The Gospels tell many Jesus-stories. They were part of the faith memories of Jesus shared by the earliest Christian communities. In chapter 12:38-44, Mark relates two contrasting stories. The first recounts what Jesus sees in the scribes. The second story tells of a poor widow.
Like all of the stories in the Gospels, these two are lessons on the Kingdom of God, the reign that was at the centre of Jesus’ life and mission. In this sense, the Good News, or the Gospel is a proclamation of who we are as church, as a community of faith. What Jesus calls his disciples to was not either of the two stories, but rather to recognize in ourselves that in a way we are both. The scribes in the first story meticulously followed the law. They sincerely sought to be seen as holy and to be honoured in the Temple as examples of holiness. The widow in the second story had little, but she held a sincere relationship with God and expressed it by her generosity and integrity.
As church, we are indeed, both stories. In fact, we are many stories and over the centuries we have had to acknowledge that we are an evolving community of faith. In 1962-65, the Second Vatican Council addressed the question of how open we are to evolving as church in the midst of the changing world of the 20th Century.
The Council called our church to take on a prophetic role in the world of our time. Now in the 21st century Pope Francis calls us to a synod of the whole Catholic community. We are being asked once more to be a prophetic church, to be the community of disciples that Jesus the Christ established, a communion of people who can take up our call to live and share the Good News.
As a prophetic community, Pope Francis has called us to a conversation in the Spirit. It is intended to involve the whole church in considering who we are in the 21st century. The entire church is called to this journey through reflection, discernment and action. This synod process has its roots in the Second Vatican Council, which Pope John XXIII saw as an effort to bring about an openness of the church to the world through reflection on “the signs of the time”.
Like John XXIII and Vatican II, Pope Francis has turned to the ancient and traditional assembly or synod to address “the signs of the time” now. The journey began with the opening on October 9, 2021. There were two initial years in which local churches (dioceses) were asked to engage in listening to the Spirit, to their sisters and brothers in their home communities and parishes/dioceses. During this time, we were asked to reflect, speak and above all listen to one another, i.e. to all the baptized. What were we listening for? What were we to hear with the help of the Spirit?
In local churches around the globe, through conversation in the Spirit, women and men, laity, clergy and religious expressed their hopes and dreams as well as the hurts and challenges we face. As we did so, it was and remains important that we recognize that we are a global church. We are many cultures and peoples and at the same one church, one community of faith.
These initial two years prepared our faith community for the two-session synod itself, the first session in October of 2023 and the second, which just concluded in October 2024. Held in Rome, these two sessions included delegates from around the world from laity and clergy, women and men. Perhaps more than the details of the sessions and the topics addressed is the structure of these session. Our church is a global community. It has recognized in the synod that all baptized members have a voice in discerning who we are and what we are about. All are responsible for sharing the message and mission of Jesus the Christ. The seed has been planted, the work of nurturing it in the local churches begins.
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