In his October prayer intention for a shared mission, Pope Francis is asking us all to relate to one another as family.
Pope Francis’ request for prayers this month is simple and should hardly need asking for. That he does ask and feels the need to cloak his request in such big words as synodal lifestyle and co-responsibility, shows just how important it is. Put simply, Pope Francis wants us Catholics to relate to one another as brothers and sisters and to work with one another in our common calling to follow Jesus.
It is the sort of thing that families do in learning how to say thank you, sorry, and please, in sharing responsibility, and in being hospitable. That is not too much to ask, and it should come naturally. It’s messy but not difficult to understand. It’s a way of living.
WALKING TOGETHER
Pope Francis calls it a synodal lifestyle. Synodal means walking together, sharing the same home, the same responsibilities and being part of the same conversations. It means not turning the home into a series of separate flats, not eating separately, not speaking only when invited to, not locking the door to keep visitors away. In the Church it means meeting one another as companions, each responsible for the Church in different ways, and talking together about what we should do and how Jesus would want us to live. Synodal is the opposite of bossy, excluding, clericalist, isolating, insisting on having the first and the last word or putting on airs. In a family, it means that everybody, and not just the children, naturally say please, thank you and sorry as needed. In conversation it means that no one begins by saying, I’ve got an answer, have you got a question, but all come as searchers together. In looking for the right path to follow, it means careful listening and paying attention to people, ready to learn as well as to teach in discerning God’s will.
If we do relate to one another in this way, we shall translate the large words of participation, communion and mission of the Church into simple actions. We shall take time to reflect together on where our local parish and larger Church should put her energies.
TAKE INITIATIVES
We shall take initiatives such as sharing a cuppa after Mass, joining with other churches in providing food for people doing it hard in our suburb, and ensuring that at Mass we pray for the needs of Catholics and others around the world and not for those in own society. We shall be ready to take positions of responsibility for the Church when needed and to relinquish them when not needed. Rather than feeling jealous of other people or squashing them, we shall encourage others when they take initiatives. We shall always join cheerfully in prayer and conversation. Thai is what participation and communion look like. Their face is natural and not made up.
In this way we shall also share the mission of the Church, which is to wear the face of God in our neighbourhood and world just as Christ did when he joined us. This, too, is simple. It means praying together, stopping to greet people begging on the streets, keeping an eye out for strangers at Church and making them welcome, joining groups who care for refugees or prisoners, and pressing our governments to be more just and generous. In these ways religious, priests and lay people will come close as we pray, talk and work together in our different ways.
MATESHIP
In the messiness of our shared lives we shall recognise that we are sinners called to follow Jesus, and that God loves us in our laziness, narkiness and other human weaknesses. Perhaps our failure to recognise this simple truth explains why Pope Francis needs to speak in big words. An Australian word for the synodal way is mateship. In our Church, Christ brings the mates together.
