On the Twenty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time our Church invites us to read and reflect on a passage from the beginning of the book of the prophet Zephaniah (1:1-7, 14---2:3) entitled "The judgement of the Lord". Our treasure, which follows, is from the pastoral constitution on the Church in the modern world of the Second Vatican Council.
Gaudium et spes ("Joys and Hopes"), the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, is one of the four constitutions resulting from the Second Vatican Council in 1965. It was the last and longest published document from the council and is the first constitution published by a Catholic ecumenical council to address the entire world. Gaudium et spes clarified and reoriented the role of the church's mission to people outside of the Catholic faith. It was the first time that the church took explicit responsibility for its role in the larger world. The constitution's creation was necessitated by fear of the irrelevance in the modern era due to its ignorance on problems that plague the modern world. The document represents an inner examination of the church by the council and features a response to problems affecting the modern world.
Within Gaudium et spes are the themes of gift of self and the promotion of peace. While initial reception of the document was focused on the shift in theological considerations, reception of Gaudium et spes today marks the document as a turning point in the Church's focus on the world.
The Book of Zephaniah is the ninth of the Twelve Minor Prophets of the Old Testament. The central theme of the book of Zephaniah is "the Day of the Lord". Zephaniah elucidates two major aspects of this central theme, judgment and restoration, and in both of these aspects Zephaniah evinces many parallels to the books of the eighth-century prophets. In the "Day of the Lord" a remnant will be saved (the "humble and lowly") through purification by judgment..
