Opening Mass of the Synod. The Pope advises bishops to “find”, “listen” and “discern”

Mireia Bonilla – Vatican City

“One person, a rich man, ran to Jesus while he was ‘on his way’. With this passage from the Gospel according to Mark, 10:17 a.m., the Pontiff began his homily this morning during the opening Mass of the Synod of Bishops 2021 in St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican. But why this passage? Pope Francis explained that several times the Gospels present Jesus to us “on the way”, accompanying the man in his walk and listening to the questions that fill and trouble his heart and assured that “to make a synod” means: “to walk together in the Same direction. ”This is why he invited bishops, religious, lay sisters and brothers and all the baptized to practice 3 verbs that he deems necessary so that this“ walk together ”can be accomplished and which are: “Find, listen, discern ”, because – as explained – Jesus “in the first place he found on the way of the rich, after I listen his questions and finally helped him discern what he had to do to inherit eternal life ”.

Find

Pope Francis read this passage from the Gospel to explain the verb “to find” which he recommended that bishops practice. He said that it is a very important question which requires attention, time, availability to meet the other and let oneself be questioned by his concern and that Jesus knows that a meeting can change life.

This is why he declares to those who embark on this synodal path that they are called to be experts in the meeting art: “Not by organizing events or doing a theoretical reflection on the problems, but by taking the time to be with the Lord and to encourage the meeting between us. A time to make room for prayer, for adoration, for what the Spirit wants to say to the Church; to concentrate on the face and the word of the other, to come face to face, to let oneself be reached by the questions of the sisters and the brothers ”.

Listen

The second verb that the Pope proposed to the bishops is “listen”. “Jesus – says the Pope – is not afraid of listen with the heart and not only with the ears ”, in fact – he emphasizes -“ when we listen with the heart this happens: the other feels welcomed, not judged, free to tell his own life experience and his own path spiritual ”. This is why he is asking the Church today to ask herself in this synodal journey: how do we listen? What is the “ear” of our heart like? Do we allow people to express themselves, to walk in faith even when they have difficult life paths, to contribute to the life of the community without being hindered, without being rejected or judged? “To hold a synod – underlines the Pope – is to put oneself on the same path as the Word made man, it is to walk in his footsteps, to listen to his Word with the words of others” and today the Spirit asks us “to listen to the questions, the concerns, the hopes of each Church, of each people and nation. And also to listen to the world, to the challenges and the changes it offers us. Let us not sound the heart, do not protect ourselves not in our certainties. Let’s listen to each other ”.

Discern

Finally, the third verb proposed by the Pontiff is “to discern”. Francisco explains that “meeting” and “mutual listening” are not something that ends in itself, that leaves things as they are, on the contrary, “when we dialogue, we begin the debate and the journey. , and in the end we are not the same as before, we have changed ”, declared the Pope.

The Pope’s last invitation to the bishops is that they understand the Synod “as a path of spiritual discernment”, which takes place in adoration, in prayer, in contact with the Word of God; since it is “the Word – he specifies – which opens us to discernment and enlightens it, guides the Synod so that it is not an” ecclesial convention “, a study conference, a political congress or a parliament, but an event of grace, a healing process guided by the Holy Spirit ”.

The Pope concludes his homily by assuring that Jesus, as he did with the rich man of the Gospel, “calls us in these days to empty ourselves, to free ourselves from what is worldly, and also from our models. repetitive pastoral care; to ask ourselves what God wants to tell us at the moment and in what direction he wants to guide us ”.