On Saturday of the Fourth Week in Ordinary Time our Church invites us to read and reflect on a passage from the second letter to the Thessalonians (3:1-18) entitled "Exhortations and counsels". 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.

The central message of Gaudium et Spes is that the Church stands in profound solidarity with all humanity—sharing its joys and hopes, griefs and anxieties—and is called to engage the modern world not with fear or withdrawal, but with compassionate dialogue, moral clarity, and humble service. It affirms the dignity of every human person, the social nature of humanity, and the Church's mission to illuminate contemporary issues such as culture, economics, politics, marriage, peace, and human rights with the light of Christ and the Gospel. Rather than opposing the modern world, the document teaches that the Church must read the "signs of the times" and work actively for justice, peace, and the common good, trusting that Christ is the ultimate fulfillment of every authentic human longing.

Saint Paul arrived in Greece for the first time around 50 A.D. In making converts in Philippi and, soon afterwards, in Thessalonica, he was beset by persecution from Jews and Gentiles alike. Moving on to Beroea, he was again harassed by enemies from Thessalonica and hurriedly left for Athens. Silvanus and Timothy remained behind for a while. Paul soon sent Timothy back to Thessalonica to strengthen that community in its trials. Timothy and Silvanus finally returned to Paul when he reached Corinth, probably in the early summer of A.D. 51.

Saint Paul's second letter to the Thessalonians distinguishes itself by the detailed teaching it presents at the end times. False teachers had been presenting fake letters as if they were from Paul and telling the Thessalonian believers that the day of the Lord had already come. This would have been especially troubling to them because Paul had encouraged them in his previous letter that they would be raptured before the day of wrath came upon the earth.

So, Paul explained to them that this future time of tribulation had not yet come because a certain "man of lawlessness" had not yet been revealed. Comparisons with other passages in Daniel, Matthew, and Revelation reveal this man to be none other than the Antichrist. But Paul encouraged the Thessalonians not to worry, because the Antichrist would not come until a mysterious restrainer—the Thessalonians apparently knew his identity—was removed from earth. The identity of this restrainer has been heavily debated, though due to the nature of the work the restrainer does, He is likely the Spirit of God working redemptively through the church. When the believers leave the earth in the rapture, all who remain will experience the wrath of the tribulation.