Earlier this week, Pope Leo gave a homily which characterizes the Second Vatican Council in a particular way. Celebrating Mass for the anniversary of the dedication of the Church of Sant’Anselmo on the Aventine Hill, the Holy Father quoted what he called “one of [the] most beautiful pages of the Second Vatican Council.” It’s a description of the Church:

human and divine, visible and yet invisibly equipped, eager to act and yet intent on contemplation, present in this world and yet not at home in it; and she is all these things in such wise that in her the human is directed and subordinated to the divine, the visible likewise to the invisible, action to contemplation, and this present world to that city yet to come, which we seek. (Vatican II, Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy Sacrosanctum Concilium 2)

For all the activities in this world, there is, the Council teaches, an orientation, even a subordination, to contemplation. This is what Pope Leo thinks is one of the best or most moving pages of its teachings.

Perhaps this thought wasn’t far from the Holy Father when he met with his fellow Augustinians later in the week. He characterized their vocation in contemplative terms, electing to discourse on “some aspects of your presence and your mission of contemplation, your mission of being contemplatives in the Church today.” He went on to discuss joy, charity, and community. These could easily be words that sum up much of the depth and orientation of Vatican II.

I’d also add that the theme of contemplation and the Council wasn’t far from Leo’s friend and immediate predecessor, either. Pope Francis, as I pointed out last year, wrote a preface to a book on Paul VI, and in it, he noted that “Fr. [Marie-Joseph] Le Guillou describes Vatican II as an act of contemplation of the Face of Christ.” The late pontiff also suggested that the Council is not yet implemented, and the central purpose of the Council is contemplation. It’s a startling way of seeing things. Yet Leo seems to share it, at least to some degree.

Maybe this highlights some questions we would do well to grapple with, both individually and collectively: What is Vatican II? If it’s not yet implemented, where are the major gaps? What are the Council’s most beautiful pages? Would that be where we might start?