enlightenment one of equally serious world beginnings and consequences.

    Let us be cautious that we are not misled by our assumptions or the claims of pop culture. Let us have the wisdom to look through a lens of enlightenment, through what seems to be obvious into the truly obvious. A disturbing feature of today’s society and perhaps a long-standing feature of any era is our vulnerability to be misled by those who exercise power and control for the sake of pride and prejudice. These powerful people can be identified when they are engaged in their well ordered and effective effort to build empires and spread their influence. A tried-and-true method of claiming essence without substance paves the way to what they declare is common knowledge in an attempt to replace common logic. Their mass media rhetoric is designed to replace historical events and to use metaphors to replace an investigation of a case-by-case inquiry. These titans would have us believe that ambiguities lead to imagination, basic research or breakthrough innovations; they do not. They do demonstrate deceptive intentions and foster confusion, frustration and apathy. These titans believe once the focus is centered on the clash of conflict the serious consideration of the issues will be ignored.

     As an answer to these titans of empire, we turn to wise commentary which tells us there is no political solutions to spiritual problems. As believers we will engage in a critical examination of what we are being told and shown by our pop culture versus what we know to be true in our hearts. This is not an exercise of spiritual superiority, a train we never want to get on. This is not a drill in relativism because the truth is not predicated on circumstances. This is a trajectory of orthodoxy, the moving under the action of a given force, that force being the Holy Spirit. Using this lens of enlightenment is in actuality praying for guidance, never assuming we are doing God’s work, only God can do God’s work. We are, however, praying that our actions are done with love and humility, appealing to everyone’s highest ideals and best intentions and we have considered all the attributes of the divine virtues. For us laity this is a monumental task, a venture which needs a model to follow. I am suggesting this model is the Catholic Church, the body and bride of our Lord. I am suggesting the metaphor for this Church is a finely cut diamond, seen through any of it’s facets depicts it’s fullness, brilliance, life and truth of itself. This allows each of us to view the Lord in ways we can understand. Through the facet of the magisterium, or the Bible itself, the homilies of our pastors and priests, the podcasts of our scholars, the ministries and charities, or the adoration and the prayers of our more contemplative moments and a host of other inspirational, devotional and sensational considerations we come to a deeper and richer understanding of ourselves and our Church.  

    Of all these possible facets it is Vatican II which is inviting us into a age of innovation established upon the traditions of orthodoxy: which makes the path from the past, the path into the future. The innovation is built upon this past trajectory. For example, a society is always operating at the top of the technological curve. What is currently being developed may, and in many cases does see beyond the immediate horizon. It is not farfetched to theorize what advancements could be coming, however, the next step is still bound by the workings of current technologies. This illustrates the accumulated culminations of technologies passing through the “lens of enlightenment” and into tomorrow’s future. This applies as well to Vatican II. The innovations are not tomorrow’s unrealized expectations, they are the well ordered and logical next step in the development of the Church.