Synodality…Gathering of the Peoples

We gather here today mirroring the gathering in St Peter’s Square in Rome, and gatherings across the world – to pray, to pray together for the synod, its members and its work…

To pray is not just to speak words to God, or even at God – making demands to suit my desires…to pray is firstly to listen to God…listening to the still voice in the silence of our hearts.

Prayer is a moment of grace…the spirit entering ever new into the minds and hearts of all who are willing and open to listen…to be moved…to be changed…to be transformed…

So today we invoke the Holy Spirit…asking to be guided where God wants us to be…at this time in history…

In our opening we gathered around the cross…and embraced the tent…we are invited to “enlarge the space of our tent”…

A tent offers us a place of meeting and gathering, a place that protects us from the weather, hot or cold, storm or sunshine…

it is a place where we can feel safe…

but it can also confine us, close us in, keep out others who may disturb or frighten us.

So the call of synodality is to enlarge the space of our church…to reach out…to go out…to invite in…to open the doors…open the windows…to enlarge our space…to embrace…to be open to new horizons…

The tent is the echo of our hearts…Pope Francis is inviting us to enlarge the space of our hearts…to make room for one another…to invite others to join us on this journey…

So as the synod opens in Rome this week…you may still be wondering…what has it got to do with me…other than to pray for those who are attending…

This synod is not just about what may or may not happen in Rome…it is about each one of us…it is a call to us to look at ourselves…at our parishes…our diocese…how are we becoming a synodal church here…today…

Synodality is about walking a journey together…with friends and with strangers…with those who think…pray…understand church as I do…and with those who don’t think and pray as I do.  This journey will not be easy…it will call us to deep listening to one another and to the Holy Spirit…to being open to be changed by the other and by the movement of the Spirit among us….

This time calls us to open our heart to ever wider horizons…

to not come with fixed ideas but to be open to hear and to move in new directions as a church…walking together and working together as God’s pilgrim people…

The Holy Spirit in his freedom knows no boundaries…puts in place no test for admission to the tent of the Church…

the Holy Spirit will not be caged up and kept in a safe place…

the Holy Spirit is moving freely throughout the world and will always make his voice heard, sometimes in the most extraordinary ways and through the most unlikely people. 

So if our parishes and diocese is to allow the Holy Spirit to move among us…

we need to keep the sides of our tent open to let everyone come in…

to be welcomed…to be free to participate…to ask their questions…and for us to allow their questions to become our questions…

this synodal journey we are making together with the whole church needs us and needs everyone to come, to share their wisdom, to offer their gifts into the space…and we all need to be prepared to be surprised by God…

The synod in Rome is not just about changing structures…or changing rules or giving instructions to us…

but at its heart it is each one of us widening the space of our thoughts…

our way of doing things in our parishes…

our way of understanding the Gospel…

to be open to the new…to the different…to the exciting journey that the Gospel calls us to make together…allowing ourselves to be changed by each encounter with the other

so let us from today open our hearts to our synodal church…and to remember as Pope Francis says to us “without prayer there is no synod”…without the Holy Spirit…there will not be synodality

(This reflection was given on Saturday 30th October, 2023 – Saint John’s Parish, Tralee at the Gathering of the Peoples – Praying for the Synod on Synodality)

Karen OSU

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