This is the third blog in a series based on the Instrumentum laboris for the Second Assembly of the Synod on Synodality. The hope is to provide readers with a sense of what the delegates are being guided by and to offer an invitation to enter into your own prayerful consideration of these ideas.
Photo Courtesy of Wix images
I enjoy the HGTV series 100 Day Dream Home. I especially love right after the lot is cleared and they begin the foundation work...all those cinder blocks (it's Florida so they have to build to hurricane standards), all that rebar and concrete and boom! Right before my eyes a piece of often slighty muddy land (it rains a LOT in Florida) now holds the base for someone's home. The foundation is poured...let the building begin.
In a similar fashion, any kind of significant cultural shift in an organization needs to have the foundation laid. It needs to be sturdy, anchored in values and mission, supported by what has been and filled with the concrete of agreement. The Instrumentum laboris for the second assembly articulates the foundations for synodality that have emerged so far. Let's take a quick look at them, thinking of each of these ideas as a cinder block being held together by the mortar, rebar and concrete of Vatican II theology, of the Deposit of Faith, and of the convergences from the first assembly.
Foundation cinder block 1: The Church as the People of God and a sacrament of unity. This cinder block has as its mortar the dignity and identiy of baptism which gives all who are baptized a shared mission, a commitment to a community with whom we walk in dialogue and accompaniment, and membership in a people who come from every tribe, tongue, people and nation. These people, walking together in mission, reflect the light of Christ. They are the outward sign of the coming of the Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.
Foundation cinder block 2: A shared understanding of the meaning of synodality. This cinder block has as its mortar a convergence in understanding around the definition of synodality. "Synodality can be understood as Christians walking in communion with Christ toward the Kingdom along the whole of humanity. Its orientation is towards mission, and its practice involves gathering in assembly at every level of ecclesial life. It involves reciprocal listening, dialogue, community discernment, and creation of consensus as an expression that renders Christ present in the Holy Spirit, each taking decisions according to their responsibilities." (Synthesis Report 1h and Instrumentum laboris 5). Additionally, the IL names elements of style, the goal of synodality and declares the synodal way as a constitutive dimension of the Church.
Foundation cinder block 3: Unity is defined as harmony in diversity. The mortar for this cinder block is the centrality of the Eucharist. Eucharist is the premiere sign of this kind of unity. More mortar is grounded in the truth that all human beings are created in the image and likeness of God and this is another sign of this unity. The mortar of unity also flows from our shared mission to continue Jesus' work, agreed to in Baptism. A final source of this mortar of unity is found in diverse charisms and vocations all in service to the mission.
Foundation cinder block 4: We are sisters and brothers in Christ and therefore must renew the reciprocity between us. The mortar anchoring this cinder block to the foundation is the convergence of agreement around the globe of the necessity to give fuller recognition to the charisms, vocation and role of women, acknowledging women's role in salvation history, and opening ourselves to conversion around the calls to relationality, interdependence and reciprocity. Some parts of this building block apply to lay men as well.
Foundation cinder block 5: The call to conversion and reform. This final foundational block is anchored to the others with the mortar of Jesus himself. Jesus' first call is to conversion. For a synodal Church to arise, the first conversion is to listening and the first voice to whom we must all learn to listen is that of the Holy Spirit. The Church needs healing, reconciliation, and restoration of trust: all elements of repentance and the new life that can emerge from that kind of conversion.
So while the foundation is being solidly built with the mortar of our Deposit of Faith and consensus of the Holy Spirit, rest assured we won't build this new culture, this new Church, in 100 days! But like the HGTV show, the more of us who bring our gifts in service to building this new Church, the faster it will begin to rise. Ever watch the coordination of literally dozens of specialists as they complete a home in 100 days? It's magnificent. It's coordinated chaos. And it's all in service to fulfilling a dream for someone else. Wonder if we can enter into a similar enterprise and so fulfill Jesus' dream for His Body, the Church?
The Pentecost Vigil Project Team encourages you to start clearing the land of your minds and hearts, evaluating the land that is your local parish to see what stays and what's in the way of this new home, and organizing the many skilled laborers this enterprise will need. The mandate has been given. The synodal house-building is underway! Exciting to see what the Lord is desiring this Church to look like in the third millennium, isn't it?
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