I'm continuing this blog series on the spirituality of synodality, this week exploring with you the call to ongoing conversion that synodality is calling forth. Some of our readers will not open this blog because they are not interested in a call to conversion. They do not want to change anything about themselves and are even less interested in any more change in the Church. If you're reading this, please remember they are on this #synodjourney with us. They are our brothers and sisters who need us to be open to the conversions, to experience the changes and to beckon them, as Jesus did, to "Come and See." So let's look at some of the ideas that are part of this call to conversion, of this disposition toward the Spirit that says "I will go, if you lead."
Late last week I was talking with a potential client about synodality, change and what makes people agree to change. He said something like this. "If you love another, not only will you change, you will be ok with it because love makes it do-able; sometimes even enjoyable." Read that again, and ask yourself how much you love the Lord, and how much you love our Church. Enough to change? Enough to put on the mind of Christ, to listen to the Holy Spirit and to go where the Spirit leads? Enough to speak the truth in love? Enough to listen, even to very hard stories? Enough to change how you think about yourself, your parish and your responsibilities? How much do you love the Lord? The Church?
As I pondered the statement that love makes change possible, and asked myself to what degree I love the Lord and the Church, I touched just how hard this culture change to synodality will be. Jesus told us that we love God when we love as God does, when we keep Jesus' commandments, when we go to the peripheries and bring hope, healing and the goods of the earth to those in need. So what has to change within me, and then what has to change within my parish, diocese and the Church at large for us to look outward, to love as God does? What is the call to conversion?
Love, defined in God's lexicon, means to will the good of the other, without considering the cost to yourself. It's God's way. Jesus loved us all the way to the cross, descending to hell before rising again. He asks us to love one another like that, accompanying others into their own hells and offering the hope that will lift them out of them. He asks us not to worry about ourselves: our comfort, safety, or our provisions. Just go.
I don't know about you, but that call both resonates with me and unsettles me. How many things will have to change within me and around me, and among my family and friends for me to live like this? And what will have to change in my parish and diocese for me to know that I can go there to be equipped for this work, nourished, strengthened and given rest?
I became a new creation in baptism and now I am being asked to live differently, to be holy (which at its root means "different"), to become a new creation again. I am being asked to allow the Spirit to create order out of the chaos of our world, through me, through us, through all the baptized. Will I cooperate? Will my parish change so that I can trust that there I will find companions, hope, healing, sustenance, energy?
I am being asked to take Jesus seriously when he said, "If you keep My commandments, you will remain in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and remain in His love." (John 15:10) Keep the commandment to love others as I wish to be loved myself. Listen to the statutes and decrees, for the Lord has given them. Again, I have to ask myself to what degree I love the Lord? Enough to take this seriously, to change? Is the Lord REALLY the Lord, the One whose will and ways I follow? The call to conversion continues, not just for me as an individual, but for our Church as well.
I am being asked to listen to the prophets. Micah says it clearly. "He has shown you, O man (sic) , what is good. What does the LORD require of you, but to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?" (6:5) What will this cost me? What will have to die in my current life so that these actions may rise? Synodality is asking our entire Church to take this very seriously and to organize herself so that this is what she is about: acting justly herself and calling for God's justice in all places, to be merciful, to call for mercy, and to make sure the merciful face of the Lord is always what is seen first. Finally she is being asked to walk humbly with God...to listen to the Spirit, to change, to bend to adjust her ways to follow the Spirit's lead. Will the Church be humble enough to allow the Spirit to transform her? Will I?
Synodality is a culture change. It is asking our Church to allow the Lord to be the Lord of the Church not just in words, but in practices. Synodality is asking for the Church to allow the Spirit to lead her into transformation, so that the good of the poor, the disenfranchised, the immigrant and the marginalized is central to the Church's focus. Not what's good for the Church. Not what's always been done, unless what's always been done is what is good for the least among us. Focus outward. Center the poor. Learn from them. Care for them.
Synodality is a culture change. It asks us to trust in the Paschal Mystery of dying and rising in very practical ways. Synodality is asking the Church to allow some things to die so that the love of Christ may rise and shine upon the earth in ways appropriate for this age. And synodality is asking us to accompany one another as this dying happens, trusting in the rising the Spirit will enable, even if we never actually see it.
Synodality is a culture change. It requires a Church nimble with change, excited about conversion, and energized by transformation. It requires a Church grounded in love...the good of the other, even if it's not good for the Church. It asks for a Church with a deep spirituality grounded in agape: the love of Christ for all the world, a love that called forth his own suffering for the salvation of the world; a love that exploded anew as he rose, triumphant over this death. Can we be this Church?
Pope Francis believes the Spirit is working even now creating Her anew. And that means the Spirit is at work in me (and you!), re-focusing our vision, opening the ears of our hearts, and loosening our lips to proclaim this Good News! We are the love of Christ, blanketing the earth with our focus on what God wants for us all: to live as we were created to live! This is our call to conversion friends...as individuals and as the People of God, the Church!
Photo Credit (c) 2018 Deborah W. Stollery
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