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 SpiritCome 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.
This refrain with its verses will be suitable for many events not only doing the World Synod Year from now to next October, but also to many occasions of spiritual discernment by groups and individuals.
Background Information for the Press
14:30 | 2:30 pm Arrival of people from Rome in St. Peter's Square. (8:30 EST 7:30 CST)
16:00 | 4:00 pm Coming from Saint John Lateran, the participants of Together will join two reserved areas.(10:00 EST 9:00: CST)
16:30 | 4:30 pm Around forty young people from different continents, life situations, and different church traditions carrying a Bible with representatives of the local Roman churches together with the various "Together" partners gather around the obelisk. They ascend in procession to the sacrato
16:40 | The procession moves into the sacrato. Church leaders, young people and people living in precarious conditions sit to the right and left, facing the San Damiano cross in the sacrato, with a Bible and an icon of the Virgin Mary beside them. A garden with flowers is set up on the steps. Trees and shrubs are in front of the façade of the basilica
17:00-18:00 | 5:00pm (11:00 noon EST, 10am CST) Pre-Vigil – Four expressions of thanksgiving, interspersed with songs, for the gifts God gives us and the responsibility that follows. After each talk, testimonies are presented.
18:00-19:10 | 6:00 pm (12:00 noon EST, 11:00 am CST) Ecumenical Prayer Vigil
Introduction by Pope Francis,
Opening prayer by Patriarch Bartholomew
Epistle, Gospel
Intercessions For each intercession, an introductory sentence is read by a Church leader, followed by the prayer intention of a fraternal delegate to the Synod. A young man and woman, carrying candles, accompany each intercessor.
Our Father, introduced by the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby
Words of Pope Francis
Concluding prayer by Pope Francis and all twelve Church leaders,
The Church leaders give the blessing together with the Pope.
Final hymn: Tu Sei Sorgente Viva to invoke the Holy Spirit on the Synod participants, who leave the parvis of St Peter’s Square with the ecumenical representatives and go to dinner in Paul VI Hall.
While EWTN is covering the Installation of the Cardinals at 4am our time, during the rest of the day they are covering the Archdiocese of Philadelphia Eucharistic Congress, something out of the 1950s!
As for the Cardinals they are going to get a ringside seat for just how difficult it will be to find a replacement for this Pope. After opening the Synod with prayer accompanied by world religious leaders, on the opening day of the deliberations he will be issuing an update to his Encyclical on the Environment. The Encyclical on the Environment receive more attention than any other previous papal document. I doubt many of them are seriously considering returning to 1950s American Catholicism.
If you want your ringside seat next Saturday I suggest you try YouTube typing in Ecumenical Vigil. They will probably have the Vatican TV feed (may not in English) and Salt and Light TV (in English)
Thanks for the information, Jack. I will have to check out the coverage. Both of the Taize hymns are lovely, I'm glad the Taize community is having input into the vigil.
ReplyDelete"While EWTN is covering the Installation of the Cardinals at 4am our time, during the rest of the day they are covering the Archdiocese of Philadelphia Eucharistic Congress, something out of the 1950s!"
ReplyDeleteIt reminds me of 2004, when Barack Obama, then a state senator in Illinois, gave his famous speech at the National Democratic Convention, stating his opposition to the Iraq War, and introducing himself to the country on a national stage. Even though Obama hadn't even come to Washington yet, he already was a figure on the rise, and everyone knew that speech was to be a significant event. But IIRC, Fox News cut away from it partway through the speech, to talk about something else.
Disappointed that EWTN isn't going to cover more of the Synod. It's an important event (to say the least!) and in my view they have a responsibility to cover it end to end. Makes it even more regrettable that the American bishops have basically ceded the television landscape to them.
Btw, I see that Francis's follow-on document to Laudato Si is to be called Laudate Deum ("Praise God"). From NCR's story:
ReplyDelete"The world is facing "a process of environmental degradation," he said, but it is a problem that impacts much more than nature. It "leads down to the bottom of the ravine: Degradation of living conditions, degradation of the values that justify these living conditions, because they go together," with some people believing they are entitled to exploit natural resources and completely ignore the impact on the poor and Indigenous people."
This may be Francis's greatest insight: his seeing the linkage - the unity - between the church's moral teaching and social teaching. Degradation of our environment (as from strip mining and pollution) is profoundly linked to the degradation of the human person (as from social sins such as slavery, and personal sins such as abortion). He sees a common root.
URL to the NCR story: https://www.ncronline.org/earthbeat/faith/pope-says-his-new-ecology-document-titled-laudate-deum
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