ST. MICHAEL’S: A SYNODAL CHURCH OF SYNODAL FAMILIES
Could this be our St. Michael Best Lent Ever? Could Lent be a season of us, one and all, in our parish community – us doing this: becoming, individually and collectively, a Synodal Church, a Synodal Church of Synodal Families that acknowledges our sins, faults, hurts and failings, accepts God’s forgiveness and resolves to be “a communion of converted sinners who live by the grace of forgiveness and transmit it ourselves”? Called to Communion, Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI), 1996, Ignatius Press, page 149.
From the European Continental Assembly in Prague, February 7-12, 2023
“There is clearly a need to enlarge the space of our tent. The Spirit is heard in the voices of all. The messages go to the very heart of what is needed for our church and in our homes: conversion.”
“Pope Francis has said, ‘I see the church as a field hospital after battle; the mission of the church is to heal wounds.’ and ‘We are all sinners in need of healing.’ This resonates very much with what God is saying to the church – all of us and every one of us – at this time of becoming a Synodal Church.”
“’If we do not transform our pain, we will most assuredly transmit it.’ Richard Rohr
Exporting (giving away) our heart is the common storyline of human history. Let us not export our unresolved heart any longer but rather own the pain that is part of our story.”
These words were spoken by the Irish delegation at the February 7-12 European Continental Assembly in Prague. They focus on what will help synodality take root within us in order to be more of a Synodal Church, i.e., a Synodal Family of Families, AND each of our own Families be Synodal Families. They suggest that we give prayerful considerstion to
- Admitting our sins, faults and failings,
- Giving and receiving forgiveness; being penitent,
- Enlarging the space of our tent, and
- Listening to the Spirit heard in the voices of all.
This message goes to the very heart of what is needed for our church (our St. Michael Family of Families) and for our individual Families in their homes and extending into places of work, study and living, their towns and neighborhoods: conversion.
Here are six 3-minute videos with some practical tips for addressing conversion in families. We thank the Catholic Church of Ireland for providing them.
In the words of Pope Benedict XVI: the same message:
“The risen Lord establishes the communion of his peace when he first appears to the Eleven. He does so by giving them full authority to forgive (Jn 20:19-23). The Church is not a communion of those ‘who have no need of the physician’ Mk 2:17) but a communion of converted sinners who live by the grace of forgiveness and transmit it themselves.” Called to Communion, Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI), 1996, Ignatius Press, page 149.
