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.
I really like this. Thanks Jack
ReplyDeleteA lovely homily.
ReplyDeleteSort of related, I see that five cardinals have submitted a "dubia" ahead of the Synod: https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/255534/cardinals-send-dubia-to-pope-francis-ahead-of-synod-on-synodality
ReplyDeleteThey are the usual suspects, including Burke. And the usual "gotcha" questions. Which Pope Francis answered in July, but with explanations. (the communication was not .made public, it was between them and him.) Apparently that isn't acceptable, it was supposed to be "yes" or "no" answers, so they are resubmitting it. Seems like they are out to stir up trouble.
The Vatican has released the original answers; it seems the dubia backfired.
DeleteWhile Francis reaffirmed that marriage was between and man and woman, he left open the possibility that gays could be blessed. The press are interpreting this as a softening of the Vatican position. However, Francis also took a swipe at the Germany bishops saying that not every pastoral situation requires a special text authorized by a bishop's conference.
I think Francis is thinking of many situations, such as the elderly, in which it pretty obvious that two same sex persons who are caring for one another should be prayed over, and God's assistance should be asked. Whether or not they think of their relationship as marriage should not enter into the picture.
On the question of ordination of women while he affirmed the teaching of JP2, he also said that more theological study and research should be done because the teaching is not widely accepted.
Maybe the Cardinals will be a little more hesitant about expressing their doubts now that the pope has published his answers. They kind of opened a can of worms.
There are many things I admire about Francis, but he does make me nervous in some ways.
DeleteAll five cardinals have had their issues with Francis during the course of his pontificate - each one a different set of issues. I am sure this Gang of 5 sincerely believe that with this dubia 'stunt', they are seeking to hold Francis and the Synod participants accountable to the church's doctrine. In talking about synodality, Francis has said many things about the Holy Spirit and discernment, but has not said much about the role of the church's doctrine.
To echo a comment I made here recently: I think a lot of this boils down to trust. Francis has confidence in the synodal process. I would guess that many other church officials and clergy (and laypersons) don't trust it.
Btw, I don't mean to imply that the five cardinals are acting in pure good faith by taking their concerns to the media.
DeleteThe entire exchange reminds me of a courtroom cross-examination, in which the attorney asks a hostile witness a yes-or-no question in an effort to pin the witness down. When the witness declines to reduce his answer to a simplistic yes-or-no answer, the attorney then asks the judge to instruct the witness to answer yes or no.
This is from the AP article on the dubia from the five cardinals:
Delete"In his new letter, Francis reiterated that matrimony is a union between a man and a woman. But responding to the cardinals’ question about homosexual unions and blessings, he said “pastoral charity” requires patience and understanding and that regardless, priests cannot become judges “who only deny, reject and exclude.”
"“For this reason, pastoral prudence must adequately discern whether there are forms of benediction, requested by one or more persons, that do not transmit a mistaken conception of marriage,” he wrote. “Because when a benediction is requested, it is expressing a request for help from God, a plea to be able to live better, a trust in a father who can help us to live better.”
"He noted that there are situations that are objectively “not morally acceptable.” But he said the same “pastoral charity” requires that people be treated as sinners who might not be fully at fault for their situations."
https://apnews.com/article/vatican-conservatives-synod-lgbtq-5c6e33d4d45aea1b0b5553d3acc799e1?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter_axiospm&stream=top
That is a very Francis-y response: discernment; accompaniment; not giving precedence to ideas over people.
Maybe the reason he doesn't give straight-up yes or no answers to their questions is because in reality there aren't straight up yes or no answers to the questions. They bear down pretty hard on the church's teachings being unchangeable, but it doesn't take a lot of effort to find teachings that have "evolved".
DeleteYeah, it did remind me of a courtroom drama where attorneys are grilling a witness.
Jim said:
ReplyDelete"That is a very Francis-y response: discernment; accompaniment; not giving precedence to ideas over people."
One of the Four Principles of Francis says that both ideas and realities are important, but that ideas have to give way to realities. One of the problems of the culture wars is that ideas (on both sides) became more important than people and realities.
Another of the Four Principles says that conflict should not be avoided. A resolution of conflicts should occur not with one side defeating the other (e.g., by parliamentary votes) but by both sides recognizing the values contained in the other side, and formulating a resolution that brings them beyond the conflict with an initiative that does not allow for going backwards (another principle). However, the resolution should also allow for diversity across cultures (another principle).
Evidently these Four Principles are original with Francis; they are contained in The Joy of the Gospel. I think of it as his own philosophical approach to life since it seems to have come out of his life experiences.
In the Joy of the Gospel, they are presented as the way to renew a people (puebla in Spanish), e.g., country, culture, but also seem to apply to the church. Francis says that each generation of a people has to renew its founding principles.
At the risk of stating the blindingly obvious, the Roman Catholic church has a long tradition of being very top-down. It has been around for many centuries, and during much/most of that time has taken as its organizing principles those of other large entities and organizations that were contemporary during those centuries: monarchies and armies.
ReplyDeleteSynodality is not as top-down. The heart of it seems to be communication and discernment among and between the church's various "ranks" and "levels".
That can work at a small scale. I think there is some skepticism that it is practical at a larger scale.
To give an example: a small musical group, such as a jazz combo, a string quartet or a rock band, can operate somewhat democratically, with lots of give and take - and negotiation - among the members.
But as the scale of the musical enterprise grows, it becomes more top-down. A large choir or a symphony orchestra has a conductor, and has section leaders or first chairs with some leadership responsibility for their particular sections. Many orchestra conductors have reputations as tyrants: not welcoming input from their (amazing talented) musicians, and seeking to fire any musicians who "won't get with the program".
The same idea applies in business. A small law firm or insurance agency may be jointly owned by a handful of partners who cooperate to run the business. But large corporations become very organized and top-down.
Layering synodality across an enterprise as vast as the church: I don't think anyone knows how it will work out. But for many people, it's a new idea.
There was an interesting article on synods in US Catholic magazine: https://uscatholic.org/articles/201810/what-is-the-history-of-synods/
DeleteThere have been bunches of synods throughout the church's history. This article was from 2018, it said there had been 15 since Vatican II. Of course a general synod like this one is different, but there have been those too. It was interesting that the Synod of Hippo in 393 constructed the list of canonical books of Christian scripture, and these were ratified by the Council of Carthage four years later.
This article would make a good subject for a post, which I might do when I get finished dealing with plumbing issues in the basement (%$#@!).
Katherine - I wrote a brief article for our parish bulletin this week about the synod, in which I also mentioned that the church has a long tradition of them. I mentioned specifically the synod (or council) of Baltimore in 1791, when Bishop Carroll met with priests from across the new nation to figure out how to sustain the Catholic faith in this new experimental country.
DeleteJim, you should post your article, I would be interested to read it.
DeleteHere it is - we have a strict word count, so I had to keep this at a very high level:
DeleteThe Synod on Synodality
This month, Catholic representatives from all over the world meet in Rome for the first of two General Assemblies for what has become known as the Synod on Synodality. (The second assembly will take place in October, 2024.) The purpose of these gatherings is to advise Pope Francis on this topic: “For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation, Mission.”
The term “synod” (and its variations “synodal” and “synodality”) may not be familiar to many of us. A synod is a consultative gathering of bishops and others to discuss important church questions and decide on policies. Synods have taken place throughout the history of the church. Not all synods are global. For example, in 1791, an important synod took place in Baltimore in which Bishop John Carroll and priests from across the United States discussed how the Catholic faith should be practiced in our young nation.
For the Synod on Synodality, Pope Francis has invited, not only bishops, but also some laypersons, religious, priests and deacons, all of whom will be able to participate as full voting members.
Pope Francis is asking us to become more synodal. Francis means we should consult with one another: speak to one another in love; listen carefully to one another; and strive to understand one another; and only then, discern what we should do.
Francis has stated that the prime actor at this month’s Synod meeting is the Holy Spirit. He is asking all participants to be open to the promptings and guidance of the Spirit as the synod tries to address many difficult questions which have arisen from all over the world. In a recent address, Francis emphasized that silence is necessary for us to become aware of the small, still voice of the Holy Spirit.
For Francis, the Synod on Synodality is not simply a series of meetings; it is a way of life he calls us to adopt, in the church and throughout our lives. Let us all pray that the Holy Spirit may give the gifts of speaking, listening and understanding to the Synod participants and to us.
Thanks, Jim. That explains concisely what a synod is. Interesting about the Synod of Baltimore.
DeleteWell I guess we could call the House of Representatives "sedevacantists" because the speaker's seat is now vacant.
ReplyDelete