Synodal echoes from Rome
After having taken a break during the month of August, here we are again to continue giving news of the Synod, whose Universal Assembly will begin exactly one month from now, on September 30 .
This means that as the days go by, the preparation becomes more intense, in terms of specifying the details of how the meeting will take place,
We already have in our hands, because it has been published some time ago, the document that will be the working instrument during the next month of October.
Also in July, the company released the list of participants in the SynodThe group of experts/facilitators will be selected according to their hierarchical and other responsibilities, plus a group of people directly invited by the Pope and a large group of experts/facilitators necessary for the methodology to be implemented.
Everything is being arranged in terms of content and logistics; the medium is the message and we want the way of working to correspond to what is intended: listening, spiritual conversation, discernment… in order to better reach the synodal axes: communion-participation-mission.
We will work in small groups of 10-12 people per language, in round tables, and each group will have a person to moderate the dialogues, taking care that the planned objectives can be achieved.
The Synod begins on September 30 with an ecumenical prayer vigil at St. Peter’s Square. October 1, 2 and 3 will be a spiritual retreat in Sacrofano, near Rome. The actual working sessions will begin on the 4th and will conclude on the 29th of that month. We recall that the entire synodal process -2021-2024- is guided by a fundamental question:
“How is this ‘walking together’ that allows the church to proclaim the gospel, according to the mission entrusted to it, being realized today at the different levels (from the local to the universal) and what steps does the Spirit invite us to take in order to grow as a synodal church” (Preparatory Document. 2).
Let us dispose from now on our hearts and our whole person to live this time in a synodal key, wherever we are, with prayer and information that is also universal, being and feeling ourselves active members of the church.
María Luisa Berzosa FI
