VATICAN SYNOD: At the Synod Participants’ Retreat, Preacher Highlights the Attitude Necessary for Fruitful Assembly
Fr Timothy P.J. Radcliffe, OP
Fr. Andrew Kaufa smm
Faith, hope, and unity will make every baptized in the Church, with one another and with God. Like the disciples on the way to Emmaus, this requires the synod delegates to have a friendly spiritual conversation. This summarizes the content of the three-day retreat for the participants at the 16th General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops synod, which was themed on the episode of the Transfiguration of Jesus (Mark 9:2-8.) The preacher, Fr Timothy P.J. Radcliffe OP, insisted that this attitude is important especially now when Synod is at the universal stage.
Faith, Hope, and Unity
According to the Dominican preacher, these virtues are key to entering into reflections on what it means at this point a synodal way of being Church. In fact, Fr Radcliffe began by appreciating the synod experience at the diocesan and continental stages, especially the joy, hope, and unity that the synodal process has enflamed in the hearts and minds of the faithful throughout the universal Church.
He thus invited the Synod delegates to learn from the Gospel where we find that at every crucial moment, feelings of fear overshadowed the trust of the disciples. It is only by their rediscovering their faith and hope in Jesus that the 12 disciples could discard fear. And that is why a retreat is necessary at the beginning of the synodal assembly.
“So, my brothers and sisters, we may be divided by different hopes. But if we listen to the Lord and to each other, seeking to understand his will for the Church and the world, we shall be united in a hope that transcends our disagreements, and be touched by the one whom St Augustine called that ‘beauty so ancient and so new,” he continued.
Relating the forthcoming synodal assembly which commences on Thursday, October 4, to the experience of the 12 disciples of Jesus and why it is important the retreat, Fr Radcliffe said, “This retreat gives them (the disciples) the courage and hope to set off on their journey. It does not always go well. They immediately fail to free the young lad from the evil spirit. They quarrel about who is the greatest. They misunderstand the Lord. But they are on their way with a fragile hope.”
“Our hope is that whatever small deeds we do in this synod will bear fruit beyond our imagination,” he continued as he drew from the witness of saints such as Mother Tereza of Calcutta, Charles de Foucauld, and Theresa of Lisieux, to demonstrate that trust in God is what makes human efforts raw material on which God who makes great things happen.
