The Pope: Synod is the way of being of the Church. Listen to the Spirit and the brethren

Vatican City

“I am sure that the Spirit will guide us and give us the grace to move forward together, to listen to each other and to begin a discernment of our time, being in solidarity with the efforts and desires of humanity”, with these words Pope Francis He began his message to the participants in the Moment of Reflection before the official opening of the Synod, which will take place on October 10.

“We are called to unity”

Francis underlined at the beginning of his message that “We are called to unity, to communion and to fraternity (…) Therefore, we walk together in the one People of God, to experience a Church which receives and lives the gift of unity, and which is open to the voice of the Spirit ”.

Communion, participation and mission

“The key words of the Synod are three: communion, participation and mission,” said Francis. Communion and mission are theological expressions which designate the mystery of the Church, the very nature of the Church. This one “received” the mission to proclaim the kingdom of Christ and of God and to establish it in all peoples, and constitute on the earth the seed and the beginning of this kingdom “(The light, 5) “.

Through communion and mission, the Church “contemplates and imitates the life of the Holy Trinity, the mystery of communion. enter and source of mission outwardsFrancisco insists.

Francis, remembering Saint John Paul II, said that he “wanted to reaffirm that the nature of the Church is the koinonia; from this is born the mission of being a sign of the intimate union of the human family with God ”, and for the synods to be fruitful, they must be well prepared and“ it is necessary that the local Churches work for their preparation with the participation of all ”.

The Pope insists on the importance of participation as a mechanism for an authentic synodal praxis in the Church: “If an ecclesial praxis which expresses synodality in a concrete way at each stage of the journey and of the work, favoring the real commitment of each one, communion and mission risk remaining somewhat abstract terms ”.

The Synod. Risks and Opportunities

Pope Francis recalls that the Synod is a great opportunity “for a pastoral conversion in a missionary and also ecumenical key”; however, “it is not exempt from certain risks”: formalism, intellectualism and immobility.

The Pope underlines the danger of reducing the Synod to a formal act, but without “substance”. We need, he says, “instruments and structures that promote dialogue and interaction in the People of God, in particular between priests and lay people”.

To make this possible, it is necessary to transform, insists Francis, “certain top-down, distorted and partial views of the Church, of the priestly ministry, of the role of the laity, of ecclesial responsibilities, of the roles of government”.

The second risk is intellectualism, which can transform the Synod into “a kind of study group”. This fact, adds the Pope, can distance us “from the reality of the Holy People of God and from the concrete life of communities scattered throughout the world”.

Finally, says Francisco, “the temptation to immobility. It is better not to change, since ‘it has always been done like that’ “and adds that” the risk is that at the end of the old solutions are adopted for new problems “.

A time of grace

“Let us live this opportunity to meet, listen and reflect as a time of grace who, in the joy of the Gospel ”, says the Pope, and thus seize three opportunities: the first,“ to orient oneself structurally towards a Synodal Church ”, which is an“ open place where everyone feels at home and can participate “.

The second opportunity is “to be the Church of listening (…) Listening to the Spirit in adoration and prayer, listening to brothers and sisters on the hopes and crises of faith in different parts of the world, the urgency of renewing pastoral life and the signs that come from local realities, ”says Francisco.

Finally, the third opportunity is “to be a Church of proximity”, with its presence, to be a Church “which does not separate itself from life, but takes charge of the weaknesses and poverty of our time, healing the wounds and healing hearts with the balm of God ”.

The Pope invited those present to consider the Synod as “a time inhabited by the Spirit (…) because we need the Spirit, the ever new breath of God, which frees from all enclosure, revives what is death, untie chains and spread joy. The Holy Spirit is the One who guides us where God wants, and not where our ideas and our personal tastes would lead us ”.

The Pope ended his speech by invoking the Holy Spirit:

Come, Holy Spirit. You who raise new languages ​​and put words of life on our lips, prevent us from becoming a beautiful but silent Church-Museum, with much past and little future. Come among us, so that in the synodal experience we do not let ourselves be overwhelmed by disenchantment, we do not dilute the prophecy, we do not end up reducing everything to sterile discussions. Come, Spirit of love, make our hearts listen. Come, Spirit of holiness, renew the holy People of God. Come, Creator Spirit, renew the face of the earth.