Silence: Homily of Francis at Vigil

 Ecumenical Prayer Vigil Homily

“Together”. Like the early Christian community on the Day of Pentecost. Like one flock, loved and gathered by one Shepherd, Jesus. Like the great crowd in the Book of Revelation we are here, brothers and sisters “from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages.

“Syn-odos”: let us walk together, not only Catholics, but all Christians, all of the baptized, the whole People of God, because “only the whole can be the unity of all” (cf. J.A. MÖHLER, Symbolism).

Like the great crowd in the Book of Revelation, we prayed in silence, listening to a “great silence” (cf. Rev 8:1). Indeed, silence is important and powerful: it can express unspeakable sorrow in the face of misfortune, but also, in moments of joy, a gladness that goes beyond words.  

First, silence is essential in the life of the believer. Indeed, it lies at the beginning and end of Christ’s earthly existence. The Word, the Word of the Father, became “silence” in the manger and on the cross, on the night of the Nativity and on the night of his Passion.

.. truth does not need loud cries to reach people’s hearts.  God does not like declarations and shouting, gossiping and noise: rather, he prefers, as he did with Elijah, to speak in the “still small voice” (1 Kings 19:12), in a “thread of resounding silence”

Second, silence is essential in the life of the Church. The Acts of the Apostles says that after Peter’s discourse to the Council of Jerusalem, “the whole assembly kept silence” (Acts 15:12), preparing to receive the testimony of Paul and Barnabas about the signs and wonders God had performed among the nations.

 silence, in the ecclesial community, makes fraternal communication possible, where the Holy Spirit draws together points of view

Finally, the third element: silence is essential for the journey of Christian unity. Indeed, it is fundamental to prayer, and ecumenism begins with prayer and is sterile without it

Jesus himself prayed that his disciples “may all be one” (Jn 17:21). The silence that is prayer enables us to accept the gift of unity “as Christ wills it… by the means he chooses” (cf. ABBÉ COUTURIER, Prayer for Unity), not as the fruit of our own efforts and according to purely human criteria.

Christian unity grows in silence before the cross, just like the seeds we will receive, which represent the different gifts bestowed by the Holy Spirit on the various traditions: it is up to us to sow them, in the certainty that God alone brings about the growth (cf 1 Cor 3:6). 

That is why, brothers and sisters, in common prayer we ask to learn again to be silent: to listen to the voice of the Father, the call of Jesus and the groaning of the Spirit. Let us ask that the Synod be a kairós of fraternity, a place where the Holy Spirit will purify the Church from gossip, ideologies and polarization.

Divorce and remarriage in Orthodoxy

What follows was written as a response to a comment from Katherine to the post directly below.  My response was too long for the comment field, so I'm posting it here as a separate post.  I believe the question it seeks to address - the differences between Catholicism's and Orthodoxy's respective views of marriage and divorce - are interesting in their own right.

Contrasting reactions to the Synod

There are a couple of articles concerning the Synod on the NCR site today.  The first is this one, The conservative Catholic 'misinformation' campaign against the Synod of Bishops | National Catholic Reporter (ncronline.org) Not surprisingly, some people are losing their minds in a freakout over the Synod which has not even occurred yet:

"In October 2022, viewers of the Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN) were told by German Cardinal Gerhard Müller, formerly one of the Vatican's highest-ranking officials, that Pope Francis' plans for the Synod of Bishops represented a "hostile takeover" of the Catholic Church."

Resentment

 This is my homily for yesterday, the 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A.  The readings for that weekend are here.

Ecumenical Vigil September 30 (Adsumus Sancte Spiritus)

The formal opening of deliberations for the World Synod will be on October 4th, the Feast of Francis. They will be preceded by a triduum of prayer that will begin on the evening of Saturday, September30th in Saint Peter's Square with an Ecumenical Vigil.  

The Ecumenical Vigil was proposed by the Community of Taize as part of a larger Ecumenical project called Together | Gathering of the People of God’, which involves delegates from all the Christian Churches present in Rome, as well as many youth ministry leaders from the European Churches. 

It will feature the music of the Taize community including a new song written for the occasion whose refrain is  

Adsumus Sancte Spiritus, Adsumus Sancte Spiritus
Veni ad nos, adesto nobis. Veni ad nos, adesto nobis.

We are present Holy Spirit, We are present Holy Spirit

Come to us, be present with us. Come to us, be present with us.

 

Since surely the questions of ordination of married men to the priesthood and ordination of women to the diaconate will arise in the Synod, it is interesting to note this prayer is closely related to the prayers of ordination rites in which the candidates who are proposed for ordination answer "Adsum" "Here, I am." echoing the answer of Samuel to the Lord.  The words are also closely related to the dialogue reserved to ordained persons "Dominus Vobiscum. Et Cum Spiritu Tuo" which precedes major liturgical actions. One might say that after praying this prayer, the answers to both questions should be obvious. 

If that does become obvious over the course of the next year, then we will be embarking on a major change for the Roman Rite equivalent to the vernacular authorized by Vatican II, and which like it will undo more than a thousand years of practice. So, we may have a front row seat to history in the making next Saturday. 

Priest I know has been suspended

While I was on vacation, I received an email from one of the parish staff, asking if the person described in a forwarded news article was a priest who had formerly been assigned to our parish.  The gist of the news article was that the priest in question has been suspended because of a credible accusation of abuse of a minor.  The suspension, and the alleged abuse which led to it, took place in a different diocese.

It was not immediately clear it was the same person, because there was no accompanying photo, and the newspaper account listed his full name.  He is from Mexico, and folks of Hispanic heritage have more names than Anglos like me are accustomed to.  When he was assigned to our parish, he went by a nickname, and only one of his surnames.  But I was able to confirm it was one and the same guy by doing a quick search on bishopaccountability.org.

He was assigned for a few years to our parish.  He was a  reasonably friendly and outgoing person.  But he was sort of strange.  (But aren't many priests strange, one way or another?)  His assignment at our parish spanned parts of the tenures of two different pastors.  Neither pastor seemed to like him.  (But don't priests often not get along with one another?)  During his time at our parish, I never heard of him doing anything questionable with children or teens.  

He left our parish abruptly - resigned without notice, packed up and left.  I think the pastor was as surprised as everyone else.  A few parishioners would ask me from time to time whatever happened to him.  The official word from the archdiocese (or so I was told) was that he was on sabbatical.  We had heard that he was on the west coast for a time.  This news story is out of a diocese in Texas.  So he has bounced around.

I don't want to give his name or provide links to news stories.  It's just sort of a weird ending (I assume this is the end) to a rather weird stint of priestly ministry.  Naturally, I'm worried about the possibility of his having victimized any kids or teens during his time in our parish.  As I was out of town the last two weekends, I don't know whether our pastor said anything from the pulpit.  I'll try to learn more. 

Just off the top of my head, this is the fourth priest I've known who has been credibly accused.

What is Bishop Strickland's endgame?

In an article by NCR reporter Brian Fraga, Bishop Strickland says he will not resign if pope asks. What comes next? | National Catholic Reporter (ncronline.org)

"...Bishop Joseph Strickland, who has been subject to a Vatican investigation over his leadership style and right-wing comments on social media, has vowed in recent days not to resign or "voluntarily abandon" his diocese, even if Pope Francis asks him to do so."

From the article: