By CISA
ROME, OCTOBER 6, 2023 (CISA)– As the 16th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod enters day three of the month-long meeting in Rome, the Synod participants will for the next two days reflect on Section A of the Instrumentum Laboris (IL), the working document for the first session of Synod on Synodality 2023.
Section A of the IL, titled “For a Synodal Church”, attempts to gather insights into the journey of the synod so far. Firstly, it outlines a series of fundamental characteristics or distinguishing marks of a synodal Church. It then articulates the awareness that a synodal Church is also marked by a particular way of proceeding, which is spiritual conversation. The Assembly will then be invited to respond to these insights to clarify and refine them.
Read the full text of Section A below:
For a Synodal Church
An integral experience
One common trait that unites the narratives of the stages of the first phase: is the surprise expressed by participants who were able to share the synodal journey in a way that exceeded their expectations. For those who take part, the synodal process offers an opportunity for an encounter in faith that makes the bond with the Lord, fraternity between people and love for the Church, not only on an individual level but involving and energising the entire community. The experience is that of a horizon of hope opening up for the Church, a clear sign of the presence and action of the Spirit that guides it through history on its path towards the Kingdom (cf. LG 5): “[T]he protagonist of the Synod is the Holy Spirit”. In this way, the more intensely the invitation to journey together has been accepted, the more the Synod has become a path on which the People of God proceed with enthusiasm, but without naivety. Problems, resistances, difficulties and tensions are not concealed or hidden but identified and named thanks to a context of authentic dialogue that makes it possible to speak and listen with freedom and sincerity. Issues that are often posed in an adversarial manner, or for which the life of the Church today lacks a place of acceptance and discernment, can be addressed in an evangelical way within the synodal process (IL, no. 17).
A 1. The Characteristic Signs of a Synodal Church
- This is what emerges with great force from all the continents: an awareness that a synodal Church is founded on the recognition of a common dignity deriving from Baptism, which makes all who receive it sons and daughters of God, members of the family of God, and therefore brothers and sisters in Christ, inhabited by the one Spirit and sent to fulfil a common mission (IL, no. 20).
- Rooted in this awareness is the desire for a Church that is also increasingly synodal in its institutions, structures and procedures, to constitute a space in which common baptismal dignity and co-responsibility for mission are not only affirmed, but exercised, and practised. In this space, the exercise of authority in the Church is appreciated as a gift, with the desire that it be increasingly configured as “a true service, and in Holy Scripture, it is significantly called ‘Diakonia’ or ministry” (LG 24), following the model of Jesus, who stooped to wash the feet of his disciples (cf. Jn 13:1-11).
- “A synodal Church is a listening Church”: this awareness is the fruit of the experience of the synodal journey, which is listening to the Spirit through listening to the Word and listening to each other as individuals and among ecclesial communities, from the local level to the continental and universal levels.
- As a Church committed to listening, a synodal Church desires to be humble, and knows that it must ask forgiveness and has much to learn.
- A synodal Church is a Church of encounter and dialogue. On the path we have travelled, this aspect of synodality emerges with particular strength concerning other Churches and ecclesial Communities, to which we are united by the bond of one Baptism.
- A synodal Church is called to practice the culture of encounter and dialogue with the believers of other religions and with the cultures and societies in which it is embedded, but above all among the many differences that run through the Church itself. This Church is not afraid of the variety it bears but values it without forcing it into uniformity. Therefore, a synodal Church promotes the passage from “I” to “we”.
- In this sense, a synodal Church is open, welcoming and embraces all. There is no border that this movement of the Spirit does not feel compelled to cross, to draw all into its dynamism. The radical nature of Christianity is not the prerogative of a few specific vocations, but the call to build a community that lives and bears witness to a different way of understanding the relationship between the daughters and sons of God, one that embodies the truth of love, one that is based on gift and gratuitousness. The radical call is, therefore, to build together, synodally, an attractive and concrete Church: an outgoing Church, in which all feel welcome.
- At the same time, a synodal Church confronts honestly and fearlessly the call to a deeper understanding of the relationship between love and truth according to St Paul’s invitation. To authentically include everyone, it is necessary to enter into the mystery of Christ allowing oneself to be formed and transformed by the way he lived the relationship between love and truth.
- Characteristic of a synodal Church is the ability to manage tensions without being crushed by them, experiencing them as a drive to deepen how communion, mission and participation are lived and understood.
- Trying to walk together also brings us into contact with the healthy restlessness of incompleteness, with the awareness that there are still many things whose weight we are not able to carry or bear (cf. Jn 16:12). This is not a problem to be solved, but rather a gift to be cultivated.
- Carrying the weight of these questions should not be the personal burden of those who occupy certain roles, with the risk of being crushed by them, but a task for the entire community, whose relational and sacramental life is often the most effective immediate response. This is why a synodal Church unceasingly nourishes itself at the source of the mystery it celebrates in the liturgy, particularly in the Eucharist.
- A synodal Church is also a Church of discernment, in the wealth of meanings that this term takes on within the different spiritual traditions. The first phase enabled the People of God to begin to experience discernment through the practice of conversation in the Spirit. As we listen attentively to each other’s lived experiences, we grow in mutual respect and begin to discern the movements of God’s Spirit in the lives of others and our own.
A 2. A Way Forward for The Synodal Church: Conversation in The Spirit
The term “conversation” does not indicate a generic exchange of ideas, but a dynamic in which the word spoken and heard generates familiarity, enabling the participants to draw closer to one another. The specification “in the Spirit” identifies the authentic protagonist: the desire of those conversing tends towards listening to His voice, which in prayer opens itself to the free action of the One who, like the wind, blows where He wills (cf. Jn 3:8 (IL, no. 33).
In the local Churches, conversation in the Spirit has been accepted and sometimes “discovered” as providing the atmosphere that makes possible the sharing of life experiences and the space for discernment in a synodal Church.
- Conversation in the Spirit is part of a long tradition of ecclesial discernment, which has produced a plurality of methods and approaches. Its precise missionary value should be emphasised. This spiritual practice enables us to move from the “I” to the “we”: it does not lose sight of or erase the personal dimension of the “I”, but recognises it and inserts it into the community dimension. In this way, enabling participants to speak and listen becomes an expression of liturgy and prayer, within which the Lord makes himself present and draws us towards ever more authentic forms of communion and discernment.
- In the New Testament, there are numerous examples of this mode of conversation. A paradigmatic account is provided by the account of the encounter of the Risen Lord with the two disciples on the road to Emmaus (cf. Lk 24:13-35, and the explanation given in CV 237). As their experience demonstrates, conversation in the Spirit builds communion and brings missionary dynamism. The two return to the community they had left to share the Easter proclamation that the Lord is risen.
- In its concrete reality conversation in the Spirit can be described as a shared prayer with a view to communal discernment for which participants prepare themselves by personal reflection and meditation. They give each other the gift of a meditated word nourished by prayer, not an opinion improvised on the spot. The dynamic between the participants articulates three fundamental steps. The first is devoted to each person taking the floor, starting from his or her own experience and rereading in prayer during the period of preparation. Others listen in the knowledge that each one has a valuable contribution to offer and refrain from debates or discussions.
- Silence and prayer help to prepare for the next step, in which each person is invited to open up within his or herself a space for others and for the Other. Once again, each person takes the floor: not to react to or counter what they have heard, reaffirming their position, but to express what from their listening has touched them most deeply and what they feel challenged by most strongly.
- The third step, again in an atmosphere of prayer and under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, is to identify the key points that have emerged and to build a consensus on the fruits of the joint work, which each person feels is faithful to the process and by which he or she can therefore feel represented. It is not enough to draw up a report listing the most often mentioned points. Rather, discernment is needed, which also pays attention to marginal and prophetic voices and does not overlook the significance of the points on which disagreement emerges.
- The journey leads to a prayer of praise to God and gratitude for the experience. “When we live out a spirituality of drawing nearer to others and seeking their welfare, our hearts are opened wide to the Lord’s greatest and most beautiful gifts. Whenever we encounter another person in love, we learn something new about God.
- Bearing in mind the significance of conversation in the Spirit to animate the lived experience of the synodal Church, formation in this method, and in particular of facilitators capable of accompanying communities in practising it, is perceived as a priority at all levels of ecclesial life and for all the Baptised, starting with ordained Ministers in a spirit of co-responsibility and openness to different ecclesial vocations. Formation for conversation in the Spirit is formation to be a synodal Church.
